Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 15
Posts 1 - 10

Facebook Faces a New World as Officials Rein In a Wild Web

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 17.9.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, Facebook, marketing, privacy, social media, threat
Summary | Facebook’s head of global policy management recently agreed to remove anything that violates the Vietnamese law from the social network. Governments around the world (even in the US) are increasingly trying to keep control of what's happening online. As a result, governments and big tech companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook or Amazon don't always agree with each other. On the one hand, big tech companies want to have more control and power, and on the other hand, nations want to gain more control over people's online behvior. Facebook's desire to expand everywhere (e.g. in China) is one of the reasons for today's struggle between tech companies and nations. Facebook also faced some issues in Europe and Africa.
Image Description | Photograph of people using computers in a computer room, map of Facebook's users, two women laughing in front of a board displaying social media icons, Mark Zuckerberg and other people running in China, Mark Zuckerberg, his wife and daughters, glass building, people in front of a thumb-up sign, woman, crowd (some of them are using their phones), and people on their computers.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, Facebook, female(s), male(s), smartphone, social media

The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 27.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, cyberbullying, law, privacy, social media, threat, youth
Summary | The anonymous messaging app Yik Yak became very popular in colleges and schools because it lets people broadcast anonymously to other users near them. The activity on the app has however started to become thretening with college students and children bullying each other and people making bomb threats that have led to multiple evacuations. A feminist group from University of Mary Washington have filed complaint to the University to block Yik Yak on campus because it has been used to harrass and threaten members.
Image Description | An illustration with a face and a smartphone and an image of the creators of Yik Yak.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Should I befriend my children and their pals online?

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 10.6.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, privacy, social media, threat, youth
Summary | 80% of children between 11 and 15 years old have a smartphone. They spend a lot of time on social media platforms. Social media have a lot of advantages but they can also lead to social exclusion and embarrassment. According to a study, Instagram and Snapchat are the worst platforms for teenagers and young adults. As a result, some parents want to join the same social media sites and befriend their children so they can keep an eye on them. However, this might not be the right solution. Children and parents have a right to privacy.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman (foreground) and two children on their phone (background), a kid using and looking at a screen,
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

The Smartphone’s Future: It’s All About the Camera

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | privacy, smartphone, translation, virtual reality
Summary | Now that smartphones are as thin and as fast as possible, they need to develop into another realm. The camera will be used in new ways to, for instance, improve privacy by unlocking your phone by showing your face. Another innovation is the possiblity of taking a picture of a restaurant menu and having it instantly translated. Augmented reality also relies on the camera enabling users to, for instance, project a 3D model of a piece of furniture they want into a picture of their living room to see what it would look like.
Image Description | Illustration showing a smartphone scanning a woman's face.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

How can you protect your right to digital privacy at the border?

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 11.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | American customs now ask some flight passengers to give airport officers access to their digital devices. While it is still a rare case, some passengers are asked to turn on their smartphone/tablet/laptop to demonstrate that it is not hooked up to an explosive. They also check whether illegal data is being transmitted over the border on the hardware storage. Passengers are advised to clean their storage and store all their personal files on a cloud.
Image Description | iStock image of a woman using a smartphone at an airport.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

How to Protect Your Privacy as More Apps Harvest Your Data

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Many smartphone apps can be used for free, or rather one does not have to pay money to use it. However, if the app is not from a non-profit organization, users pay in some other way that may be obscure to them. Usually free for-profit apps collect data abou their users that they can sell to advertisers. The only way to protect oneself from this is to carefully read the terms and conditions, even if they are in legalese. If one does not like the level of privacy provided by an app, the only certain way to avoid data exploitation is not to download the app.
Image Description | Illustration of a hand holding a smartphone where eyes are hidden behind the app icons.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

China Disrupts WhatsApp Service in Online Clampdown

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, Facebook, Google, Instagram, privacy, threat, Twitter, WhatsApp
Summary | The Chinese government has partly shut down the use of WhatsApp within their borders. The app is widely used around the globe and was used by some in China do communicate with people outside of Chine with end-to-end encryption. Other popular social media platforms and internet sites like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are blocked under the "Great Firewall" in China.
Image Description | Woman using a smartphone and women standing in front of Facebook and Instagram logos as well as emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, female(s), Instagram, logo, smartphone

As Elites Switch to Texting, Watchdogs Fear Loss of Transparency

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 6.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, politics, privacy, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | The powerful elites are using the end-to-end-encrypted WhatsApp to communicate sensitive information. Such strategies are adopted by politicians, high-profile representatives of major companies, and Wallstreet banker. The latter are lawfully obligated to save all communications for possible inspection but WhatsApp enables them to escape that law.
Image Description | Image of a man talking on the phone and another man reading some paperwork.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Diese Technik soll uns den Alltag erleichtern

(This technology should make our daily lives easier)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 5.4.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, privacy, research/study, smartphone, translation
Summary | Computer are becoming more and more intertwined in our daily lives. Some smartphones can already translate real-time conversations with imitating the speakers voice thanks to advances in voice recognition. Image recognition has also advanced substantially to being able to "read" moods, age, and attractiveness of the photographed individuals. Research is being done for smartphones and other devices to monitor body odor, sweat (to allet to dehydration), or tear liquid (for diabetics).
Image Description | Various simple visualizations of smartphones/devices interacting with people (depicted by emojis), body parts, et cetera.
Image Tags | chart, emojis, female(s), smartphone

Esta notificación te está robando un pedazo de vida

(This notification is stealing a piece of life from you)

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Newspaper | El País
Date | 5.5.2017
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | addiction, artificial intelligence, brain, smartphone, threat
Summary | Elon Musk said that in eight or ten years our brains will be perfectly connected to artificial intelligence. Facebook also announced that they want us to be able to write directly from our brain, with a "thought reader" helmet that would be ready in two years. We live in a world where people are not able to concentrate because of the noise our smartphones make when we receive notifications. Sherry Turkle claims that smartphones are not simple accessories; they are powerful devices that change not only what you do, but also who you are. Some people are worried about what the internet and artificial intelligence will bring in the future.
Image Description | Video about nomophobia
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

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