The Breakdown
Why Is Ransomware on the Rise?
Attacks have become more lucrative and easier to execute thanks to corporate inaction and the growing ransomware industry
Todd Feathers
Enterprise Reporter
Todd Feathers is a New York–based reporter covering algorithmic decision-making and surveillance, with a particular focus on how technologies affect children, people with disabilities, and groups underrepresented in Big Tech boardrooms. He left The Markup in July 2023.
Before joining The Markup, he was a freelance reporter writing for The Markup, Vice, The Guardian, and other publications. His work included investigations into racial bias in ed tech software and police surveillance tools.
The BreakdownPrivacy
Will New Privacy Changes Protect Census Data or Make Things Worse?
The U.S. Census Bureau is undertaking a privacy overhaul. It’s not going well
Privacy
Big Tech Is Pushing States to Pass Privacy Laws, and Yes, You Should Be Suspicious
The Markup found industry fingerprints on at least five bills around the country—weak laws, experts say, that are designed to preempt stronger protections
Machine Learning
Texas A&M Drops “Race” from Student Risk Algorithm Following Markup Investigation
Our investigation found major universities were using race as a predictor of student success and, in the process, steering Black kids away from the sciences
Machine Learning
Major Universities Are Using Race as a “High Impact Predictor” of Student Success
Students, professors, and education experts worry that that’s pushing Black students in particular out of math and science
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