Master of Public Health or Master of Science: Which Is Right for You?

Last year, Michigan’s School of Public Health announced their first online Master of Public Health in Population and Health Sciences degree. The success of the MPH degree spurred the launch of a Master of Science shortly thereafter from Michigan’s School of Public Health.  The two degrees share an emphasis on providing students with a foundational […]
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Facebook Stops French Man From Streaming His Dying Days

“Facebook has prevented a French man with an incurable illness from streaming his own death on the social media site, according to a company statement…” reports CNN: Alain Cocq, 57, estimates he will only have days to live after stopping all medication, food and drink, which he planned to do on Friday evening. He had intended to broadcast his dying days…

Google Removes Android App That Was Used To Spy On Belarusian Protesters

Google has removed an Android app from the Play Store that was used to collect personal information from Belarusians attending anti-government protests. ZDNet reports: The app, named NEXTA LIVE, was available for almost three weeks on the official Android Play Store, and was downloaded thousands of times and received hundreds of reviews. To get installs, NEXT LIVE claimed to be the…

CBP Does Not Make it Clear Americans Can Opt-out of Airport Face Scanning, Watchdog Says

A government watchdog has criticized U.S. border authorities for failing to properly disclose the agency’s use of facial recognition at airports, which included instructions on how Americans can opt out. From a report: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), tasked with protecting the border and screening immigrants, has deployed its face-scanning technology in 27 U.S. airports as part of its Biometric…

DOJ Finally Starts Process of Investigating Nursing Home Deaths From COVID-19

onyxruby writes: The DOJ has finally launched the precursor to an investigation into the mass deaths of senior citizens in nursing homes and long term care facilities. Roughly half of all COVID-19 deaths in the United Stated have occurred in nursing homes. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan are being requested to provide information to the DOJ….

How wholesome memes could save us all

It is time to rekindle the idea of netizens – upstanding internet citizens that band together to tackle important global problems, writes Annalee Newitz Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732970-200-how-wholesome-memes-could-save-us-all/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Israeli Phone Hacking Company ‘Cellebrite’ Sued To Stop Sales To Hong Kong

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Human rights advocates filed a new court petition against the Israeli phone hacking company Cellebrite, urging Israel’s Ministry of Defense to halt the firm’s exports to Hong Kong where security forces have been using the technology in crackdowns against dissidents as China takes greater control of Hong Kong. In July, police…

Microsoft Plans Cloud Contract Push With Foreign Governments After $10 Million JEDI Win

Microsoft is signing deals with foreign governments to offer cloud-infrastructure packages similar to the bundle it assembled for the U.S. Defense Department, according to CNBC, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, cloud offering for the Defense Department provides cloud-based computing and storage resources at all government security classification levels, as well…

Tim Wu: A TikTok Ban Is Overdue

Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, writing in a column for The New York Times: Were almost any country other than China involved, Mr. Trump’s demands would be indefensible. But the threatened bans on TikTok and WeChat, whatever their motivations, can also be seen as an overdue response, a tit for tat, in a long battle for the soul…

Amazon Will Add 3,500 Tech and Corporate Jobs Across Six US Cities

Amazon today announced an upcoming hiring spree set to bring 3,500 jobs to a half-dozen U.S. cities. The news is, of course, particularly notable amid a pandemic that has cause many industries to freeze hiring, while unemployment claims have soared across the country. It also finds the company doing that hiring in cities — many of which have seen citizens looking…