Tag: privacy
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Big Data and the Underground Railroad
Written by Alvaro M. Bedoya on Slate.
“Far too often, today’s discrimination was yesterday’s national security or public health necessity. An approach that advocates ubiquitous data collection and protects privacy solely through post-collection use restrictions doesn’t account for that.”
Read ‘Big Data and the Underground Railroad’ on the Slate site.
Tagged with: big data, discrimination, privacy.
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No one should buy the Facebook Portal TV
Written by Megan Wollerton on CNET.
“It’s a complete anomaly – a solidly performing, decently priced device that just isn’t suited for anyone because of the privacy concerns and increasingly alarming issues plaguing the social networking site.”
Read ‘No one should buy the Facebook Portal TV’ on the CNET site.
Tagged with: Facebook, surveillance capitalism, privacy.
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‘Alexa, are you invading my privacy?’ – the dark side of our voice assistants
Written by Dorian Lynskey on The Guardian.
“You are building an infrastructure that can be later co-opted in undesirable ways by large multinationals and state surveillance apparatus, and compromised by malicious hackers,” says Dr Michael Veale, a lecturer in digital rights and regulation at UCL Faculty of Laws at University College London.
Tagged with: alexa, surveillance capitalism, privacy.
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Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids
Written by Lois Beckett on The Guardian.
“Unlike gun control, Marlow said, ‘Surveillance is politically palatable, and so they’re pursuing surveillance as a way you can demonstrate action, even though there’s no evidence that it will positively impact the problem.’” … “Some people think that technology is magic, that artificial intelligence will save us,” Vance said. “A lot of the questions and a lot of the privacy concerns haven’t [been] thought of, let alone addressed.” … “For black students, and students with disabilities, who already face a disproportionate amount of harsh disciplinary measures, the introduction of new kinds of surveillance may be especially harmful, privacy experts said.”
Tagged with: surveillance, schools, privacy.
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‘We are hurtling towards a surveillance state’: the rise of facial recognition technology
Written by Anna Devlin on The Guardian.
“Out in the wider world, anonymity is no longer guaranteed. Facial recognition gives police and companies the means of identifying and tracking people of interest, while others are free to go about their business. The real question is: who gets that privilege?”
Tagged with: facial recognition, privacy, surveillance.
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Cheap smartphones have a disturbing secret
Written by Michael Grothaus on Fast Company.
“Seventeen dollars for a smartphone sounds like a great deal, especially for people living in poverty who can barely afford rent.
But there’s a problem: low-cost smartphones are privacy nightmares.”
“The MYA2 also has apps that can’t be updated or deleted, and those apps contain multiple security and privacy flaws. One of those pre-installed apps that can’t be removed, Facebook Lite, gets default permission to track everywhere you go, upload all your contacts, and read your phone’s calendar.”
“While companies like Apple are to be lauded for prioritizing privacy protections, people around the world should not be reliant on tech giants building privacy safeguards for only a population that can afford it.”
Read ‘Cheap smartphones have a disturbing secret’ on the Fast Company site.
Tagged with: smartphones, access, privacy.
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Europe’s top court says active consent is needed for tracking cookies
Written by Natasha Lomas on TechCrunch.
“Europe’s top court has ruled that pre-checked consent boxes for dropping cookies are not legally valid.
Consent must be obtained prior to storing or accessing non-essential cookies, such as tracking cookies for targeted advertising. Consent cannot be implied or assumed.”
“Sites that have relied upon opting EU users into ad-tracking cookies in the hopes they’ll just click okay to make the cookie banner go away are in for a rude awakening.”
Read ‘Europe’s top court says active consent is needed for tracking cookies’ on the TechCrunch site.
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The Rise of Networked Vigilante Surveillance
Written by Elizabeth Joh on Slate.
“Neighborhoods armed with Ring videos, Flock readers, and NextDoor posts have the power to create networked engines of suspicion, sometimes ill-founded or erroneous, that may embolden residents to take actions they should not.”
Read ‘The Rise of Networked Vigilante Surveillance’ on the Slate site.
Tagged with: surveillance, privacy, community.
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No Body's Business But Mine: How Menstruation Apps Are Sharing Your Data
Written by Privacy International on Privacy International.
“Feeling anxious? Got lucky last night? Having some health issues? Tell Maya and they’ll let Facebook and others know (oh, and they’ll share your diary too!)”
There is a reason why advertisers are so interested in your mood; understanding when a person is in a vulnerable state of mind means you can strategically target them. Knowing when a teenager is feeling low means an advertiser might try and sell them a food supplement that is supposed to make them feel strong and focused. Understanding people’s mood is an entry point for manipulating them. And that is all the more worrying in an age when Facebook is having so much impact on our democracies, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed. Indeed, it is not just advertisers that will want to know how we feel; as elections approach, political parties may want to know if we feel anxious, stressed or excited so that they can adapt their narratives accordingly.
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At the Border of Europe's Surveillance State
Written by Nicole Chi on Are We Europe.
“[E]ven if not lawless, historically, borders have been vulnerable places for human rights—particularly the right to privacy—as border guards extend government intrusion into our private lives with the authority of upholding national security. Now, data collection and artificial intelligence are threatening to turn borders into an underregulated free-for-all.”
Read ‘At the Border of Europe's Surveillance State’ on the Are We Europe site.
Tagged with: privacy, surveillance, discrimination.