How Certain Algorithms to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
18th-century German forest management explains why government websites make you want to pull your hair out
Aaron Sankin
Investigative Reporter
Aaron Sankin was an investigative reporter at The Markup until August 2024.
Aaron Sankin reports on the intersection of technology and inequality. While at The Markup, he focused on issues ranging from the digital divide and social media platform governance to law enforcement technology and car insurance regulation.
Before The Markup, he covered online extremism for the Center for Investigative Reporting, where he launched the Hate Report newsletter and co-created the Hate Sleuths citizen journalism initiative. Before that, he was a senior staff writer at the Daily Dot and a founding editor of the Huffington Post’s San Francisco vertical.
Aaron’s reporting has won various journalism awards, such as the Edward R. Murrow Award, the National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award, the Sigma Award, and the SABEW Association for Business Journalists Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Motley Fool, and Gizmodo.
Aaron uses he/him pronouns.
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What It’s Like Living With Limited Access to Internet in the Black Rural South
Across the rural South, about 38% of Black households don’t have home internet, a higher percentage than White people in the same region and the national average
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FCC Approves Rules to Prevent ‘Digital Discrimination’
Congress tasked the FCC with closing the digital divide. Here’s what the agency’s doing
News
The Problems Biden’s AI Order Must Address
The Markup gives a section-by-section breakdown of the summarized executive order on artificial intelligence
Hello World
How to Use Reported Crime Data to Actually Prevent Crime
Ask why crimes happen where they do
Show Your WorkPrediction: Bias
How We Assessed the Accuracy of Predictive Policing Software
We found that Geolitica’s crime prediction algorithm had a success rate of less than 1% in Plainfield, New Jersey
Prediction: Bias
Predictive Policing Software Terrible At Predicting Crimes
A software company sold a New Jersey police department an algorithm that was right less than 1% of the time
Hello World
This Is What Happens When People Start Actually Reading Privacy Policies
A recent controversy about Zoom’s ability to train AI on users’ conversations shows the importance of reading the fine print
The BreakdownStill Loading
How to Search for a Better Deal on Broadband
You might even be able to help improve crucial government broadband data in the process
Hello World
The Government Segregated America. Here’s How Everyday People Desegregate It
A conversation with Richard and Leah Rothstein
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