Digital Ethics

CCTV commissioner says he gets many queries about facial recognition and other tools

I learned a lot from creating my own deepfake video.

Shadowy firms collect detailed data on where we go and who we meet through our apps. Yet where is the protest that would fuel change?

This week, hacktivist and security engineer Lance R. Vick tweeted an enticing proposition along with a gut-punch headline: “Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands,” read the Washington Post link. The report revealed nearly instantaneous and sweeping adoption of smartphone-tracking platforms implemented in roughly 60 campuses, ranging from limited classroom attendance check-ins to pervasive 24/7 surveillance, mostly with fuzzy consent policies.

Cabinet Office apologises after details of more than 1,000 people posted online in error

Inspired by the work of @aral and @LauraKalbag and their Small Tech Foundation ethos, I've started actually reading privacy policies.Today I read @NotionHQ's, as I was planning to use their service more next year. Emphasis on the was. pic.twitter.com/BaAWN7L36q— Myles Lewando 🥀 (@codemacabre) December 28, 2019

Russia's neighbor has developed a blueprint for countering misinformation. Can it be exported to the rest of the world?

New users can no longer sign up for Messenger without creating a Facebook account, a spokesperson confirmed to VentureBeat.

Bizarre how dudes who run tech companies can’t tell the difference between saying “hi” to everyone who walks into the room and forcing them to download an app, accumulating 1000’s of data points on them, and having them ingested into a system where their data is up for grabs.— One Ring (IoT camera) to surveil them all (@hypervisible) December 26, 2019

Attackers targeted the Epilepsy Foundation’s Twitter handle

“If you get people afraid of their neighborhood, then they will buy Ring cameras, and those cameras will, in turn, make them more afraid, because every time someone walks by and their phone buzzes, they’ll think it’s a burglar on their porch...” https://t.co/4v0ptXLo69— One Ring (IoT camera) to surveil them all (@hypervisible) December 21, 2019

Free the Slaves investigates the extant of slavery in Congo's mining industry. Conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) find their way into the supply chain of products we use every day—like laptops, cell phones and batteries. Slavery also exists in Congo's mining areas.

Technology companies are building algorithms that are fueled by vast stores of patient health information.

What we learned from the spy in your pocket.

Don’t let yourself be compromised

Facebook told two senators why it tracks users' locations even when their tracking services are turned off.

Laura Kalbag discusses the gift of personal data we give to Big Tech when we share information on its platforms, and how reviving ye olde personal website can be one way to stay in control of the content we share and the data we leak. Christmas is a time for giving, but know what you’re giving to whom.

Facebook will hire the "community reviewers" through a third-party contractor called Appen.

Here’s the actual press release about the Horrible Toilet, and a screenshot of the actual intro text to make clear the toilet is *all about increasing business efficiency and profits*https://t.co/3NlsH1xMuo pic.twitter.com/tw5FYU5JS3— dan hon (@hondanhon) December 17, 2019

America needs more and better protections over personal data, says Lawrence Cappello of the University of Alabama

Note: This piece contains sexual content and descriptions of child sex abuse that could be disturbing to some readers. The messages…

Prof Noel Sharkey says systems so infected with biases they cannot be trusted

Each time I've watched this video it's given me chills. A Desoto County mother shared this Ring video with me. Four days after the camera was installed in her daughters' room she says someone hacked the camera & began talking to her 8-year-old daughter.More at 6 on #WMC5 pic.twitter.com/77xCekCnB0— Jessica Holley (@Jessica_Holley) December 10, 2019

Facebook users have been bombarded with misleading ads about medication meant to prevent the transmission of HIV, according to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates, who say the tech giant’s refusal to remove the content has created a public-health crisis.

Män är fortfarande en prioriterad kategori på arbetsmarknaden och i tillvaron i stort. Men när algoritmer alltmer styr våra liv väcks frågan om hur mycket kvinnor och minoriteter diskrimineras utan att någon behöver ta ansvar för det...

Professor Scott Galloway owns approximately 334,000 shares in Twitter, and he has something to say about the company's leadership.

Voice technology has historically struggled to understand people with unique speech patterns, like those with Down syndrome.

The FBI also recommends changing factory-set (default) passwords and not allowing an IoT device's accompanying mobile app to gain access to too many smartphone permissions.