By Grace Fan (PO ’23) For many of us, Facebook has been around for as long as we can remember. Though it might have started as an innocuous platform to connect people, it has transpired into a media platform that breeds misinformation, conspiracy groups, and a toxic environment for its users. Its monopolistic reach into almost all aspects of society has proved to be detrimental to not only...
Leonora Willet (CM ’25) More than three years ago, whistleblower Christopher Wylie exposed how Cambridge Analytica, a U.K. based consulting firm, accessed Facebook consumers’ data without their consent. As a former employee of the British consulting firm, Wylie witnessed firsthand Facebook’s use of consumer data to target users for disinformation campaigns. The primary means by which...
By Leo Kalb Bourke (PO ’22) On October 29, 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX departing from Jakarta, Indonesia, crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. Several months later, on March 10, 2019, a MAX – this time leaving Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – plunged to the ground approximately six minutes after taking flight, killing 157 people. The crash of this second...
By Ana Deckey (CMC ’22) Partisan gerrymandering is a wily evil that distorts our democracy. However, in 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not protect us from partisan gerrymandering and its anti-democratic effects. This ruling was handed down in Rucho et al v. Common Cause; in the case, citizens of Maryland and North Carolina argued their state governments acted...
Kathryn Parker (SC ‘23) Human genetic data is in high demand for cutting-edge medical research, and genetic testing is important to diagnose and treat many diseases. As a result, genetic privacy laws are a necessity to protect the basic rights of citizens. However, in the United States, while genetic discrimination is expressly prohibited, privacy is not enforced. So, what can be done to protect...
By Sam Fiske (CMC ’21) Introduction Social media websites that originated as a platform to connect with friends and family have evolved into some of the most intense, poorly regulated battlegrounds for political discourse. Companies that began in dorm rooms and garages have blossomed into Silicon Valley giants, yielding unprecedented power to shape public opinion and gnawing away at the...
Shuyan Yan (PO ’23) In Zhongguancun, a well-known tech hub in Beijing, China, there is a joke circulating that if a billboard falls on 10 pedestrians at midnight, 8 of them might be software engineers, and the other two must be program managers. In the Chinese technology industry, many sarcastically joke about working overtime, and seeing employees leaving office buildings at midnight is...
By Camryn Fujita (SC’21) Former President Donald Trump and his allies have faced intense legal fallout since the certification of the 2020 election results and the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol. Last week, attorneys for Fox News petitioned a New York state court to drop the defamation suit brought against the network by voting technology company, Smartmatic. Smartmatic, the...
By Christopher Tan (PZ ‘21) Consider a brief thought experiment. An influential investor owns a number of cheap shares. They begin spreading lies about why they think these shares will rise and use their influence to sell the shares at an inflated price to others. Before they are caught and the stock’s prices fall, the investor would have profited a considerable amount of money. This is illegal...
By Sasha Rothstein (HMC ’23) Over the past two-and-a-half months, America’s 100 million active TikTok users have been launched into the deep end of fraught US-China relations. Citing national security concerns over the Chinese-owned app, the Trump administration issued multiple executive orders to ban TikTok in the absence of an acquisition by an American company. While temporarily...
