Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 22
Posts 11 - 20

Obama Shifting Online Strategy on ISIS

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, law, politics, privacy, threat
Summary | President Obama wants to use surveillance techniques of new media to find IS terrorists. Tech companies, however, increasingly offer their users encrypted messaging services and refuse to hand over the keys to the government. Companies are protecting their users' privacy but also giving terrorists safe channels of communication.
Image Description | Portrait of Apple’s chief executive.
Image Tags | male(s)

At C.D.C., a Debate Behind Recommendations on Cellphone Risk

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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

An App for Our Inner Cheapskate

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 23.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | marketing, privacy, social media
Summary | The app Venmo is a payment service app that allows money transfers between people who have their bank accounts connected to their phone. Margaret Pennoyer is an elementary school teacher who had to pay the organizers of a bachelorette party $31.98 and $20.62. The fact that the amount was calculated to the penny surprised Pennoyer. She said that this app ''changes friendships and makes them more transactional''. The app also promotes the "everyone for themselves" idea. People seem to be less generous now; everyone has to pay exactly to the cent. Venmo is also like any other social networks; you can see what other people's transactions are. For instance, Margaret Pennoyer saw through the app that her cousins socialized recently and didn't invite her.
Image Description | N/A

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

WhatsApp Introduces End-to-End Encryption

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 5.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, privacy, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | Facebook has introduced end-to-end encryption for all WhatsApp communication including one-on-one and group chats and multimedia data sent in chats. This is a step to protect user privacy because breaches have happened in the past. The federal government however opposes this step because it denies the police access to communications which may be crucial to crack criminal cases.
Image Description | WhatsApp and Facebook logos.
Image Tags | Facebook, logo, WhatsApp

Texts Live On, but That's Often Forgotten in Politics

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | email, politics, privacy, texting
Summary | Politicians seem to forget an important rule: do not write a text message that could bring serious consequences if it appeared on the front page of a newspaper. In the George Washington Bridge scandal, it was said that Christina Genovese Renna (one of Chris Christie's aides) had texted a colleague that if his boss's emails were found, they would reveal that he was plotting to block traffic to the bridge. If you are a public servant, you should know that you can't send any confidential text messages. Text messages are often perceived as a "thoughtless" form of communication, which can have serious consequences.
Image Description | N/A

The Latest Celebrity Diet? Cyberbullying

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, privacy, social media
Summary | Celebrities are using social media to discuss personal issues with their friends/lovers/family. They behave like online harassers since they use social media to publicly humiliate other people they know. Some of celebrities' cyberbullying characteristics are: secret recordings, sexual humilitation, revenge porn, and mob deployment.
Image Description | Photograph of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, and screenshot of one of Kim Kardashian's tweets.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Twitter

None of Us Are Safe From Getting ‘Owned’

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 28.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | privacy, social media, Twitter, word/writing
Summary | Much communication on social media and especially Twitter revolves around criticizing. One frequently used term is 'owning' - one can 'own' a hater or troll when exposing some compromising information about them or something that they did not realize. The word hails from hacker culture of the early internet days when 'owning' meant to hack into someone else's virtual space and snoop around.
Image Description | Illustration of a lock made out of an ethernet cable.

Should You Spy on Your Kids?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, privacy, research/study, threat
Summary | Many parents now monitor their children's online and social media activity, regulate their internet access (or even texting abilities) through the night and school hours using sophisticated technology, a few even observe the movements of their children or partners by tracking their devices. While tracking each other's devices in a relationship can be useful to avoid texting while driving, such technology can also be exploited and result in an emotionally abusive relationship. This is especially risky when the monitoring is not mutual like when parents 'stalk' their children, danah boys says. It is impossible for children to learn media competency when they are constantly under surveillance, they become less reluctant to share social media passwords with their peers and can otherwise remain naïve when it comes to online safety because they have been shielded from everything growing up.
Image Description | A series of minimalistic illustrations of a woman with a smartphone leaving a trail (dotted line).
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

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