Microsoft on verge of secure and decentralised ID systems
For years, tech companies have touted blockchain technology as a means to develop identity systems that are secure and decentralised. The goal is to build a platform that could store information about official data without holding the actual documents or details themselves. Instead of just storing a scan of your...
How and why a YouTube chat about chess got flagged for hate speech
Last June, Antonio Radić, the host of a YouTube chess channel with more than a million subscribers, was live-streaming an interview with the grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura when the broadcast suddenly cut out. Instead of a lively discussion about chess openings, famous games and iconic players, viewers were told Radić’s video...
Chinese scientists are caught between Western bias and pro-government messaging
Shortly after the World Health Organization visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology on February 3, a reporter from an international newspaper asked me whether China’s censorship would present an ‘insurmountable’ barrier to reaching an impartial conclusion on Covid-19’s origins. At the same time, my phone displayed headlines from a nationalist...