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The blind application of machine learning runs the risk of amplifying biases present in data. Such a danger is facing us with word embedding, a popular framework to represent text data as vectors which has been used in many machine learning and natural language processing tasks. We show that even word embeddings trained on Google News articles exhibit female/male gender stereotypes to a disturbing extent. This raises concerns because their widespread use, as we describe, often tends to amplify these biases. Geometrically, gender bias is first shown to be captured by a direction in the word embedding. Second, gender neutral words are shown to be linearly separable from gender definition words in the word embedding. Using these properties, we provide a methodology for modifying an embedding to remove gender stereotypes, such as the association between between the words receptionist and female, while maintaining desired associations such as between the words queen and female. We define metrics to quantify both direct and indirect gender biases in embeddings, and develop algorithms to "debias" the embedding. Using crowd-worker evaluation as well as standard benchmarks, we empirically demonstrate that our algorithms significantly reduce gender bias in embeddings while preserving the its useful properties such as the ability to cluster related concepts and to solve analogy tasks. The resulting embeddings can be used in applications without amplifying gender bias.

"LEAP is a dedicated to giving all internet users access to secure communication. Our focus is on adapting encryption technology to make it easy to use and widely available. Like free speech, the right to whisper is an necessary precondition for a free society. Without it, civil society and political freedom become impossible. As the importance of digital communication for civic participation increases, so does the importance of the ability to digitally whisper. LEAP is devoted to making the ability to whisper available to all internet users."

London's Metropolitan Police have been urged to back down on plans to once again use facial recognition software at next weekend's Notting Hill Carnival. Privacy groups including Big Brother Watch, Liberty and Privacy International have written to police commissioner Cressida Dick (PDF) calling for a U-turn on the use of the tech. Automated facial recognition technology will snap the party-goers' faces, and run them against a database. The aim is to alert cops to people who are banned from the festival or are wanted by the police, presumably so they can take immediate action. The tech was first tested at the festival - where relations between police and revellers are often strained - last year, but it failed to identify anyone.

"Through the design, development and implementation of the Living Room of the Future (LRoTF), we build upon existing work to progress two strands of research. The first explores how media broadcasters may utilise Object-Based Media (OBM) to provide more immersive experiences. Created in conjunction with the BBC R&D the LRofTF utilizes OBM to dynamically customise television content according to audiences' personal, contextual and derived data. OBM works by breaking media into smaller parts or 'objects', describing how they relate to each other semantically, and then reassembling them into personalized programmes. In addition to this media-delivery aspect, the LRoTF explores data protection issues that arise from OBM's use of data by integrating with the privacy-enhancing Databox system. "

Open Humans is a platform that allows you to upload, connect, and privately store your personal data - such as genetic, activity, or social media data. Once you've added data, you can to donate it: you might choose to share some publicly , and you can join and contribute to diverse research projects. Thus, we turn the traditional research pipeline on its head: you are at the center and in control of when you share your data. We want to empower you to explore your data

We've all seen them - windows that pop up before you install a new piece of software, full of legalese. To complete the install, you have to scroll through 60 screens of dense text and then click an "I Agree" button. Sometimes you don't even have to scroll through to click the button. Other times, there is no button because merely opening your new gadget means that you've "agreed" to the chunk of legalese.

"After my phone got stolen, I quickly realized just how much of my personal information and data the thief had instantly obtained. So, I let another phone get stolen. This time my phone was pre-programmed with spyware so I could keep tabs on the thief in order to get to know him. However, to what extent is it possible to truly get to know someone by going through the content of their phone?"

"It's time you put your data to work for you, not them. Mozilla Rally gives you the power to donate your data to research studies that are designed to build new resources, tools, and potentially even policies that empower people just like you to build a better internet and fight back against exploitative tech."

"Individuals should not have to rely on whisper networks for justice. The Tech Worker Handbook is a collection of resources for tech workers who are looking to make more informed decisions about whether to speak out on issues that are in the public interest. Aiming to improve working conditions, direct attention to consumer harms, or otherwise address wrongdoing and abuse should not be a solo or poorly resourced endeavor."

The Well Said project is a five-year initiative led by Yle and the Timeout Foundation. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the best aspects of Finnish conversational culture and create safe environments that foster discussion and conversations. At the same time, the project aims to increase mutual trust and understanding among Finns. The goal of the project is to raise the level of Finnish conversational culture and inspire people to participate in respectful discussions and conversations that take multiple perspectives into account. The Well Said project will run from 2021 to 2026 and include a wide range of partners. The project will be highlighted prominently in Yle's contents and on its partners' numerous platforms.

" Bose's $350 wireless headphones need an app to "get the most" out of them, and this app monitors everything you listen to -- the names of the podcasts, the music, videos, etc -- and sends them to Bose without your permission, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Chicago by Kyle Zak."

Wearable sensor technology has the potential to transform health care and our understanding of our own bodies and habits. The investigation and testing of these sensors in the commercial sector offer an unprecedented opportunity to leverage biometric data, both to improve individual health through the development of better products and to advance the public good through research. However, research with wearable sensor data must be done in a manner that is respectful of ethical considerations and consumer privacy

"Facebook-owned messaging giant WhatsApp has announced a big change to its privacy policy which, once a user accepts its new T&Cs, will see it start to share some user data with its parent company - including for ad-targeting purposes on the latter service."

"A direct interpretation of the Internet of Things concept refers to the usage of standard Internet protocols to allow for human-to-thing or thing-to-thing communication."

23andMe announced what Forbes reports is only the first of ten deals with big biotech companies: Genentech will pay up to $60 million for access to 23andMe's data to study Parkinson's. You think 23andMe was about selling fun DNA spit tests for $99 a pop? Nope, it's been about selling your data all along.

"Data Sense is a research experiment at Intel Labs. We wanted to see if it is possible to make data more accessible to those of us without stats degrees. To test out some ideas, we built this tool. "

"This discussion paper explores the rapidly evolving landscape of how we behave and interact online, and how businesses respond. The internet has transformed how we live, work and relate to one another. We can make 'friends' around the world without ever saying 'hello', compare products from dozens of shops without leaving the house, or plan a date with a stranger without breaking a sweat. Overall it has proven a powerful force for good; delivering significant benefits to the economy and to consumers in the form of greater choice, personalisation, and incredible convenience."

"The BBC is doing cutting-edge research into Visual Perceptive Media, virtual reality and facial coding technologies. But do we want our shows to be tailored to our age, gender, and tastes? And what happens to all that data?"

"The Data Transfer Initiative invests dedicated engineering and product resources to the design and implementation of data transfer tools. These contributions will continue to be maintained in an open source GitHub repository to encourage broader adoption of and contributions to the code base"

"If you keep your fitness-related New Year's resolutions in 2015, it'll likely be thanks to the new wave of devices and apps that have taken monitoring things like newborn sleep patterns and blood oxygenation from geek hobby to mass-market juggernaut. But what happens when companies have access to the most mundane details about our bodies? "