For the Record

Panopticon:

According to documents obtained by the ACLU, Amazon has developed Rekognition, an AI-powered program that "can identify, track and analyze people in real time and recognize up to 100 people in a single image." Although Amazon has "publicly opposed secretive government surveillance," several law enforcement agencies already have deployed the software with the company's assistance.

Oxygen of Amplification:

Mercer University digital media folklorist Whitney Phillips has released a "practitioner-focused report" on better practices for journalistic coverage of extremist and antagonistic online cultures, including such forces as "conspiracy theorists, techno-libertarians, white nationalists, Men’s Rights advocates, trolls, anti-feminists, anti-immigration activists and bored young people."

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams:

Interview staffers announced the magazine's closure on May 21. Founded by Andy Warhol and John Wilcock in 1969, the publication (which featured work by Truman Capote and Bob Colacello in its heyday) recently has faced allegations of unpaid wages and sexual misconduct by former creative director Karl Templer.

'The conscience of this nation':

Richard Goodwin died at his Concord, Mass. home on May 20. A speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Al Gore, Goodwin was the longtime husband of Doris Kearns Goodwin and a close friend of Norman Mailer.

Broken Web:

In a recent survey, several digital pioneers expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the internet, while also framing recent trends as the culmination of decades of shortsighted behavior. According to Usenet co-founder and Columbia professor Steve Bellovin: "It was very clear even in 1980 that people could be very intemperate online." 

'Humble Yourself':

After leaving Detroit's Fox affiliate in late 2016, 2001 National Reporting contributor Charlie LeDuff has worked at a Coney Island in the city while completing his next book. "I got a little bit tired of it," he said. "I’m redoing my life. A little bit of real people doesn’t hurt. A little bit of real life doesn’t hurt. Be on your knees, scrape some dirt. Love the other. Try to dig people."

Volunteers:

Staffers from The Texas Tribune and VTDigger have expressed interest in facilitating the emergence of a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news outlet in Denver that could compete with the "hemorrhaging, hedge fund-desiccated" Denver Post. "We are all brothers in arms," Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith said.

The Past Is Now:

Designer Richard Turley has launched Civilization, a "new, limited-edition newspaper about life in New York City" with no website or social media presence. "I was wondering if we could use Victorian technology to talk about 21st-century living," he said. "Can we try do something that really feels like walking around the streets of Manhattan?"

'Fact or friction':

Several recent incidents have exposed an inconvenient reality of publishing — the vast majority of commercial nonfiction titles are not independently fact-checked. However, according to freelance writer Britni de la Cretaz, "Constraints make it nearly impossible for publishers to be able to dedicate the kind of time and financial resources that would be required for a full factcheck on every book they publish."

Scaling the Heights:

Following an unsuccessful attempt in 2011, Norman Mailer's Brooklyn Heights co-op is once again for sale. With an asking price of $2.4 million, the home (which has remained in the Mailer family since his death in 2007) includes a unique atrium that previously served as a workspace for the author.