<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Civic Hall</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:info@civichall.org">info@civichall.org</a>></span><br>Date: Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 3:46 PM<br>Subject: Civicist's First Post: The Zuckularity<br>To: Michel <<a href="mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com">michelsub2004@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br><u></u>
<div marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" style="margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#f2f2f2;height:100%!important;width:100%!important">
<span class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnPreviewText" style="display:none;font-size:0px;line-height:0px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden">Tech and politics collide at congressional scale today; we get sucked down the black hole of Zuckerberg takes; questions someone should ask Congress</span>
<center>
<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" id="m_-8925751886903255220bodyTable" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#f2f2f2;height:100%!important;width:100%!important">
<tbody><tr>
<td align="center" valign="top" id="m_-8925751886903255220bodyCell" style="margin:0;padding:20px;border-top:0;height:100%!important;width:100%!important">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templateContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse;border:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templatePreheader" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:#f2f2f2;border-top:0;border-bottom:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220preheaderContainer" style="padding-top:9px"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnCodeBlock" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner">
<p class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContent" style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#4e4d55;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:100%;text-align:right">April 10, 2018</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templateHeader" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:#2f2e33;border-top:0;border-bottom:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220headerContainer"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlock" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="padding:0px" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockInner">
<table align="left" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContentContainer" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody><tr>
<td class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContent" valign="top" style="padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0">
<img align="left" alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/0df9d44a-adb3-4b52-a6c9-f02bf5d327f6.jpg" width="600" style="max-width:600px;padding-bottom:0;display:inline!important;vertical-align:bottom;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImage">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><table class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlock" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td style="padding:0px" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockInner" valign="top">
<table class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContentContainer" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left">
<tbody><tr>
<td class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContent" style="padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;text-align:center" valign="top">
<a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=fefba3dff6&e=222dfb6267" title="" style="word-wrap:break-word" target="_blank">
<img alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/db930c00-8a59-4ae9-9f48-d6f6f8dbb85c.png" style="max-width:600px;padding-bottom:0;display:inline!important;vertical-align:bottom;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImage" width="600" align="middle">
</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templateBody" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:#ffffff;border-top:0;border-bottom:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220bodyContainer"><table class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlock" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td style="padding:0px" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageBlockInner" valign="top">
<table class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContentContainer" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left">
<tbody><tr>
<td class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImageContent" style="padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0" valign="top">
<a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=252305fef2&e=222dfb6267" title="" style="word-wrap:break-word" target="_blank">
<img alt="First Post" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/bd4e81ae-7d1b-47bd-8c23-57d9d97c3a61.png" style="max-width:600px;padding-bottom:0;display:inline!important;vertical-align:bottom;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnImage" width="600" align="left">
</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlock" style="min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top:9px">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="max-width:100%;min-width:100%;border-collapse:collapse" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContentContainer">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContent" style="padding:0px 18px 9px;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;line-height:150%;text-align:left">
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left"><strong>Micah L. Sifry</strong></p>
<strong>The Zuckularity*</strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Today, the Boy King testifies before Congress, starting with the Senate Judiciary Committee at 2:15ET. According to Facebook CEO <strong>Mark Zuckerberg</strong>'s <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=40d4cd469c&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">pre-released testimony</a> that he plans to give the House Committee on Energy and Commerce tomorrow, he's going to focus on the steps the company is taking to address the abilities of third-parties to access the profile data of millions of Facebook users and to make it harder for Russians and others to spread disinformation across the site. Not covered: what Facebook employees embedded with the Trump campaign actually did, the use of Facebook's targeting tools to discriminate against minorities, its targeting of children, its anti-competitive penchant of buying upstart platforms that threaten its dominance, the use of its platform to incite genocidal violence in places like Myanmar and <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=88efb9d81f&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">now we learn Sri Lanka</a>, etc.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left"><strong>Franklin Foer</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=3ed25c9aab&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">writes for The Atlantic</a> that Zuckerberg's testimony will mark the day "Silicon Valley no longer floats above the world." He adds, "One of the salutary benefits of this backlash is that it stands to dent the culture of the company. It creates a new expectation that its employees should be more questioning, less thoughtless about human beings. The congressional flaying will show that there’s, at the very least, a social price to be paid for creating such a careless product."</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Flaying? Let's lower our expectations a little. If only appearing before Congress meant something like what Foer writes. The odds of any member of the committee understanding what Zuckerberg means when he says, per his written testimony, that "we're restricting more APIs like groups and events" are nil. Here's Senator <strong>Dianne Feinstein</strong> (D-CA), <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=e433c2128f&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">getting ready to flay Zuckerberg</a> after she met privately with him as he made the rounds on the Hill yesterday: "He's a very nice young man. He's very young. And he has 27,000 employees. And it's - that's amazing. He's obviously smart. He obviously knows what he's doing and he has a very pleasant personality. He's not hard-edged in any way that I saw."</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Of all the <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=15ff48e16b&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">great questions for Zuckerberg prepared by Privacy International</a>, this one could genuinely cut through a lot of the BS: "You post regularly on Facebook yourself. Is your personal data protected beyond the level available to everyone else? Are you 1 of the 87million people whose data has been accessed by Cambridge Analytica - if not, what was it that kept your data safe?" Even a dimwitted Member of Congress like Feinstein could ask it.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Technosociologist<strong> Zeynep Tufekci</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=6c46e1d853&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">wisely advises not focusing on what questions Congress asks Zuckerberg</a>, and instead urges it to take action to force platform companies to get meaningful informed consent from their users, to put time limits on how long they hold user data, and to also regulate how they use aggregated data.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">A question I wish someone would ask Members of Congress: Will you stop using Facebook to hold formerly public events like town-hall meetings? If not, why are you forcing your constituents to give their personal information to a private corporation in order to interact with you?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Considering the role of private foundations in America as one of the last sources of theoretically countervailing power in an age of massive media and economic concentration, this is big news: The Social Science Research Council announced yesterday that it is partnering with Facebook and a group of seven major foundations to develop and fund independent research on the social network's impact on society, starting with elections. Here's the <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=0f207ead5a&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">statement</a> from Facebook VP of communications and public policy, <strong>Elliot Schrage</strong>, and director of research, <strong>David Ginsberg</strong>. "The focus will be entirely forward-looking," aiming to understand Facebook's impact on upcoming elections, "and to inform our future product and policy decisions," they write. A commission made of "respected academic experts" will develop and oversee the research agenda and independently select grantees whose work will be funded by the foundations. "When appropriate," the researchers will also be given access to "privacy-protected data from Facebook."</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Here's SSRC president <strong>Alondra Nelson</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=be508d3cf6&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">on the new initiative</a>. She notes, "SSRC-appointed review committees will actively engage with technologists, advocates, and ethicists to develop 21st century academic standards for anonymized digital data use—with particular emphasis on the potential impacts on vulnerable groups by the dynamics the initiative studies. While Facebook and the users of its data are bound by the data access and privacy laws where they operate, the SSRC will have no qualms about withdrawing from this initiative should we deem it necessary."</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Not stated: whether the commission or its researchers will be able to audit Facebook's algorithms, to determine, for example, if the voter megaphone tool is actually being shown to all voters neutrally. Microsoft Research's <strong>Tarton Gillespie</strong><a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=290b63d098&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"> also points out that researchers need to study Facebook's engineers, design choices, business model and user policies</a>, not just the data.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">The foundations backing the SSRC-Facebook effort are the Hewlett Foundation, Sloan Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Democracy Fund, Knight Foundation, Arnold Foundation, and Omidyar Network. One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong, as the song goes. While six of those foundations do a lot of credible work focused on broadly advancing democracy in America, Koch, himself a former member of the John Birch Society, funds many things, including advancing white supremacy, neoConfederate academics, and broad attacks on voting rights and civil rights, as <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=5786329cde&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">this recent report from UnKochMyCampus details</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">"Zuckerberg's dilemmas are not the dilemmas of a corporation but the dilemmas of a king," <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=588872c302&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">write</a> <strong>Henry Farrell, Margaret Levi and Tim O'Reilly</strong> in Vox. Gee, could he be the king of a country called Facebookistan?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Buried deep in this <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=2a3f236c2d&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">recently released interview of Zuckerberg</a> by Freakonomics writer <strong>Stephen Dubner</strong> is this fascinating admission: "There’s interesting research now that shows that the average American has fewer than three close friends who they would turn to in a crisis. So one of the questions that I asked inside our company, and I started a team to work on this is, 'Well, can we build some products or services that make it so that the average person has one more close friend?'” </p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Also this statement from the same interview is worth meditating on: "One of the interesting challenges that you find running a company or a community at scale [<em>running a community at scale?!</em>] is there are people who want things that are completely conflicting. So there are certain people who want us to share more information, and then there are a lot of people who really don’t. For some of these social decisions that we have to make, I find that the right place to be is when you’re getting yelled at from both sides equally." Paging <strong>Jay Rosen</strong>?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left"><strong>Robinson Meyer</strong> of The Atlantic talked to Mark Zuckerberg and <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=68006a598e&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">didn't learn anything new</a>, other than the unsurprising fact that the embattled CEO isn't planning to leave the company he started.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Last week a group of civil society organizations in Myanmar wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg complaining of how poorly the company has responded to the rise of sectarian violence there, and he responded with a personal email, <strong>Kevin Roose and Paul Mozur</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=310e8568d3&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">report</a> for The New York Times. “It’s great that he’s engaging personally with this, but the stuff he’s talking about is really not that much different from what they’ve been saying for the past few years,” said <strong>Jes Petersen</strong>, the chief executive of Phandeeyar, the innovation lab that organized the letter to Zuckerberg. To everyone's credit, the exchange is now public and the groups are pressing the company to do a lot more to address the problem.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Here are <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=d6c906fafe&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">some important questions</a> from election law expert <strong>Rick Hasen</strong> on the challenges Facebook will face with its new promise to increase the transparency of election-related ads.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">If you still don't understand how Facebook's ad targeting system can allow outside advertisers to glean incredibly personal information from people sent to them via Facebook, read <strong>Michael Jones</strong>, the former chief technology advocate for Google, <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=52f98da953&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">explaining the nuts-and-bolts</a> to <strong>James Fallows</strong> of The Atlantic.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Some big institutional investors want Facebook to replace Zuck as chairman, <strong>Jen McGregor </strong><a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=bcb451d72f&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">reports for The Washington Post</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">In case you were worried that former Clinton pollster <strong>Mark Penn </strong>wasn't still stupid, <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=5644e6b089&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">here he is opining for CBS Marketwatch</a> that "I do not believe that the Facebook issues in any way compromised the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It’s unclear whether Cambridge Analytica did much, if anything, for the Trump campaign."</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">In other news, maybe it's time we paid a bit more attention to <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=2705466f9e&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">stuff like this</a>?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Oh, and <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=08ab1bc432&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">perhaps a big deal</a>?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left"><strong>Media matters</strong>: Voters in so-called news deserts—place with minimal newspaper subscriptions, print or online—voted for Donald Trump in 2016 in higher-than expected numbers, Politico's <strong>Shawn Musgrave and Matthew Nussbaum</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=e7938c6735&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">report</a>. In effect, they suggest that Trump's reliance on social media served him best in places where news consumers were least likely to have independent media habits providing factual correctives.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Related: Crack investigative journalists <strong>Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson</strong> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=56f08ab1e4&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">are leaving ProPublica</a> to try to scale up more "tech-driven investigations" by building their own newsroom. Godspeed!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">Attend: Organizing 2.0 is holding its annual conference this Friday and Saturday in NYC. <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=6a4a2ecbdf&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Register here.</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin:1em 0;padding:0;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">*Hat tip to <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=5d3b598a4e&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><strong>Mark Pesce</strong> for the term</a>. We promise, dear readers, to pay more attention to other topics in future days. If Facebook will let us.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContent" style="padding-top:9px;padding-right:18px;padding-bottom:9px;padding-left:18px;color:#2f2e33;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:150%;text-align:left">
<div style="text-align:right"><a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=8b86477604&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><img align="none" height="25" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/493562af-d3f2-4b07-90c3-0f434f5f2e44.png" style="width:25px;height:25px;margin:0px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="25"></a><span style="line-height:20.7999992370605px"> <a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=388ce7c0e4&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><img align="none" height="25" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/f4c11bd4-de79-4085-a3d8-584173ba8f7f.png" style="width:25px;height:25px;margin:0px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="25"></a> </span><a href="http://us9.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=f1a50ea17f&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#c6422a;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:20.7999992370605px"><img align="none" alt="Forward to a Friend" height="25" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/6f7d022d-b48c-4c4b-ac39-1b23513d6156.png" style="width:25px;height:25px;margin:0px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="25"></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templateColumns" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:#ffffff;border-top:0;border-bottom:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td align="left" valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220columnsContainer" width="50%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220templateColumn" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220leftColumnContainer"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
<td align="left" valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220columnsContainer" width="50%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220templateColumn" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220rightColumnContainer"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="m_-8925751886903255220templateFooter" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:#ffffff;border-top:0;border-bottom:0">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220footerContainer" style="padding-bottom:9px"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContent" style="padding-top:9px;padding-right:18px;padding-bottom:9px;padding-left:18px;color:#ffffff;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:125%;text-align:left">
<center>
<hr color="#4e4d55" height="2px;">
<div style="line-height:3px"><br>
<img align="none" height="31" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/b1f242b7-390c-4a85-8cb1-4fc8b6198da6.png" style="width:124px;height:31px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="124"><br><br><br>
<table align="center" cellspacing="10" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="150 px">
<div align="text-align: center"><a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=1b43e4f473&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#2f2e33;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><img align="none" alt="Civic Hall" height="78" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/9b5aa436-9f10-415c-87e8-0bbf5e3da8e6.png" style="width:80px;height:78px;margin:0px 0px 0px 20px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="150"></a></div>
</td>
<td><a href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=97ce03f9b2&e=222dfb6267" style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#2f2e33;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><img align="center" height="84" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4/images/86dff9ce-bff9-483d-915d-d4eac08ef7dc.png" style="width:150px;height:84px;border:0;outline:none;text-decoration:none" width="150"></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</center>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody><tr>
<td valign="top" class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextContent" style="padding-top:9px;padding-right:18px;padding-bottom:9px;padding-left:18px;color:#ffffff;font-family:Arial,'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:125%;text-align:left">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><table class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnCodeBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tbody class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td class="m_-8925751886903255220mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top">
<div class="m_-8925751886903255220social" style="background:#fff;text-align:center;padding:15px;color:#2f2e33;font:14px/50px normal arial;line-height:18px">
<div style="font-size:10px;line-height:14px;text-align:left;font-family:arial,san-serif"><em>Copyright © 2018 Civic Hall, All rights reserved.</em><br>
<a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=118+West+22nd+Street,+12th+Fl,+New+York,+NY&entry=gmail&source=g">118 West 22nd Street, 12th Fl, New York, NY</a><br>
<a class="m_-8925751886903255220utilityLink" href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=9c16fc5171&e=222dfb6267&c=f1a50ea17f" style="color:#2f2e33;word-wrap:break-word" target="_blank">unsubscribe</a> <a class="m_-8925751886903255220utilityLink" href="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/profile?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=9c16fc5171&e=222dfb6267" style="color:#2f2e33;word-wrap:break-word" target="_blank">update subscription</a><br>
You are receiving this email because you've subscribed to First Post</div></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</center>
<img src="https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/open.php?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=f1a50ea17f&e=222dfb6267" height="1" width="1"></div>
</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br>Connect: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.ning.com" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.ning.com</a>; Discuss: <a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank">http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation</a><br><br>Updates: <a href="http://del.icio.us/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://del.icio.us/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br><br><br><br></div>
</div>