Jeff Larson

Bias In Criminal Risk Scores Is Mathematically Inevitable, Researchers Say

An analysis of bias against black defendants in criminal risk scores has prompted research showing that the disparity can be addressed — if the algorithms focus on the fairness of outcomes.

December 31st, 2016

By Jeff Larson and
Julia Angwin

Bias In Criminal Risk Scores Is Mathematically Inevitable, Researchers Say

The racial bias that ProPublica found in a formula used by courts and parole boards to forecast future criminal behavior arises inevitably from the test’s design, according to new research. The findings were described in scholarly papers published or circulated over the past several months. Taken together, they represent the most far-reaching

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FAQ About NSA’s Interest In Angry Birds And Other ‘Leaky Apps’

U.S. and British spy agencies have sought to intercept the information transmitted by the games and other apps that users download onto their smartphones.

January 30th, 2014

By Julia Angwin and
Jeff Larson

FAQ About NSA’s Interest In Angry Birds And Other ‘Leaky Apps’

What's new here? This article reveals how U.S. and British spy agencies have sought to intercept the information transmitted by the games and other apps that users download onto their smartphones. Previous stories have detailed how U.S. and British spies have been

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Johns Hopkins Asks Professor To Remove Anti-NSA Blog Posts

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, which is short drive from the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade, works closely with the spy agency.

September 10th, 2013

By Jeff Larson

Johns Hopkins Asks Professor To Remove Anti-NSA Blog Posts

Citing concerns about linking to classified material, Johns Hopkins University asked a professor this morning to remove a blog post discussing last week’s revelations about the NSA’s efforts to break encryption. The post had linked to

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NSA: Responding To This FOIA Request Would Help ‘Our Adversaries’

The letter warns that any response to this particular Freedom of Information Act request for data would help the NSA’s adversaries. Whoever they are.

June 26th, 2013

By Jeff Larson

Shortly after the Guardian and Washington

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Explore Hundreds Of Campaign Emails In The Message Machine

We’ve been collecting campaign emails for the last few months for a project we call theMessage Machine. If you’ve followed the project you may already know that campaigns have been using increasingly sophisticated strategies to target emails they send out, often sending variations of each message to different people based on their demographics and past […]

July 19th, 2012

By Jeff Larson