Why aren’t kids getting vaccinated?

How a Democrat plan to reform Section 230 could backfire

Sponsored by Darktrace The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Kids and vaccines 02.08.21 Good morning! Today: why kids aren't getting vaccinated, and the problems with the Democrats' proposals to reform internet regulations. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Why aren’t kids getting vaccinated?     What’s going on: No vaccines have yet been approved for children younger than 16, mainly because kids are much less affected by covid-19 and there are ethical issues about enrolling them in early vaccine trials. But that should soon change. The problem: It seems likely that there will be a delay before children start getting vaccinated in large numbers, and that raises the possibility that children could become a reservoir of the virus in the population, which could continue to seed further outbreaks. That could pose a problem even for vaccinated adults. The outlook: There’s no doubt that children should—and likely will—be vaccinated against covid-19. For a virus that is transmitted by all age groups, a large unvaccinated section of the population will always undermine efforts to achieve herd immunity through vaccination. But for now, high-risk groups—the elderly in particular—have to be a greater priority. Read the full story. —Bianca Nogrady How a Democrat plan to reform Section 230 could backfire The news: On Friday, Democrats unveiled their plans for overhauling Section 230, a law which shields platforms such as Facebook and Twitter from most liability for messages written by their users.  What’s in it: Many of the changes put forward in the bill, which is known as the SAFE TECH Act, are significant. It would strip many of the platforms’ protections away, for example removing immunity for online speech which violated civil rights or cyberstalking laws. The proposals also remove protection for any kind of paid speech, such as advertising. However: Many experts think that the reforms are misguided—and could make the situation far worse. They warn it could further entrench Big Tech’s competitive advantage, and have a chilling effect on legitimate free speech. They also do nothing to address the crucial issue of the negative societal impact of these companies’ business models and incentives. Read the full story. —Bobbie Johnson If you fancy learning more about how top tech execs have navigated these crisis-filled few months, make time to join me on Thursday (virtually) when I’ll be talking to Chris Bedi, the chief information officer of ServiceNow, Archana Deskus, Intel's chief information officer, and Lakshmi Hanspal, Box’s global chief security officer, about how they have navigated this unpredictable, unstable year. Come along to Future Compute, our virtual event all about the future of technology, and learn the lessons for yourself. Hit this link and you’ll get 10% off—so join me! We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + Start your day by watching these pandas sliding in the snow, accompanied by Wuthering Heights.   + Feeling stressed? Be kind to yourself.     + This beaver is adorable. He does cute little squeaks. And he likes playing with plungers.   + An artist pranked San Francisco by pretending you can apply to get a Twitter "blue check" for your home.    + This cockatoo has adopted a human.   + Murmurations of starlings. Sponsor Message A new era of cyber-threat is here, using offensive AI to supercharge its attacks Offensive AI allows attackers to automate reconnaissance, craft tailored impersonation attacks, and even self-propagate to avoid detection. Security teams can prepare for this eventuality by turning to defensive AI to fight back – leveraging autonomous cyber defense that learns on the job to detect and respond to even the most subtle indicators of an attack, no matter where it appears. Tune in for our free webcast with experts from Darktrace, as we explore current and emerging applications of offensive AI, defensive AI, and the ongoing battle of algorithms between the two. Sign up to watch. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The UK variant is now spreading rapidly in the US  It's likely to be the dominant form of covid-19 by the end of next month, the CDC says. (WP $)   + A study found the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine provides less protection against the South African covid-19 variant. (The Guardian)   + As a result, South Africa has halted its rollout of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. (Quartz)   + The UK's vaccine chief on what went right. (La Repubblica)   + China has approved a second covid-19 vaccine. (Bloomberg $)   + The algorithms deciding which Americans get vaccinated. (NYT $)  2 Predictive policing is still racist—whatever data it uses Best to just not use these systems at all. (TR)   3 Myanmar's military rulers have cut the country off from the internet A much-favored tactic to quell protests in dictatorships. (BBC)   4 How to have a better relationship with your screens Endless hours passively scrolling through social media is not doing your mental health any favors. (TR)   5 What's all the fuss about Clubhouse? The invite-only audio chat app is essentially an "anti-Twitter." (OneZero $)   + Clubhouse is gaining a user base in China. (Bloomberg $)   + Trump almost invested in Parler before it shut down. (Buzzfeed)   + Does TikTok have a problem with Black women's bodies? (Quartz)  6 This is just how easy it is to track the Capitol rioters Thing is, this means it's easy to track you, too. (NYT $)   7 Amazon workers vote on whether to unionize today Whichever way the vote goes, this is a really big deal. (TechCrunch)   + Can we agree Big Tech is now too big? (The Guardian)  8 Why "weird food" videos keep going viral 🍝 We seem to have collectively lost the ability to take anything seriously. (The Atlantic)   + Probably the same reason why dogecoin has reached a record high. (CNBC)  9 China's space probe sent back its first image of Mars 🚀 It's set to land in May, if all goes well. (France 24)   10 A 3D-printed house has gone on sale in the US 🏠 Yours for $300,000. (CNN) Unpack the technologies core to intelligent computing.   In just 2 days, join us at Future Compute, to discover how your business can capitalize on the next wave of computing technologies. Plus, join sessions on the MIT Inside Track for exclusive access to the innovation hubs at MIT developing next-gen computing technologies. Hurry, Future Compute is happening soon! Register now. Quote of the day "We’re living in a system where there’s no such thing as justice anymore and the entire world is falling apart. Nothing really matters, so we might as well try to have fun while we’re here." —Jacob Chalfant, a 18-year-old from New Jersey, tells the New York Times why he invested in GameStop. Top image credit: Getty Please send Kate Bush-backed pandas to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Intelligent computing Join us virtually | February 10-11, 2021   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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