Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see”.

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

• The code I’m still ashamed of. – Bill Sourour – Medium. “We live in an era of algorithms, and they will increasingly decide who gets fed, paroled, promoted, or educated. It’s a huge ethical challenge for us, because code is esoteric, inaccessible, and often a black box that knows no mercy or gray areas. In this post, Bill Souror confesses to a crime: Writing software that harmed, or even killed, other people in the hope of turning a profit. His story became a kind of confessional for developers working on questionable software everywhere. What have we wrought?” (Alistair for Hugh).
• This $5 Device Can Hack Your Password-Protected Computers In Just One Minute – The Hacker News. “By now you’ve heard this story. Most people have. It’s a physical exploit that tricks your computer into thinking the USB is an Internet connection; followed by a spoof of every major website out there, so it can harvest your login cookie, so an attacker can pretend to be you online. And a bunch of other, smaller, hacks, cleverly stitched together. But that’s only part of the story: I interviewed Alasdair Allan (who, years ago, discovered iPhones were tracking your location all of the time) in preparation for Pandemon.io, a conference I’m running next February. Alasdair said this: ’ n the past, a great deal of computer security has assumed that the end user will have no physical access to the computer. That if an attacker has physical access, then there is no way to stop them compromising what security does exist. But the whole point of the Internet of Things is that they’re physical things. So physical access to Internet of Things devices is a real problem, and for hackers, a real opportunity.’ That’s a seriously important observation — we’ve gone from security that assumed the computer wasn’t touched, to computers designed to be touched, without updating how we keep hackers out.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Ringside With Steve Bannon at Trump Tower as the President-Elect’s Strategist Plots “An Entirely New Political Movement” – The Hollywood Reporter. “What to make of the fact that the best insight into Steve Bannon, the alt-right maven and man behind Trump’s victory, and likely behind his presidency, comes from the Hollywood Reporter? The article tip-toes around some of the truly awful stuff that came out of Brietbart, but it gives a good sense of where Bannon will try to push the Trump presidency. We live in interesting times.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Global Trumpism – Foreign Affairs. “I’m going to try very, very hard not to send too many political links in the next while, since I just find it all too depressing. But please indulge me while I get this out of my system. This article, which I agree with, suggests that Trump’s nationalism is an unsurprising response to neoliberalism. And, yes, the world order will be shaken greatly by this shift.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Tech giants rush to invest in Montreal artificial intelligence research lab – CBC. “This could well be one of those scenarios when you start thinking about an area of technology and suddenly, it’s all that you see. Artificial intelligence seems to be on the rise. But, now, I see it everywhere. Especially here, in our hometown of Montreal. I’d love to know why, how and when our city became this massive hotbed, for what everyone is considering to be the future of business and technology? AI is everywhere and it’s going to dominate our lives. Yes. I believe this to be true. So, will Montreal be the Silicon Valley for this?” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Leonard Cohen on Moonlight, the Mystique of Creativity, His Influences, and Why He Loves It When People Cover His Songs – Brain Pickings. “In all of the media chaos that has surrounded the US elections, I would hate to think that the death of Leonard Cohen is getting drowned out by a world of fake news. Cohen was through-and-through a Montrealer. His home is across the street from my regular breakfast place. Over the years you could, occasionally, catch a glimpse of him. Sometimes, he would be sitting right there, in this restaurant. No regrets for not interrupting him for a photo (trust me, the thought had crossed my mind). This was his hood. And, if you know this city, you can feel it in his words and music. I was never a huge fan, but was always massively respectful of his art. Here’s a great tribute. More than that, here’s a great piece on creativity and influence.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.