Yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Michaelia Cashannouncedproposed new legislation aimed at making online “trolls” accountable for their actions. Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard Morrison decry trolls as “cowardly” and “un-Australian”, language that made it into the talking points at yesterday’s media conference. But is his new-found concern about trolling all it’s cracked up to be? The proposed new legislation would give courts the power to force social media companies to pass on to people the details of their trolls, so they can pursue defamation action against them....

Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon’s former Chief Software Officer, is on a whirlwind press tour to drum up as much fervor for his radical assertion that the US has already lost the AI race against China. Speaking to theFinancial Timesin his first interview after leaving his post at the Pentagon, Chaillan said: We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it’s already a done deal....

Disinformation has been used inwarfare and military strategy over time. But it is undeniably being intensified by the use of smart technologies and social media. This is because these communication technologies provide a relatively low-cost, low-barrier way to disseminate information basically anywhere. The million-dollar question then is: Can this technologically produced problem of scale and reach also be solved using technology? Indeed, the continuous development of new technological solutions, such as artificial intelligence (AI), may provide part of the solution....

SortFix, a sorting engine which aims to make search more precise and simple for users has just launched a newFirefoxextension for Google. The extension builds on similar offerings from SortFix including the service’swebsiteand itsiPad app. With a simple install, users can access SortFix’s sorting technology through Google.com. Further, the extension adds an improved user interface, integration with Google Instant, and greater overall usability. SortFix’s search algorithm runs super smoothly with Google Instant, every time Google Instant refreshes a result, SortFix’s “Power Words” are instantly updated as well....

TNW Quick Hit SortFix(free) is an iPad search engine featuring visual sorting, allowing one to conduct refined search queries and in the process receive more precise results. Hits:Colorful, well-designed user interface, providing a simple method of searching for images, video, websites and Tweets on a given search term. Misses:Web and image searches are powered only by Bing. Using SortFix to conduct searches may prove to be too much work for those who are satisfied with their present, default, iPad search method....