Greetings, Future Tensers,
More than 150 countries and 300,000 machines later, many in the digitally connected world breathed a sigh of relief that amateur mistakes kept WannaCry—the ransomware that swept the globe earlier this month—from inflicting its full destructive power. But, as Rob Morgus points out, the digital pandemic shows us that it’s easier than ever to launch a large-scale cyberattack. And, he writes, we need to make serious counterproliferation and contingency plans before the next one strikes.
Part of that involves understanding just how predictable malware like WannaCry was. We’ve got pieces on how hackers schemed about the exploit on the dark web before WannaCry was unleashed, how the National Security Agency’s decision not to disclose it and other vulnerabilities it knew about leaves users at risk, and how software patches are harder to deploy than they seem.
Elsewhere on Future Tense, we’ve been looking at the cruelty and altruism shown by strangers on social media. Molly Olmstead wrote about the Twitter users who heartlessly posted fake pleas for help for fictional missing friends and relatives in the wake of the Manchester bombing. At the other end of the spectrum, Jacob Brogan delved into those viral posts soliciting living organ donations on Facebook. As it turns out, those outpourings of generosity come with complications.
Here are other things we read while scheming about how we’ll use Google’s new vision-based search engine:
- We’ve created a monster: The most resonant science fiction doesn’t predict the future, writes Cory Doctorow. It shows us that though technological change may be inevitable, the ways we build and use it are not. The essay is excerpted from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds, edited by Arizona State University’s David H. Guston, Ed Finn, and Jason Scott Robert.
- Licensing your DNA: Jacob Brogan explores the thorny consumer data protection issues behind popular home genetic tests.
- Shift on neutral: Despite plans to roll back Obama-era regulations, Mike Godwin and Tom Struble argue that the FCC’s new approach to net neutrality doesn’t necessarily mean an end to an open internet.
- Rouhani revolution?: Iran’s recently re-elected president ran—and won—on a platform of liberalization and openness. But what of his pledges to make the country’s internet access easier, freer, and more affordable for its citizens?
- Robot-free sidewalks: Ian Prasad Philbrick describes one San Francisco representative’s fight against rolling food-delivery robots—and explains how it’s probably too late to put the brakes on the autonomous delivery vehicles.
Face-blowing-a-kiss goodbye to Google’s weird little blob emojis,
Kirsten Berg
for Future Tense
Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.
