Researchers: Voting machines can be easily hacked

As it turns out, hacking an election isn't as hard as you'd think.

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Image.
  • A group of hackers has demonstrated that many common voting machines are easily compromised.
  • The group presented their findings to Congress, where election security is increasingly a serious concern.
  • The question of how secure voting machines are isn't new, but the current political climate gives it new meaning.
Keep reading Show less
united states politics news democracy

Two philosophers' views on California's homelessness epidemic

How can Innovation Central not manage to solve its own sprawling homelessness?

Photo credit: Paul Chesne / Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
  • The housing crisis in California has reached new heights, with more than 100,000 people without homes.
  • To some, the dichotomy between the innovation the state is known for and its denizens ongoing inability to solve the problem is boggling.
  • A couple of famous philosophers can show us how this problem isn't actually as odd as it seems.
Keep reading Show less
philosophy economics news united states homelessness

Too many people think satirical news is real

Americans' inability to agree on what is true and what is false is a problem for democracy.

KMazur/WireImage

In July, the website Snopes published a piece fact-checking a story posted on The Babylon Bee, a popular satirical news site with a conservative bent.

Keep reading Show less
news trust politics democracy internet journalism

YouTube fined $170 million for harvesting data from children

But some say the settlement is a slap on the wrist.

Thomas Trutschel/Contributor
  • The Federal Trade Commission and New York's attorney general reached an agreement with Google in which YouTube must pay a fine and bolster protections for children's privacy on its platform.
  • Now, YouTube creators who created child-directed content will have to designate videos as such, and personalized ads will no longer be allowed on such content.
  • YouTube said these changes will take place in about four months.
Keep reading Show less
internet privacy united states news

Climate deniers get more airtime than experts

There's fairness, and then there's craziness.

Image source: SaveLightStudio/Shutterstock/Big Think
  • There's no dispute that climate change is real and we're causing it.
  • Climate coverage coverage gives non-expert outsized influence.
  • Non-scientists with mere opinions get as much or more exposure as experts.
Keep reading Show less
climate change news tv trust education communication media