Food
for thought?
Éloïse
Gratton writes:
Last spring I was invited to testify and present with Dr. Avner Levin
before the Standing Committee on Access
to Information, Privacy and Ethics, House of Commons, in the
context of their study conducted on the “Growing
Problem of Identity Theft and its Economic Impact“.
I discussed why there are no real incentives for Canadian businesses
to protect the personal information of their employees and customers.
I also elaborated on the fact that we should have, in Canada,
mandatory breach notification.
Read
more on Éloïse
Gratton: Privacy & IT Law.
Call
it an “e-Sting?”
U.S.
Government Creates Fake Facebook Profile
A
special agent working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) allegedly hijacked a woman’s identity online, and the
Department of Justice (DoJ) claims he had the right to do so. The
story, as reported by BuzzFeed,
centers on Sondra Arquiett, who was known at the time as Sondra
Prince.
Arquiett
was arrested and accused of being part of a drug trafficking ring.
While awaiting trial, DEA special agent Timothy Sinnigen created a
Facebook account in the name of Sondra Prince, posted pictures of her
and members of her family, and communicated with “at least one
wanted fugitive.” This was all done without Arquiett’s
knowledge, but the U.S. Government claims she “implicitly
consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell
phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an
ongoing criminal investigations [sic].”
Facebook’s
Community Standards make it clear that, “Claiming to be
another person, creating a false presence for an organization, or
creating multiple accounts undermines community and violates
Facebook’s terms.” While Facebook refused to comment on
this particular case, a spokesperson stated that “there is no
exception to this policy for law enforcement.” Arquiett was
eventually sentenced to five years of probation which was terminated
earlier this year.
A
tool for finding “like thinkers” is not a tool for finding “right
thinkers.”
Commentary
– How Social Media Leads to a Less Stable World
While
social media provides myriad benefits, the advances in connectivity
and wealth may come at the expense of the state and the world’s
stability, writes Curtis Hougland, CEO of Attentionusa.com, a global
social marketing agency.
“James
Foley. David Haines. Steven Sotloff. The list of people beheaded by
followers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) keeps
growing. The filming of these acts on video and distribution via
social media platforms such as Twitter represent a geopolitical trend
in which social media has become the new frontline for proxy wars
across the globe. While social media does indeed advance
connectivity and wealth among people, its proliferation at the same
time results in a markedly less stable world. That social media
benefits mankind is irrefutable. I have been an evangelist for the
power of new media for 20 years. However, technology in the form of
globalized communication, transportation and supply chains conspires
to make today’s world more complex. Events in any corner of the
world now impact the rest of the globe quickly and sharply. Nations
are being pulled apart along sectarian seams in Iraq, tribal
divisions in Afghanistan, national interests in Ukraine and
territorial fences in Gaza. These conflicts portend a quickening of
global unrest, confirmed by Foreign
Policy magazine’s map
of civil protest. The ISIS videos are simply the exposed wire. I
believe that over the next century, even great nations will Balkanize
— break into smaller nations. One
of the principal drivers of this Balkanization is social media.”
(Related)
An App for protestors that we all my be using soon.
What
Firechat's Success in Hong Kong Means for a Global Internet
Look
at pictures of any protest and you’ll see a mix of high and low
technology.
…
And you’ll hear about one thing more—a piece of software
protesters are downloading to their phones. It’s helping them
communicate digitally across the miles-long protest site, asking for
supplies or reinforcements, and it stays useful even when the
Internet is blocked or down. It’s called Firechat.
Firechat
is a messaging app. It places users in chatrooms—both large and
small, either across the Internet or locally—and allows them to
talk with each other. Everything its users say inside it is public.
And, crucially, it doesn’t
need the Internet to work. It connects users directly to
each other through their phone’s wi-fi or Bluetooth.
As
my
colleague Adrienne LaFrance wrote in June, many see mesh
networking as a new, more promising kind of Internet. Mesh networks
are more secure and resilient. They’re not as easy to dominate.
As such, they seem ideal for disaster and protest situations.
…
Eventually, Shalunov hopes to use Firechat’s two-pronged nature—as
easy as an app, as resilient as a network—to
connect the billions of would-be phone owners who, right now, cannot
afford an Internet connection.
No
indication of the cost, but four regional centers suggests a rather
large investment of taxpayer dollars.
Brittany
M. Hughes reports:
The Department of Homeland Security flew drones equipped with video
cameras over the United States–away from border and coastal
areas–for 1,726 hours from fiscal 2011 through this April,
according to the
Government Accountability Office.
Read
more on CNSNews.
“We're
teachers so you should do whatever we say without question. Except
for what that teacher says.”
Christopher
Placek and Susan Sarkauskas report:
A Batavia High School teacher who advised his students that they had
a constitutional right not to fill out a school survey on risky
behavior is retiring from his position, officials said.
Social studies teacher John Dryden submitted his letter of
resignation to Batavia School District 101 officials Friday, said
Superintendent Lisa Hichens.
Read
more on Daily
Herald. (via @funnymonkey)
I
had blogged about this case in May 2013, and feel even more strongly
today that we need more teachers like John Dryden who educate
students about their constitutional rights and privacy rights. And
parents need more teachers like John Dryden in a day and age where
tremendous amounts of personal and sensitive information are being
collected and possibly shared – and where parents do not know
enough to opt their children out where they can. The district may
have had good intentions, but the survey in question is extremely
problematic and should have had broader discussion with parents and
children’s rights advocates before it was distributed.
[From
the article:
Then-Superintendent
Jack Barshinger said the Fifth Amendment didn't apply because the
surveys would have become student records and subject to student
privacy laws, and police wouldn't have been able to prosecute based
on a survey alone.
For
my App programming students! Great idea that can be translated for
any venue.
AP
reports:
Levi’s Stadium is home to the first mobile app designed to enhance
every aspect of a fan’s stadium experience, from steering fans to
their parking spots to identifying the least-crowded restrooms. No
more waiting in line for a $10 beer and $6 hot dog. During the game,
fans can order food and drinks that can be delivered directly to
their seats or picked up at express windows. Don’t agree with that
call? Use the app to watch instant replays from four camera angles.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he saw the app’s potential as
soon as he downloaded it for the 49ers’ Sept. 14 regular-season
opener.
“Everybody’s connection to the outside world now really is their
phone, so that has to become part of the (game-day) experience,” he
said.
Mike Roberts of Martinez, California, appreciated being able to order
popcorn from his seat for pickup at an express window with no lines.
“Everyone living around here is pretty tech savvy,” notes
Roberts, “so this is the perfect place to try something like this.”
The app will ask fans if they want to order food and drinks at
certain times during the game, depending
on past behavior patterns. [Behavioral
information is kept and analyzed. Bob]
Read
more on AP.
Smarter
researching.
Use
LOC Subject Headings In Google Books Searches
Google
Books is one of the under-utilized search tools that I like to
share with teachers and students. I offer an overview of how
to use it here. Last week I read Daniel
Russell's search challenge of the week and learned to use Library
of Congress subject headings in my Google Books searches.
In
his post Dr. Russell explains that by using LOC subject headings in
your Google Books searches you can use fairly generic terms and get
results in the context of the subject heading. He gave the example
of using the subject heading "World War, 1939-1945" in his
search for book content addressing armor in World War II. Once you
have your Google Books search results you can use the built-in search
refinement tools to identify content published during a range of
dates and to find content
that is freely available online (not everything returned
in a Google Books search is freely available online). Click
here for Dr. Russell's full explanation and visuals of the ins
and outs of using LOC subject headings in Google Books searches.
Some
very interesting numbers. Infographic.
How
The Internet Is Making The Whole World Richer
The
Internet has revolutionized many businesses. Rather than jumping in
the car and driving to a store, we can simply order what we need
online. Because of that, a lot more money is changing hands.
The
image below breaks down how the Internet is making the world richer.
We often think of the web as a place to kill time and learn
something new, but it’s quite fascinating to see how it has
actually changed the financial state of the world in which we live!
A 20
minute TED talk (easier than his TL;DR book)
Thomas
Piketty: New thoughts on capital in the twenty-first century
French economist Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with
his book on a simple, brutal formula explaining economic inequality:
r > g (meaning that return on capital is generally higher than
economic growth). Here, he talks through the massive data set that
led him to conclude: Economic inequality is not new, but it is
getting worse, with radical possible impacts.
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