Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 28
Posts 11 - 20

Chatbot that overturned 160,000 parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 6.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, law, WhatsApp
Summary | A Stanford student has developed a chatbot on Facebook messenger that helps refugees apply for asylum in the US, UK, and Canada. It helps them fill out the necessary forms by using plain English and they are working on an Arabic translation. He wishes he could have the service on WhatsApp so that it would be better encrypted.
Image Description | Facebook chats on smartphones and a laptop.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, Facebook, smartphone

Das ist an Messenger-Verschwörungstheorien dran

(This is the deal with messenger conspiracy theories)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 5.11.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, privacy, Snapchat, texting, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | A list of popular messengers is analyzed in terms of how well they protect their users' privacy. The safest one is Signal and many others have end-to-end encryption, for instance WhatsApp. They still collect the metadata though (interlocutors, time of interaction, location). Some even save the content that is sent around - most shockingly Snapchat which is popular becuase it supposedly leaves no trace. Some messengers supposedly have ties with national security ministries, like Telegram in Russia and Viber in Israel. Apple recently refused to work with the FBI in giving away a customer's personal information.
Image Description | Photograph of a smartphone screen with messengers and a video about messengers.
Image Tags | hand(s), logo, smartphone, WhatsApp

Pling, Pling, Doppel-Pling

(Ding, Ding, Double-Ding)

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Newspaper | Süddeutsche Zeitung
Date | 30.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, social media, WhatsApp, youth, YouTube
Summary | A day in the life of a 13 year old who receives 200 messages a day. Lina uses her smartphone first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Though her father does not necessarily like her constant use of the smartphone and the notifications all the time, he is not worried about an addicion. Parents were taught about the risks on parent-teacher meetings. Lina is in a ton of group chats and is beginning to use Musical.ly. YouTube is a staple entertainment source for her.
Image Description | Lina with the smartphone on her bed and a hand holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone

Experten verraten: Diese Apps müssen dringend auf Ihr Smartphone

(Experts reveal: these apps need to be on your smartphone)

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Newspaper | Focus Online
Date | 5.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | privacy, smartphone, WhatsApp
Summary | It is difficult to avoid WhatsApp because virtually everyone is using it. The app profits from allowing you to reach everyone. There have however been privacy issues in the past. Safer options are the free app Signal (even recommended by Edward Snowden) or Threema. Other must-have apps are sophisticated password organizing apps, clean-up apps that optimize one's storage as well as good web browsers.
Image Description | Image of a boy holding a smartphone while laying on a sofa.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Vorsicht vor dieser Whatsapp-Falle

(Beware of this WhatsApp scam)

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Newspaper | Stern
Date | 19.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | A WhatsApp chain message is going around offering people free holiday emojis. A link directs them to a dodgy website where they type in their phone number and service provider. Instead of getting free emojis however one is signed up for an expensive subscription with hardly any possibility to quit. People should be careful with content they receive and spread through WhatsApp.
Image Description | A hand-held smartphone.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), hand(s), Instagram, smartphone, Viber, WhatsApp

Hilfe, wo sind meine Whatsapp-Freunde hin!

(Help, where did all of my WhatsApp friends go!)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 26.2.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, privacy, social media, WhatsApp
Summary | After Facebook has bought WhatsApp, many users are worried about their data privacy so waves of users are switching on to safer alternatives to WhatsApp such as Telegram, MyEnigma, or the Swiss app Threema. The large majority however is staying on WhatsApp, which causes more people to stay or return to WhatsApp. When Facebook replaced older social media platforms such as the German SchülerVZ, all users moved because a social media platform is only valuable when enough people use it.
Image Description | Photograph of a smartphone screen with social media different icons.
Image Tags | logo, smartphone, social media

Keine Chance für WhatsApp-Konkurrenz

(No chance for WhatsApp competition)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 16.2.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, privacy, WhatsApp
Summary | When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $22 mio in 2014, many users feared that their data privacy would be exploited. App store sales for secure messaging apps increased, particularly the Swiss app Threema. Now, Facebook and WhatsApp still have the highest user numbers which shows that people do not seem to care very much about their data privacy in the long run. While WhatsApp did introduce end-to-end encryption, Facebook also broke their promise of never connecting WhatsApp and Facebook user data.
Image Description | Photograph of a smartphone screen with different icons.
Image Tags | logo, smartphone

Das sind die neuen Funktionen von Whatsapp

(These are the newest functions of WhatsApp)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 7.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Snapchat, WhatsApp
Summary | New image editing and music features are supposed to be added to the messaging app WhatsApp. Funny filters, the possibility of adding stickers and drawing on pictures might be incorporated into WhatsApp – functions which are mainly known to be Snapchat features. Users will also be able to share music through the app and listen to it without having to download it. Further, it will be possible to join a group simply by clicking on a link.
Image Description | Photograph of a smartphone screen with different icons (WhatsApp, Skype, Viber) and a finger pointing to the WhatsApp icon. Screenshot of a Twitter account that mentions the new WhatsApp features.
Image Tags | hand(s), logo, Skype, smartphone, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp

The graphic selfies from inside the Swiss parliament

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Newspaper | BBC News
Date | 24.8.2014
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | politics, pornography, sexting, WhatsApp
Summary | Switzerland saw two nude selfie scandals in and around politics this summer. A secretary working in the parlamentarian offices had been tweeting nude selfies taken on the premises. Parlamentarian and city mayor of Baden in Switzerland, Geri Müller, had been sexting with an online friend via WhatsApp, including an abundance of written messages and nude selfies. The Swiss public had been debating whether Müller's #selfiegate should have been newsworthy at all. What ultimately emerges is a double standard: the secretary lost her job within days and the mayor is still representing the Swiss people in parliament.
Image Description | Portrait of Geri Müller, Anthony Weiner, and a Thinkstock image of a hand holding a smartphone presumably taking a selfie.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), selfie, smartphone

Government secretary tweets nude ‘selfies’

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Newspaper | The Local
Date | 7.8.2014
Language | English
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | pornography, selfie, sexting
Summary | A Bernese office employee had been tweeting nude images from her office to her 11'000 followers. She works for the Swiss government, whose employment policies ask employees to only post thing on social media that they would be comfortable sharing with their co-workers and supervisors as well and to keep the Swiss government's reputation in mind even when they are off the clock. The secretary in question, who has participated in several hundred amateur porn films as is now confirmed, claims that her private life does not interfere with her professional life in any way and that they should be kept seperate. It is unclear how her employers will handle the situation.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman taking a selfie.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), selfie, smartphone

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