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  • OPINION

    That special human 'thing' will always beat AI

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 19/12/2016

    » This year's news about what artificial intelligence can do in the arts has been both exciting and scary. Neural networks have learned to paint like masters and compose sophisticated music. Those of us in creative endeavours might be as endangered by technological advances as blue-collar workers are often said to be -- though we are protected by certain limitations that technology is never likely to overcome.

  • OPINION

    Yes, Russia abused Facebook. But did it actually work?

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/12/2018

    » Russia's propaganda operations during the 2016 US presidential election were broader than previously thought, according to two recently published studies. But they don't provide proof the influence campaign was as effective as the Kremlin may have hoped. Both reports, based on data provided by social networks, combine a distrust of the companies' disclosures and a naive trust in the metrics they tout.

  • OPINION

    Merkel tries not to go out with a bang

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/11/2018

    » It could have been a call for decisive action by a leader no longer tethered by domestic politics. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel's appearance at the European Parliament on Tuesday was nothing of the sort: Ms Merkel unbound is the same cautious, gradualist Merkel.

  • OPINION

    Google breakup would fit the EU's logic

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 24/04/2018

    » On Thursday, the European Parliament backed the idea of breaking up Google. It doesn't have the power to do it, but the legislators' decision is a notable part of a backlash against the remedial action Google took after the European Commission fined it US$2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in shopping search. That backlash could lead to dire consequences for the search giant.

  • OPINION

    EU privacy rules risk giving Google even more power

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 03/05/2018

    » The disingenuous way companies are attempting to comply with the letter, not the spirit, of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is only part of the problem with the new privacy rule, which goes into effect on May 25. For publishers already forced to accept Google's near monopoly on programmatic advertising on their sites, the new regulation could make things worse.

  • OPINION

    Turnover tax on global technology giants is sheer folly

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/09/2017

    » Ten European Union countries' finance ministers have signed a letter calling for a tax on the revenues of multinational tech companies that have been hiding away their European profits. But European leaders should proceed with caution, because a turnover levy may not be the best solution to this multi-billion-dollar problem.

  • OPINION

    Blockchain test could change Russia

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/06/2017

    » Russian President Vladimir Putin and his economic team have long been under the impression that, to wean the country off its oil dependence, they needed a major leap in some specific area of technology that wasn't yet dominated by Western, Chinese or Japanese tech giants. Their latest hopes are being pegged to the Ethereum blockchain platform.

  • OPINION

    US tech must beat Trump's policies

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/02/2017

    » Few tech workers come from the seven countries affected by President Donald Trump's entry ban. But the 97 US companies, most of them from the tech sector, that lent their support to the State of Washington's lawsuit aiming to block Mr Trump's executive order, have good reasons to fight it every step of the way.

  • OPINION

    Time to avoid Google and Facebook

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 09/02/2017

    » A Philadelphia court has made the unfortunate decision to reopen the legal debate on whether the US has the right to access e-mails stored on foreign servers if they belong to US companies. If Magistrate Thomas Rueter's ruling stands, anyone using US-based internet companies will have to live with the knowledge that, as far as the US government is concerned, it's America wherever they operate.

  • OPINION

    Catch some Pokemon and get a glimpse of the future

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/07/2016

    » One of the interesting debates over Pokemon Go, the addictive smartphone game that 9.5 million Americans play -- and probably a lot more than that now -- is whether it's truly augmented reality (AR), an up-and-coming companion technology to virtual reality (VR).

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