Contractors bid to build President Trump's wall along Mexico border, Internet Service Providers and your online data, new music from Residente and more.
Contractors hoping to build Trump's border wall could face hostilities on the ground
It's deadline day for contractors hoping to take on one of the most controversial jobs in the country.
That job: building a border wall with Mexico.
The contract could be lucrative. But the winning bidders will have to think about far more than steel and masonry.
For more, Take Two spoke to Elliot Spagat with the Associated Press.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
Does Skid Row need its own neighborhood council?
The people of downtown L.A. will vote this week on whether Skid Row should create its own neighborhood council.
L.A.'s councils were created so residents and stakeholders have a direct, organized way to tell city hall what should happen in their neighborhood.
And while Skid Row residents have a place at the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council (DLANC), some argue that it will be easier to advance their own issues if Skid Row broke away.
Eddie Kim, senior reporter at L.A. Downtown News, joined Take Two to explain the divide.
Interview highlights
How much power does any neighborhood council have?
They're kind of a medium between a neighborhood and city hall. They don't have real legislative power; it's always an advisory board.
But they do have a budget of $37,000 [provided by the city], and can be kind of the voice for a diverse array of stakeholders in a certain area.
What would be the proposed boundaries of a Skid Row Neighborhood Council?
One of the controversial parts of this neighborhood council formation attempt is what its boundaries are.
Initially what's being discussed is 3rd St to the north – some people consider that part of Little Tokyo.
Then there's Main St to the west, which some people would consider part of the Historic Core neighborhood – a slightly more up-and-coming, hipster neighborhood.
To the south, it'd be 7th St. To the east, it would be Alameda, which is kind of the edge of the industrial district.
Why do some people of Skid Row feel like their concerns are being looked over in the Downtown L.A. Neighborhood Council?
The chairman of the [Skid Row neighborhood council] formation committee, Jeff Page ... has actually served on the Downtown L.A. Neighborhood Council Board.
He's said that the day-to-day things are not getting dealt with. [Page would say] all these other communities in downtown L.A. that are a part of the neighborhood council, they just don't have the same concerns as someone on the street or someone who's getting drug counseling.
What's on the agenda wish-list for people behind the proposed Skid Row neighborhood council?
One of the biggest problems or issues is safety in terms of housing.
Whether that's a shelter or a more permanent setting, a lot of people who live in Skid Row complain about conditions in buildings that are supposed to be well-maintained and well-secured. ...
Another one is green space. How can you create a safe green space for people to gather and not be bothered or have safety issues?
What do opponents of a Skid Row neighborhood council say about the idea?
There's a lot of doom and gloom about whether a Skid Row neighborhood council will try to suppress a project from happening, or will they not want a business to go into the community.
The business community and the development community, especially, seems to be nervous about an isolation of Skid Row in a time where it's seeing a lot of economic pressure around the edges.
Listen to more of the interview by clicking the blue audio player above.
Has Silicon Valley gerrymandered itself?
The tech sector has historically been focused in a few select coastal areas in New York, Massachusetts and California.
But that may have put them at a disadvantage, especially now, in the Trump era. That's the subject of a recent article by Issie Lapowsky, a senior writer at WIRED.
She spoke to Libby Denkmann about how power brokers of Silicon Valley have isolated themselves in coastal enclaves and lost touch with the average American, what CEO's are stepping out in Middle America and more.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Post FCC rollback: 3 things to know about internet privacy
There's a lot of buzz going around about internet privacy right now. It's a longstanding debate– who's tracking your online activity and what are they doing with that data?
But for some, this conversation and its correlated anxieties were revived last week when congress voted to reverse a few rules that the Federal Communications Commission was scheduled to enact.
Back in October of 2016, the FCC voted to put a few protections in place to make it harder for Internet Service Providers or ISPs to sell your data. In short, ISPs (companies sell you your internet connection like AT&T and Charter) would need your permission to sell your search history. That data is bought by companies so they can market directly to you.
But last week, Congress voted to rollback those provisions before they even took effect. And last night, President Trump signed it into law.
Since those now overturned FCC rules weren't actually in effect yet, nothing has actually changed about how your data is utilized. Nevertheless, online tools intended to protect user privacy are gaining popularity.
To get a better sense of how ISPs use data about personal online activity and how privacy tools work, Take Two's Libby Denkmann spoke with Josephine Wolff. She's a professor of public policy and computing security at the Rochester Institute of Technology. And she's written about this for the online publication, Quartz.
So, here are 3 things you should know about internet privacy:
1. Noise injection tools create data static but don't eliminate data collection
Most of the ‘noise injection’ tools are designed to create a lot of automated, fake activity that looks like you were doing a search every 5 seconds for something random on Google. And that makes it harder if you're selling all of your data as a set, to pick out what you're actually interested. How do I profile you as an individual because there are these thousands and thousands of searches or random websites being opened that make it more confusing and make it harder to profile effectively.
If you're dealing with a simple advertising algorithm that looks at what website you visited and tries to advertises based on that, then I think, certainly, this could confuse that a little bit. But I also think that a lot of this ‘noise’ is easy to detect both by people who are analyzing the data, and also by search engines. If you're doing a random search every 5 seconds, then search engines are probably going to notice your computer is sending these searches at very regular intervals that doesn't look like human activity. And you're going to see some pushback from them as well because they also need good data about what people actually want to search for and what they actually want to click on to build their product.
2. VPNs can help protect your information but are not a cure-all.
Virtual Private Networks essentially mean that on top of your Internet Service Provider which is proving connectivity to your house, you then have another service– your VPN provider who you connect to through your service provider. And they then process your other connections to the internet. So your ISP can't necessarily see what you're doing because you're doing it through your VPN. They can see that you connected to a VPN, but they don't necessarily know what happened after that.
That's a good way of sort of shielding some of your information from your service provider. On the other hand, you have to trust your VPN because now they have all of that data about what you're doing. And also, there are some restrictions on say, what kinds of services you can use VPNs with. So, it's hard to do something like watch Netflix through a VPN because they're concerned about people coming in from different countries and accessing movies that they may not have the copyright to in those countries. So there are definitely limitations but it's certainly one way to try and protect yourself.
3. Nothing will keep your search history totally private.
That's a plain as you can say it.
Now that we have laws in place contrary to the FCC's intentions to regulate how data is used, as a country, we have a philosophical question on our hands.
You kind of go back to square one after this vote and say, do we think that in this country people have any control over the online data they put out in the world? And we had been moving in a direction where it seemed like the answer to that was going to be yes. And now I think, we're going to have to revisit that and say, is that actually true that our government thinks people should have some control– should have some ability to decide who collects their data and how it's used? And are we in that case going to try and put that into regulation or are we just going to decide companies get to do whatever they want with our data?
*Quotes edited for clarity.
To hear the full interview with Josephine Wolff, click on the blue Media Player above.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Residente and Dario Black
Every week we keep you musically informed with the latest selections and reviews.
Today we hear from music journalist
.
Here are his picks
Artist: Residente
Album: Residente
Many people know the artist Residente from the group Calle 13. Justino says this album, his first solo effort, is a departure for Puerto Rican rapper. He's transcended musically without compromising his unique take on music from simply strong writing, socially conscious offerings and an ability to connect with a worldwide audience.
With “Somos Anormales” (We’re Abnormal), he offers an electrifying, energetic and launching song for this visual album, which is literally based on his DNA. This is the concept and it seems to be working for many fans who appreciate this musical journey that has a global theme.
“Somos Anormales” features Siberian musicians from central Asia and was the first single for the album, which just went on sale.
The song “Desencuentro,” about two lovers, features French actress SoKo and opens with a simple introduction of piano keys before Residente and SoKo take off, melting into each other’s back-and-fourth vocals in Spanish and French.
The song delivers a very point of view, a rich cadence anchored by piano, violins, guitars and the French horn, among other instruments. The song ends abruptly and that decision works beautifully in order to tell the story of the kind of love that can be grand, but imperfect at the same time.
Artist: Dario Black
Album: Upcoming album, Temporary Love
Dario Black is an indie pop/electronica artist who’s been gaining momentum these last few years. He draws inspiration from artists such as Enrique Iglesias and Shakira.
The Colombian/Venezuelan singer is based here in Southern California and he’s currently working on a new album but has released “Don’t Let Go” recently and previously also released the Calvin Harris cover “How Deep Is Your Love.”
Dario auditioned on “American Idol” at earlier in his career and he didn’t make the cut, but Simon Cowell told him to keep working on the music, so Dario took his advice and has been working to find his voice in music and that development is clearly seen with this new music especially "Don't Let Go."
As an independent recording artist the struggle is real, but there are many Dario’s out there working everyday and it’s very encouraging to see Dario have this DIY approach, which is the way to go if you want to get your music heard. The days of a label picking an artist up like the old days is not the norm anymore (but it can still happen), but yes, artists like Dario are getting creative in the business sense, finding their way. "Don't Let Go" is gaining traction on Spotify and was recently featured as a Top 40 Dance Songs playlist, which I think is a turning point for Dario. Looking forward to more.
(click on the blue arrow to hear the entire segment)