Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death in the world today, including in China where cigarette smoking is a popular pastime. "The [tobacco] industry in China is run by the Tobacco Monopoly Administration, a central government administrative body created in the 1980s, also known as China Tobacco Corp.," said Matthew Kohrman in a February 2011 interview with NPR's Morning Edition. China nonetheless issued a nationwide indoor smoking ban on May 1. Speaking with Al Jazeera English on the first day of the ban, Kohrman predicted that Chinese citizens will increasingly comply with the ban even if in fits and starts initially. "It all has to do with implementation," he suggested. "It all has to do with changing the culture of smoking and people’s thinking about it—that takes time."

The first Liberation Technology seminar of the winter quarter on January 6, featured Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Zittrain focused his talk entitled, Minds for Sale, on the variety of online platforms that harness the wisdom of crowds today, and closed with a discussion of the implications of these platforms. Categorizing these new tools by the breadth of their user base, Zittrain began by describing the platforms that pay the most money per task, require the most skill, and subsequently have the least participation. Key examples of these platforms are listed below, and organized by their decreasing level on skill.

•  Xprize Foundation attempts to prompt radical breakthroughs through competitions for large quantities of prize money.
• InnoCentive creates a marketplace between engineers and scientists to encourage innovation.
• LiveOps, which bills itself as a contact center cloud, has developed a large set of independent contractors who are designated specific tasks when they sign in to the site. They may be assigned to answer calls placed to a restaurant or emergency hotline or to make political calls on behalf of Liveops clients.
• Samasource offers "dignified digital work for women, children and refugees" located in developing countries.
• Amazon Mechanical Turk (also known as Artificial Artificial Intelligence) allows users to participate in anonymous, minimally paid tasks. These tasks can be submitted by any party and are highly disaggregated among hundreds or thousands of users, each of whom receives a payout of between approximately one to fifteen cents for completing the task.
• Soylent, which calls itself "a word processor with a crowd inside" embeds workers from Mechanical Turk into Microsoft Word. When users install the site's Shortn add-in into Microsoft Word, they can use the tool to have written samples shortened in two minutes. In order to achieve this, the written sample is disaggregated by paragraphs, and each paragraph is shortened within two minutes by a "Turker"-a user who accepts the task on Mechanical Turk.
• Microtask enables disaggregating previously sensitive data to be work processed from a scanned image. The ultimate goal of this group is to put distributed work into video and computer games. For now, they disaggregate larger tasks into two-second tasks that can be distributed across a crowd.
• Games With A Purpose (GWAP) has a game-like platform designed to get users to complete disaggregated tasks for virtual points, rather than for actual remuneration. One of its more popular activities quickly attracted 23,000 players who contributed 4.1 million labels to images they were presented with in The ESP Game. Many players routinely play more than 20 hours a week.

Next, Zittrain moved on to offer some additional examples, hypothetical scenarios and questions that highlight some of his own concerns about the potential of these technologies. One key question is whether this market may be too efficient at linking up solvers and payers, if certain tasks are not in fact beneficial for society. After all, it was highly contentious when Texas governor Rick Perry set up video cameras on Texas' border with Mexico and invited people to watch the video feeds and report if they saw anything suspicious. Similarly, a site called InternetEyes allows users to watch video feed from CCTV cameras in the UK for free, offering the chance to "earn reward money, have a chance at reducing crime, and potentially become a hero and save lives," instead of actual compensation.

In another example, the University of Colorado Police Department recently offered a $50 reward for identification of students shown to be smoking marijuana in photos from a large April 20 gathering. Hypothetically, the Iranian government could use Turkers to identify Iranian protestors through national ID photographs in the very same way; by Zittrain's calculations, this task could be disaggregated and carried out quickly at a cost of only $17,000 per protester identified.

Another cluster of issues relates to the use of anonymous users to carry out disaggregated tasks that may have the effect of exerting influence on others. For example, Turkers were recently offered the opportunity to write a positive 5 out of 5 review for a product on a website, which hundreds accepted and completed for a few cents at a time. Users on SubvertandProfit.com are paid to "Like" something on Facebook, "Digg" something, or show their approval of a site or product via some other social network. The users are remunerated for their effort, and the site also profits. Taking this a step further, these platforms also enable users to pay people to evince opinions on legislative issues they do not actually care about. For example, health insurers were recently caught paying Facebook gamers virtual currency to oppose the health reform bill. By enabling any task to be disaggregated and monetized, these new platforms can have highly controversial and unethical implications.

In the past year, AHPP faculty affiliate Matthew Kohrman published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health a critical assessment of international anti-tobacco interventions. He has also been quoted in Science, Harvard Global Health Review, and Stanford University News regarding tobacco-control efforts in China and around the world.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint CISAC's Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, an expert on federal regulatory policy, public safety, and international security, to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), an independent agency of the United States government charged with improving the efficiency and fairness of federal agencies.

Professor Cuéllar, who is both a CISAC faculty member and the Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School, recently returned from a leave of absence he took to serve as Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council. Among other issues, Cuéllar worked on improving food safety and public health policy, expanding support to state and local law enforcement, enhancing transparency in the regulatory process, and strengthening border coordination and immigrant integration. He negotiated key provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and represented the Domestic Policy Council in the development of the first-ever Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Earlier, Cuéllar co-chaired the Obama Transition's Immigration Policy Committee and served as a Treasury official in the Clinton Administration.

As part of the ACUS Council, Cuéllar will join leading lawyers such as former U.S. court of appeals judge Patricia Wald and former solicitor general Ted Olson in overseeing the work of ACUS and setting its priorities. With the appointment to the ACUS Council, Cuéllar will draw upon his scholarly expertise in how institutions manage complex regulatory challenges as well as his experience in government.

"At a time when our country faces such enormous challenges, it is especially important for agencies to safeguard the rights of the public, cut waste, and deliver value to the American people," said Cuéllar. "I am honored by this appointment and by the chance to work on these critical issues."

Established by statute in 1964, the Administrative Conference of the United States has played an important role in promoting improvements in the efficiency and fairness in the way federal agencies conduct regulatory programs. ACUS has been on hiatus for the past 14 years, but has been revived by Congress with support from a broad range of lawyers, scholars, and judges, including Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former FSI Advisory Board member Susan Rice '86 urged Stanford's graduating class to fight global poverty, conflict, and repression, saying "These massive disparities erode our common security and corrode our common humanity." Conflict-ridden states not only cause suffering for their people, she noted. "Poor and fragile states can incubate threats that spread far beyond borders -- terrorism, pandemic disease, nuclear proliferation, criminal networks" and more. "In our interconnected world," she said, " a threat to development anywhere is a threat to security everywhere."

When Susan Rice graduated from Stanford in 1986, the Soviet Union was a formidable foe, China barely registered on the global economic scene and the first computer laptops – weighing in at 12 pounds each – were just hitting the market.

And if someone had told her that she'd serve in the Cabinet of the country's first black president as ambassador to the United Nations, "I would've asked them what they were smoking."

But in her remarks delivered during Stanford University's 119th Commencement on Sunday, Rice put the advances of the past 24 years in perspective. She called the fight against global poverty "not only one of the great moral challenges of all time, but also one of the great national security challenges of our time."

"The planet is still divided by fundamental inequalities," she said. "Some of us live in peace, freedom and comfort while billions are condemned to conflict, poverty and repression. These massive disparities erode our common security and corrode our common humanity."

While she did not discuss any specifics of her role as the country's ambassador to the United Nations or the organization's recent move to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, Rice did talk about the link between poverty and security.

"When a country is wracked by war or weakened by want, its people suffer first. But poor and fragile states can incubate threats that spread far beyond borders – terrorism, pandemic disease, nuclear proliferation, criminal networks, climate change, genocide and more. In our interconnected age, a threat to development anywhere is a threat to security everywhere."
-Ambassador Susan Rice

Rice's address marked a very public return to Stanford. She graduated with a bachelor's in history from the university as a junior Phi Beta Kappa and Truman Scholar in 1986.

She was confirmed as ambassador to the United Nations in 2009 after being nominated by President Obama. It was a job that followed her role as Obama's senior adviser for national security affairs during his presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008. Before that, she served as the country's assistant secretary of state for African affairs and as a special assistant to President Clinton. She was also a senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council.

During a trip to a displaced persons camp in war-torn Angola in 1995, Rice saw firsthand the global poverty she talked about on Sunday. Of all the people she saw in the camp, she said one of her most striking memories is the smile she received from a malnourished little boy when she gave him her baseball cap.

But she's haunted by thoughts of what may have happened to him.

"I had to leave that camp," she said. "And when I did, I left that little boy in hell. I like to think, and I sure hope, that kid is OK. But he could well have become one of the 9  million children under the age of 5 who die each year from preventable and treatable afflictions."

And that boy, she said, should be a symbol to Stanford's graduates of the challenges that face them and the good they can do in the world.

"That little boy's future is tied to ours," she said. "Our security is ultimately linked to his well-being. So we must shape the world he deserves."

Rice's weighty remarks still left room for graduation levity. And the student procession – known as the Wacky Walk – showcased much of it.

The graduates hit the field of Stanford Stadium with balloons and signs thanking mom and dad. They were dressed as Egyptian kings and Vikings, wizards and butterflies. Some wore bathing suits and flowing togas. Others covered up with costumes paying homage to the pop culture past of Pac-Man, as well as more timeless pursuits like dominoes and poker.

It was a final blast of carefree fun for college students about to contend with an uncertain job market.

"We have everything we need on campus," said Tyler Porras, a graduating biology major who took to the field with a bolo tie and black cowboy hat. "Now it's off to the real world where you need to find a job."

The ceremony marked the award of 1,722 bachelor's degrees, 2,100 master's degrees and 980 doctoral degrees.

Departmental honors were awarded to 365 seniors, and 272 graduated with university distinction. Another 74 graduated with multiple majors and 33 received dual bachelor's degrees. There were 110 graduates receiving both bachelor's and master's degrees.

Among international students, there were 102 undergraduates from 45 countries other than the United States, and 955 graduate students from 75 foreign countries.

"As you leave Stanford, I hope you carry a deep appreciation of the values and traditions that are everlasting, as well as a willingness to be bold and to approach challenges with a fresh perspective," Stanford President John Hennessy told the graduates.

The day also gave parents a time to beam and brag.

"These kids have the potential to contribute so much to the world," said Tim Roake, whose daughter, Caitlin Roake, is graduating as a biology major and is planning to join the Peace Corps.

Roake and his wife, Kathleen Gutierrez, had front-row seats in the stadium bleachers next to Dave and Lori Gaskin. Their son, Greg, has been dating Caitlin Roake since their freshman year.

"The last four years for Greg have been such an enriching experience from an academic perspective but also on a personal level," Lori Gaskin said. "I attribute that not only to the university but the wonderful people he's met and the relationships he's made."

 

On December 18, tobacco control was the theme of the 2009 Kunming Health and Development Conference, co-convened by the Yunnan Health and Development Research Association, Pioneers for Health, and ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development. “Pioneers for Health” is a health policy non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in China a year ago with help from AHPP faculty affiliate Matthew Kohrman, Associate Professor of Anthropology. Pioneers for Health also received the good news that Tobacco-Free Kids/Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use has renewed it for another two-year grant to cover all operational and health advocacy costs.

Article in Translation (Source:  The Economic Daily 经济日报):

More than sixty specialists and academicians from the fields of medicine, economy and sociology convened in Kunming (YunnanProvince) on December 18 for the 2009 Kunming Health and Development Conference, jointly hosted by the Yunnan Health and Development Research Association, Pioneers for Health, and ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development. The theme of the conference was "Tobacco Control for the Creation of a Healthy Lifestyle".  The conference was divided into three parts. For the first part a short film was shown. Titled "Tobacco: From Global Epidemic to Global Control", the film detailed the history of the global tobacco epidemic and its development up to the current day. It looked at the background and significance of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The specialists and academicians present all agreed that a global consensus has been reached regarding the need for tobacco control. As a signatory of the FCTC and as a large nation, China is now responsible for carrying out a huge task. Tobacco control in Yunnan Province will be especially arduous. The second part -- Tobacco Control in Yunnan; Taking the First Step -- focused on the tobacco control effort in Yunnan Province. Topics for discussion included an analysis of ideas and methods to prevent youth from smoking. In the third part -- The Challenges and Opportunities for Tobacco Control in Yunnan Province; a Multi-disciplinary Perspective -- economists, sociologists and health experts engaged in a discussion of issues regarding tobacco control. During the discussion the participants stressed that tobacco control concerns not only public health, but also community development, the domestic economy, the people's livelihood, and the government's image. The most popular topics in this segment were "Tobacco and the Economy", "Tobacco and Health", and "The Influence of Popular Culture on the Behavior of Smoking". A multi-disciplinary approach was used when delving into the issues surrounding tobacco control.