Number of Posts: 15
Posts 1 - 10
At C.D.C., a Debate Behind Recommendations on Cellphone Risk
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 1.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, brain, childhood, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | A controversy has sparked over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's health recommendation regarding cell phones. They had reviewed research on brain tumor risk connected with cell phone use and decided that the data were not convincing enough. Their recommendation was that cell phone users need not be more cautious with cell phones than other daily lifestyle choices. However, the research is also not extensive enough to disprove an increased risk of brain tumor with high rates of cell phone use, especially for children. In response to the backlash to this recommendation, their stance was revised a few times so that it now states that the C.D.C. does not recommend caution but other organizations do.
Image Description | Reuters image of a crowd and one man speaking on the smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone
Überwachung von WhatsApp gefordert
(Surveillance of WhatsApp wanted)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 2.4.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | law, privacy, texting, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | Politicians demand that WhatsApp let them access WhatsApp communications for surveillance. WhatsApp is withholding that access to protect user privacy. Terrorists are aware that the police can read their messages if they text them via SMS but that they cannot read them as long as they are on WhatsApp. This is a huge security gap.
Image Description | N/A
Diese drei Anwendungen sind besser als Whatsapp
(These three apps are better than WhatsApp)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 5.5.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | law, privacy, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | Brazil has just blocked WhatsApp in their country for 72 hours in order to for WhatsApp to share chats with their police in ciminal cases. It is unlikely that something like this will happen in Germany but it is good to know about some alternatives just in case... Especially since WhatsApp is not very trustworthy about user privacy. Threema is a Swiss app that alllows for user anonymity, Slack is a really good app to use with colleagues because files can be saved within group chats, and Telegram deletes inactive chats after a while so that there are no traces.
Image Description | Woman using a smartphone with headphones on the street.
Image Tags | female(s), headphones, smartphone
Niedlichkeit hat ihren Preis
(Cuteness has its price)
Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 20.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | marketing, privacy, selfie, threat
Summary | A new popular app in China called Meitu lets users edit their selfies. The process includes a beautification filter which enlarges the eyes and adds glitter and a rosy hue to the selfie. The app however suspiciously asks for permission to a lot of user data which does not seem to be necessary for an image editing app. The app likely collects all this data about their users so that they can sell their information to advertizers who want to target specific groups. All free apps have a hidden price.
Image Description | Selfie with the Meitu beautification filter.
Image Tags | female(s), selfie
Erdogan schaltet sich auf die Handys der Türken
(Erdogan tunes into the cell phones of Turkish residents)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 16.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | politics, privacy, texting, threat
Summary | The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously sent all his citizens a text message during the attempted government coup urging them to keep fighting the rebels. Now, a year after the attempted coup, he has tuned into the citizen's phones again and has recorded a voice message which is played on all smartphones when they try to make a call. In the message he makes the defeat of the coup seem heroic and by making it a voice message he forces all citizens to listen to it first if they want to make a phone call.
Image Description | Tweets from people who are shocked by the recodorded voice message from Erdogan.
Image Tags | male(s), Twitter
Darum ist Pokémon Go bei Muslimen verpönt
(This is why Pokémon Go is frowned upon by muslims)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 6.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, game, law, politics, privacy, threat
Summary | Many muslim authorities in varioius countries such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have declared Pokémon Go as wildly inappropriate for muslims. It references othher religions (with symbols) which allow for multiple gods along side each other, it propagates Darwin's theory of evolution, and most importantly: it constitutes gambling which is prohibited by the Qur'an. This does not mean that the state in Malaysia enforces that religious advice as a law. Non-muslim people are also worried about Pokémon Go but not because of ideological issues but because it can be seen as a surveillance scam and so a privacy breach hazard.
Image Description | Men playing Pokémon Go and portraits of a few male experts mentioned in the article.
Image Tags | game, male(s), smartphone
Das ist der wohl obszönste Username im ganzen Netz
(This is probably the most obscene username on the internet)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.6.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | censorship, politeness, privacy, research/study, social media, threat, word/writing
Summary | Many news media sources now tend to quote opinions from social media users rather than do polls out in the street. It is not uncommon to see an opinion of the "common people" in a newspaper article quoting an obscure social media username. The difference to the traditional technique of asking people on the street is that journalists needed to obtain consent of the people to quote them. One woman has now found a way to avoid being quoted without her consent: she chose a very obscene username including four words which are inappropriate enough so that they would have to be censored in a newspaper.
Image Description | N/A
"Wir kennen die Menschen"
("We know the people")
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 6.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, marketing, privacy, threat
Summary | Facebook is collecting huge amounts of data about their users and they are not being entirely clear when they state their terms and conditions. Many uses do not realize that Facebook also records what they do outside the platform when they surf online. This way Facebook can create very detailed user portfolios that they can sell to advertisers so that they can target a very specific group.
Image Description | N/A
Wenn's der Menschheit nutzt
(If it's useful for humanity)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 11.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, artificial intelligence, brain, Facebook, law, threat
Summary | Artificial intelligence is creeping into all aspects of life. The police are already working with big data to predict crimes before even the culprits know they will commit a crime. Medicine is using kinds of artificial intelligence for prosthetics like exoskeletons. Facebook is also looking into ways to read brain activity and translate it into text. All these innovations are very risky and can become very destructive.
Image Description | N/A
Im Gefühlsextremismus
(In the middle of emotional extremism)
Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 10.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, pornography, privacy, sexting, social media, threat
Summary | Social media have messed with our sense of privacy. Celebrities can now address their fans from a seemingly private realm of self-orchestrated social media presence and regular people can become famous very quickly when they embarrass themselves enough on social media. Additionally, one can be made famous on social media by cyberbullies and previous partners by sharing "revenge porn" (nudes shared during a romantic relationship) after a breakup. The general tenor on all social media sites entails schadenfreude (rejoicing over other people's misfortune) - whether it be directed towards celebrities' faux-pas or normal people.
Image Description | The crying tears from laughter emoji.
Image Tags | emojis
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