Page 24 - aruba-today-20190711

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 11 July 2019

Trump v. Big Tech: Social media summit will snub tech titans

By MARCY GORDON political perspectives.”
AP Business Writer Twitter spokeswoman Ka-
WASHINGTON (AP) — tie Rosborough, in a state-
President Donald Trump ment, said “We enforce
is gathering conservative the Twitter rules impartially
groups at the White House for all users, regardless of
this week for a “summit” their background or po-
on social media that will litical affiliation. We are
prominently snub the tech constantly working to im-
titans who run big platforms prove our systems and will
on Facebook, Twitter and continue to be transpar-
Google. ent in our efforts.” Trump
It’s a sharp contrast to ear- has played to conserva-
lier days in Trump’s tenure tive concerns about bias
when tech executives were on other issues. In March,
occasional celebrity guests he signed an executive or-
at the White House, serving der requiring U.S. colleges
as a fresh indication of the to protect free speech on
president’s escalating bat- their campuses or risk losing
tle with Big Tech. federal research funding.
Now, Trump regularly ac- The order cheered those
cuses the big social media who said universities were
platforms of suppressing attempting to silence some
conservative voices. He President Donald Trump meets with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani in the conservative students and
has suggested the compa- Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 9, 2019, in Washington. speakers. But critics called
nies may be acting illegally Associated Press the order unnecessary.
and should be sued by U.S. stakes deal-making than ington think tank Heritage specifically on Thursday’s The president himself was
regulators. reflections on perceived Foundation. meeting. But the Internet dealt a setback Tuesday in
White House spokesman bias in online communica- Trump and some supporters Association, the industry’s his legal battle against Twit-
Judd Deere said the White tions. The White House had have long accused Silicon major trade group repre- ter, his favored means of
House conference on no comment on why top Valley companies of be- senting Facebook, Google communicating. A federal
Thursday would bring to- tech officials weren’t invit- ing biased against them. and dozens of other com- appeals court in New York
gether “digital leaders for ed or on whether the con- Accusations commonly panies, said the internet City ruled that the presi-
a robust conversation on ference was deliberately leveled against the plat- “offers the most open and dent can’t ban critics from
the opportunities and chal- scheduled to overlap with forms include anti-religious accessible form of commu- his Twitter account, saying
lenges of today’s online en- the meeting in Idaho. bias, a tilt against those nication available today.” the First Amendment calls
vironment.” Among the conservative opposed to abortion and Its members’ platforms for more speech, rather
But Google, Facebook and organizations that are ex- censorship of conservative “don’t have a political ide- than less, on matters of
Twitter weren’t invited, their pected to participate in political views. While some ology or political bias,” the public concern.
representatives confirmed. the White House meeting: company executives may group’s president and CEO Trump has an estimated
And their leaders may be Turning Point USA; PragerU, lean liberal, they have long Michael Beckerman said 61 million followers on Twit-
more likely to turn up Thurs- short for Prager University, asserted that their products in a statement. He added ter. He has accused Twit-
day at an annual media which puts out short vid- are without political bias. that the companies “suc- ter of making it “very hard
industry conference in Sun eos with a conservative Representatives for Face- ceed and grow by building for people to join me” and
Valley, Idaho, a venue ori- perspective on politics or book, Google and Twit- a broad user base regard- “very much harder for me
ented more toward high- economics; and the Wash- ter declined to comment less of party affiliation or to get out the message.”q
UK health service to use Amazon Alexa to give medical advice

By KELVIN CHAN It’s part of the British gov- Dumontet, a researcher at
Associated Press ernment’s long-term mod- Privacy International.
LONDON (AP) — Alexa will ernization plan to provide “Our medical information
see you now. more digital health servic- is often the most sensitive
Britain’s health care service es. data there is about us and
is teaming up with Ama- “We want to empower a lot can be inferred from
zon’s digital voice assistant every patient to take bet- the questions we ask and
to help answer medical ter control of their health the searches we make
queries with advice from care,” said Health Secre- when we have health con-
the service’s official web- tary Matt Hancock. cerns.”
site. Critics, however, warn Privacy campaigners said Privacy concerns surround-
about risks to data privacy. that while making it easier ing voice assistants have
The British government said for people to access reli- come into focus amid re-
Wednesday that the sys- able medical advice was ports that services like Al-
tem will help people get a step in the right direc- exa are listening and re-
quick and accurate health tion, they were concerned cording conversations in
information. It will be espe- about the partnership and homes. A lawsuit filed last
cially useful for senior citi- In this Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 file photo, an Amazon Alexa display its implications. month in U.S. federal court
zens, blind people and oth- is seen at a store in Hialeah, Fla. “Amazon is a company alleged that Amazon is vio-
ers who find it hard to ac- Associated Press with a worrying track re- lating laws in eight states by
cess the internet while also Alexa can answer voice the flu or chickenpox with cord when it comes to the recording children without
easing pressure on doctors. questions from users about information verified by the way they handle their us- consent through Alexa de-
Using Amazon’s algorithms, common maladies such as National Health Service. ers’ data,” said Eva Blum- vices. q