CYBER SECURITY
U.S. intelligence reports ranked cyber threats as the top danger facing the country for the first time in April, but tensions have been running high about the government’s ability to protect digital assets and intelligence for years.
SCIENCE IN SOCIETY
The budget sequestration is raising interesting questions about the purpose of science, in particular, on whether the pursuit of scientific knowledge can ever be usefully separated from the question of larger societal concerns.
CYBER SECURITY
Shodan is a search engine that finds unprotected devices connected to the internet. That hydroelectric dam control systems are just as vulnerable as web cams and lap tops shines a light on the risks that come along with the convenience of the internet.
SCIENCE POLITICS
Why does science so often drive irksome political debates? It could be the way science helps us better understand the boundary of what activities ought to be considered “public,” and therefore an appropriate object of government regulation, and what is “private.”
SEX SCIENCE
Despite the increasing popularity, sophistication, and availability of assisted reproductive technologies, the rights and responsibilities surrounding those who take part in these processes are still largely undefined.
ONILINE POLICY
A bipartisan bill introduced last week would reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and grant new privacy protections for email and other data stored on the cloud.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Information technology can empower individuals and communities to prevent and disrupt gender-based violence by connecting victims with needed services and support networks.
OPEN ACCESS MOVEMENT
Who profits from academic publishing? It’s not the authors who do the research or academic institutions where they work—it is a small number of for-profit academic publishing firms who are lobbying hard to keep a stranglehold on their profitable roles as middlemen between academia and the public.
TECHNOLOGY POLICY
A White House We The People petition just passed the 100,000 signature response threshold asks the Obama administration to reverse a Library of Congress decision to prevent consumers from unlocking their cell phones without carrier permission.
OPEN ACCESS MOVEMENT
A new bill to expand access to public information and the results of publicly funded research is a step toward the open access world that Aaron Swartz once envisioned.
CYBER SECURITY
In light of yesterday’s executive order and the recent spate of cyber attacks, we take a look back at past cyber attacks, and what our government has done to fortify both the public and private sectors against hackers foreign and domestic.
CYBER SECURITY
The very agency responsible for regulating online communications was forced to resort to outside assistance to secure its networks, and still failed key tests of cyber security.
CYBER SECURITY
Amidst major cyber security breaches at the New York Times and elsewhere, a bipartisan bill would aid intelligence agencies, but come at the cost of Internet users’ privacy.
CYBER SECURITY
Your online habits may be less dangerous than you think if they involve the less savory aspects of the web. Instead, “The dangers are often hidden in plain sight,” says a new report by the Internet technology company Cisco.
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY
With a new Defense Department directive, we move one step closer to autonomous weapon systems capable of killing without human oversight. Now is the time to decide if this is a path we want to tread.
ONLINE PRIVACY
Google revealed this week that it will require warrants for users’ email content and data stored in the cloud, imposing hurdles to government access and going considerably beyond the scope of a 1986 electronic privacy law.
INTERNET POLICY
Next time online “hacktivists” want to honor Aaron Swartz, they should choose a tactic that celebrates his work to build the internet up, not try to tear the place down.
OPEN ACCESS
JSTOR announced an expansion of its limited open access program two days before Aaron Swartz’s suicide, but does the academic publishing crisis warrant a more significant response in the wake of his death?
STEM COMMUNICATIONS
A White House budget official announced Friday that the U.S. government will not build an orbital planet-destroying battle-station, but gave a shout-out to real-life space achievements.
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
Though they don’t get as much media attention as entitlements or gun control, the still-looming automatic cuts to federal science and engineering investments are perhaps more dangerous to our long-term economic prosperity.
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.