Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell On a recent episode in our series on Artificial Intelligence, we looked at what Artificial Intelligence, or AGI, might bring about if those who see a virtual Utopia on the horizon are correct. Today, we look at possible futures of a much darker sort. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the interse…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell AI is part of our world now/ As with many new technologies, it is wise to pay attention to claims of new wonders since some may turn out to be little more than “snake oil”, even when they come form usually reliable sources. Here are a few examples. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersect…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell As we continue our series on Artificial Intelligence, we begin in this segment to look at some of the possible implications of the potential arrival of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), or even Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), on us humans. Link for Vernor Vinge’s 1993 presentation on “The Coming Technological S…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Today in our series on Artificial Intelligence, we’ll look at Machine Learning and at the difference between Supervised and Unsupervised learning. Unsupervised learning is the method that computers use to beat the greatest chess masters in the world, or to suggest the next movie you may want to watch online, or to read y…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell In this second episode in our series on Understanding AI, we’ll begin to take a look at how AI actually works in the many applications we see all around us today. For those interested in learning more about how AI works, this free online course requires no previous technical knowledge. For those who might be interested i…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Artificial Intelligence is all over the news these days, but what the heck is it, how does it work, and, importantly, what might it mean for us humans in the future? Important questions, and we’ll take a shot at providing an overall answer to those questions on a series of Electronic Cottage episodes that start today. Ab…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Ever heard of “negative option marketing?” While you may not recognize the term but we all run into it every day on the web. Same for Dark Patterns. The Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has certainly heard of practice and they don’t like it at all. Here’s why. About the host: Jim Camp…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell There have been a lot of headlines in the popular press of late about Artificial Intelligence. On today’s edition, let’s look at a few headlines that may not have made it into the popular press yet. Here are links for the materials mentioned in today’s edition: AI artwork can’t be copyrighted rules the US Copyright Offic…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell News of dramatic developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been all over the web and the news of late yet there seems to be no legislation making its way through Congress to protect us from the harms that AI can cause in our everyday lives. Why is that, and what can we do about it? Here are a few thoughts. Here i…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell As we move around the web and use different web sites, we are constantly asked for our “informed consent” for the sites to know how to collect and use personal data about us. But can most of us actually give our “informed consent” in response to those demands? Some recent studies suggest the answer may be no. Here are li…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell When we are going to undergo a medical procedure or be part of a research study, we are asked to give “informed consent” to permit the medial professionals to provide treatment or to be part of a research study. There are very specific criteria for what “informed consent” means in those situations. On the web, we are oft…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all around us today, and that is going to be even more true – and more obvious – in the near future. Simply put, AI is going to change the world we live in every day. So who should decide how those changes will happen? It’s a good – and critically important – question that we all would do …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell This month marks the 23rd anniversary of Notes from the Electronic Cottage on WERU. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane as we listen to what we think is the very first Electronic Cottage program. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public poli…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Someone asked the other day what all the measurements that often appear in computer ads mean. We haven’t looked at that sort of information lately, so let’s give it a try today. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect o…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Read any good online privacy policies lately? Just in case the answer is no, today we read a bit from a recently updated Privacy Policy from the publisher Conde Nast. It’s clearly written and not that different from the policies at many other web sites, and it is unlikely to make us feel good about the information web si…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Now that holiday time is over, let’s take a look at some recent digital related headlines and stories that may affect our everyday lives in Maine and beyond. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in ou…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell ChatGPT has caused quite of lot of online buzz of late, and there are good reasons. In case you aren’t familiar with what ChatGPT can do, or are wondering about some of the implications, both good and bad, of its use, here is a start. And, just because, we note a few other recent items that most of us wish weren’t happen…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell In the Dec. 19, 2022 print issue of the New Yorker, one article trumpeted “The Future of Everything: How Quantum Computing will Change the World – Eventually.” That’s quite an assertion but just what is quantum computing and how might it change the world? Here’s one way. Here’s the digital version of the article mentione…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Artificial Intelligence – AI – is already a big part of our world and will be even more prevalent in our everyday lives as we move forward. Today, let’s look at some books that might help us get our heads around what AI is and is not – at least not yet – and how AI will quite probably affect all of our lives in our Infor…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell There are three very big challenges that humans will have to deal with in the near future: Climate Change, Genetic Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence or AI. Today, we briefly look at some sources to check for those interested in the first two challenges, and then turn our attention to sources for those interested i…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell It is the season of Ho Ho Ho! While we do not enjoy being Grinches, we still feel it’s important to look at some current tech headlines as well as cheery holiday gift hints. So, for better or worse, here are a few things of import that might have gotten lost in the the holiday media punch bowl. Here is a link to the arti…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell As we excitedly gather all sorts of amazing electronic digital devices to bestow on others during this gift-giving season, here are a few thoughts that might be worth considering before the recipients fire those devices up and start using them. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Over 20 years ago, Bill Joy wrote that 21st century technologies posed a danger of the extinction of humans from the earth. Last month, that sentiment arose again from people as diverse as Henry Kissinger and Jaron Lanier. In between, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and other luminaries offered similar cautions. Why? And wh…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Electronic Technology is a sort of “front of the hand-back of the hand” world. Here at the Electronic Cottage we look at both sides of tech – wonderfully positive and, alas, dismayingly negative. Today is Thanksgiving so let’s look at things – whether offered through giant corporations or through individuals – that the W…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Technology developments – and what they may mean – can sometimes seem confusing as we try to sort out reports and headlines. Here are a few illustrations, as well as news about the inauguration of Democracy’s Library About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Suppose you were an academic who posted some slides from a lecture on your university’s archive page and suppose that tens of thousands of people found them and downloaded them and 2 million people read your Twitter feed on the subject. Would you be surprised? This really happened to Avrind Narayanan and therein lies the…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Looking for tech info? Today’s episode has none but we hope you will like it anyway. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio f…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell It’s election season and we’re hearing a lot of stuff that is pretty unbelievable. But we aren’t hearing much about voting machine companies doctoring votes at this point in time. Why is that? Hmmm. But even if we aren’t hearing a lot of about alleged voting machine fraud now, it’s still important to think about how we m…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Artificial Intelligence is used widely in our digital world affecting our everyday lives. Although it can affect everything from making credit decisions to reading x-rays, it is also completely unregulated in the US. That is why this White Paper, “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” is worth a very good look. About the h…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Technology marches on. Here are two recent developments, one of which is pretty amazing amazing but both of which are also disturbing for different reasons. See what you think. Links referred to in the program: Holly Herndon: What if you could sing in your favorite musician’s voice? | TED Talk Chrome’s New Ad Blocker Lim…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just for big corporations any more. AI is emerging as a way for regular folks to more quickly and simply get their work done, create new things, and change how they look or sound online. Let’s take a look at some of those emerging, and sometimes quite remarkable possibilities, and even…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Have you heard the Amazon’s Ring Doorbell division is teaming up with Amazon’s MGM division to create a new TV series called “Ring Nation” hosted by comedian Wanda Sykes? What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and publ…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell There is a lot going on in the digital world these days. We can’t cover all of it in these short programs but we can at least summarize the stories behind a a selection of very recent headlines that some folks may have missed in the switch from summer time to school time. Here are a few. About the host: Jim Campbell has …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Can we believe what we see online? Maybe not so much anymore. Here are the links mentioned in today’s program: DALL·E 2 – a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. How to Create Synthetic AI Art With Midjourney, Joe Fedewa, 8/9/22, How-to-Geek Github CompVis Stable D…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell We’re hearing a lot about encryption these days. Some in law enforcement think it is a bad thing. Others think it is the best way to protect personal communications and privacy. But what is encryption and why are there such different perceptions of encryption in today’s digital world? Here’s a start of an answer. About t…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Have you been digitally fingerprinted lately? If you use the web, chances are pretty good that you – or at least your computer or tablet or smart phone – have been. But what the heck is a digital fingerprint anyway and why should we care? Listen up. Here is a link to a site mentioned in today’s program. Give it a read – …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell We are starting to see the effects of our digital world on individual women now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade. Here are links to further investigate the issues mentioned in today’s program: These Companies Know When You’re Pregnant—And They’re Not Keeping It Secret, Gizmodo “Gizmodo identified 32 broke…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Isn’t is great to be able to think anything we want and know that what we think is safe within our own minds? Do you even wonder how long that will continue to be true? If not, you should. Here’s why. Here is a link to the report referenced in today’s program About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in th…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Digital technology can be a wonderful thing in our daily lives. It can also be a major source of carbon emissions and, hence, global warming. Here’s why, according to the Association for Computing Machinery. Here is a link to the report quoted today About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersec…

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Many of us have heard the term “data brokers” as we traverse our digital world. But what exactly are data brokers and what do they do, and does it matter to us? It should, and research by Justin Sherman of the Duke Sherman Cyber Policy Program tells in very concerning detail exactly why. Read the whole report here About …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Hmmm. A report from Common Sense Media with a subtitle of “Watching TV That Watches Us.” Wonder what that could be about? Strangely enough, it is about exactly what it’s title says. Here’s why… Here are links to the reports mentioned in today’s program: Privacy of Streaming Apps and Devices: Watching TV That Watches Us, …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Algorithms are a big part of our lives these days, though many of us may not be aware of that fact. More and more, though, regulators are attempting to make those who are using algorithms to make decisions that affect our lives in important ways – who should get a mortgage, how much should someone pay for car insurance, …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell About the host: Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that …

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell Heading out to hit the road for the holiday weekend? In addition to three word signs drivers never want to see, e.g., “Road Work Ahead” or “One Lane Road”, there’s another one increasingly visible these days: “No Cash Accepted.” This one deserves a bit of pondering for not only its obvious meaning but also for some its p…