Red envelopes for all?
🇨🇳 As Jack Ma confirms his plan to retire from AliBaba to focus on philanthropy, attention is turning to the effect that China's super-platforms might be having on low-income families. 77% of transactions in China are now handled through e-payments, and AliBaba’s rural-focused entity says they have helped create more than 1.3 million new jobs nationwide. The jury remains out on how well distributed the financial dividends will be.
Sent back to economy
✈️ Just days after TSB looked to draw a line under their recent IT calamity, British Airways took a turn in the spotlight after suffering a major data breach. Hackers compromised at least 380,000 transactions, getting their hands on valuable CVV numbers (the ones on the back of your credit card). Fingers are being pointed at the group that hit Ticketmaster earlier this year, but one of the more interesting sideshows was how other companies reacted - Monzo, in particular, did not hang around. Digital banking is not covering itself in glory however - Barclays and Cashplus are both having weeks to forget.
From Twitter to CRISPR
In a thoughtful and sprawling longread, Obama-era US Defence Secretary Ash Carter explores how governments and civil society can help set the conditions to make today's disruptive changes provide for the overall public good. Among other things, he argues that 'the right decisions will not be made without strong input from the technologists themselves', and 'accountability and the transparency to promote it are the key issues for designers of AI systems today.' While grounded in his 37 years of experience in and around the world of defence, there are many parallels in this essay for the rest of government and beyond. Well worth the time.
Government gossip
🏆 The UN announced that 'promotion of digital transformation in public sector institutions' will be one of the 5 categories for their 2019 Public Service Awards. Entries are open until 30th November.
Theo Blackwell (London's Chief Digital Officer) and Molly Strauss set out their vision for a 'live hub' of planning data, accessible to everyone in the capital.
🍁 Canada publishes 10 'living' Digital Standards. Many are reassuringly familiar to other strong digital governments. We're delighted to see 'Be good data stewards' make the list.
Less good news from down under as the New Zealand government's hunt for a Chief Technology Officer goes from bad to worse. Withdrawing job offers is never a great look, asking someone to relocate their family across continents beforehand especially so.
🚑 UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the NHS' IT systems as 'stuttering' and 'downright dangerous'. The new minister endured some spiky questions this week about his public support for Babylon, the company behind the 'GP at Hand' app - an endorsement that some say might undermine innovation in the NHS.
For the tea break
🚡 Keen to pitch for a new emoji? How new ideas get a thumbs up or thumbs down, and why there isn't yet one for hummus.
🤖 A new job for Debrett's, perhaps - how does one properly address a virtual being like Alexa? |
