Number of Posts: 12
Posts 1 - 10
The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App
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
He Tweeted About Chinese Government Corruption. Twitter Suspended His Account.
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 26.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, law, privacy, Twitter
Summary | A Chinese billionaire has publically denuciated Chinese government officials on Twitter by posting images of documents that evidence corruption. His account was suspended by Twitter for a few hours because the shared documents contained personal information which Twitter usually flags.
Image Description | Portrait of Guo Wengui.
Image Tags | male(s)
Facebook lets streams of depravity flow freely
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 19.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, Facebook, fake news, law, pornography, privacy, threat
Summary | Facebook is facing many criticisms about its poor enforcement of basic standards of content on the platform. Multiple violent live streams have been uploaded to Facebook in the past in it always took Facebook too long to take them down. Their algorithm to weed out pornography has backfired when they censored a historic photograph of a napalm victim from the Vietnam War because it registered as child pornography. After much denial, Facebook are finally taking steps against fake news spreading on their platform. All this may be called censorship but without moderation there can be no free speech because bullies dominate the discourse.
Image Description | N/A
How can you protect your right to digital privacy at the border?
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
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
Listen up, coaches: Your players might be recording your every word -- to use against you
Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 28.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | privacy, school, smartphone, threat, word/writing
Summary | A high school sports coach has recently been fired because he was secretly recorded while speaking to his team. The record alluded to physical violence - which he corrected in the recorded speech as a mere metaphor, not an actual recommendation - and inappropriate words. It is not entirely clear whether the student was allowed to record the conversation because a locker room speech is not technically in a classroom and was not explicitly classified as private. Coaches need to be aware that there is no privacy with smartphones everywhere.
Image Description | N/A
As Elites Switch to Texting, Watchdogs Fear Loss of Transparency
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
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
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
They don't learn the alphabet and won't have to sit an exam
Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 2.2.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, brain, game, law, school, threat
Summary | A mother who homeschools their children lets them play video games for up to seven hours a day. Experts criticize this because excessive video gaming reduces the development of empathy and other important psychological and cognitive developments. They are clearly not receiving nearly as much educaton as children in the public school system. All this is however legal as homeschooled children do not need to follow the curriculum or sit standardized exams.
Image Description | Portrait of the mother with her three children all holding a video game controller.
Image Tags | female(s), game, male(s)
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