Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 69
Posts 11 - 20

Diese drei Anwendungen sind besser als Whatsapp

(These three apps are better than WhatsApp)

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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)

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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

Ruhe, bitte!

(Silence, please!)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 26.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | New technology is likely contributing to insomnia. One third of adults suffer insomnia. All our internet devices make it difficult for us to let go of what is happening in the world because we can access it at all times. Sleep experts advise people who suffer from insomnia to stop looking at notifications before one goes to sleep and to ban all electronic devices from the bedroom.
Image Description | Image of a woman sleeping on a skyscraper and images of men (experts) mentioned in the article.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Warum wir nie wieder Smalltalk machen müssen

(Why we never have to do smalltalk again)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 4.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Google, threat
Summary | Chatbots operated with artificial intelligence like Google's Allo will soon obliterate our need to engage in smalltalk. It can suggest appropriate or social expected responses to generic messages and other content. It can for example recognize an image of food and suggest to respond "yummy!". This can be convenient but it can also result in chatbots essential talking to other chatbots in the name of their human users.
Image Description | Getty image illustration showing a man and a microchip.
Image Tags | male(s)

Ausprobieren statt Null-Eins-Angst

(Experimenting instead of zero-one-anxiety)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 25.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | computer programming, digitized education, school, threat, youth
Summary | A school in Britain is now teaching 7th grade students simple programming in order to advance computer literacy - an important cause for future generations. Some newspapers have however seen the end of the world as we know it in these news. If students are taught to think in the binary scheme of computer programming, how will they understand human emotions and complex critique? Clearly, this concern is disproportionate.
Image Description | N/A

"Wie ist das bei dir?"

("How is that for you?")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 14.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, online dating, politeness, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | We are more connected than ever nowadays. There should be no room for alienation in relationships with all those media available to us to communicate. WhatsApp even lets us know when our loved ones were last online and when they read a message. This may sound good at first but it can cause a lot of misunderstandings and jealousy when partners do not respond to messages right away.
Image Description | N/A

Erdogan schaltet sich auf die Handys der Türken

(Erdogan tunes into the cell phones of Turkish residents)

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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

Der digitale Beifahrer – Damit die Hände am Lenkrad bleiben, sollen Bordcomputer zuhören

(The digital front-seat passenger - bord computers are supposed to listen in so that the hands stay on the steering wheel)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 26.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, texting, threat
Summary | A new bord computer is supposed to help drivers not only navigate to their destination and make hands-free phone calls, but also assisst them with texting. For safety reasons, they however take the liberty to withold an incoming message if the driver needs to be particularly focused. All this is voice operated.
Image Description | N/A

Die Floh-Affäre

(The flea affair)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 7.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, gender, law, smartphone, threat
Summary | Many children get tricked into subscribing to dubious newsletter services on their smartphones and are then intimidated into paying subscription fees. There is no legal need to pay these fees but people are easily intimidated. The author's son has subscribed to a porn site by accident and possibly President Obama's daughter have similar issues and find themselves having to pay for a horoscope subscription.
Image Description | N/A

Dieser Hass auf das Netz ist lächerlich

(This hate online is ridiculous)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 29.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, fake news, law, social media, threat
Summary | People are writing books about how the internet and social media are the bane of democracy. Social media have however not created a new genre of bullying and hate lanuguage (just a new medium). It just enables everyone to see every hateful opinion that used to be hidden in peoples homes.The myth of the filter bubble is being spread by politicians and regular people alike but people have always liked to get the news they agreed with. No one subscribes to a newspaper that has the opposite political outlook. Also, contrary to popular belief, wrong doers on Facebook are being held accountable if the cross the line of what is legal and what is not.
Image Description | Getty image of zeros and ones with a pair of eyes.

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