In the News: Canada’s Auditor General reports ‘no plan’ to connect the digital divide
Though many perceive the ability to be online as a basic necessity, several rural communities across Canada still find themselves without access to high-speed connection. Many of these disconnected areas are Indigenous communities that already experience a disproportionate lack of vital resources, such as the absence of clean water or all-weather roads in the Shoal […]
In the News: Screen Composers Guild of Canada Proposes ‘Copyright Tax’ On Internet Use
A proposal by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) to The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, released on September 25, 2018, aims to introduce a ‘copyright tax’ on Internet use, according to the documents released by TorrentFreak [1] In the report [2], the SCGC proposed a tax collected by internet service providers “that is […]
Book Review: Shareveillance
Shareveillance: The Dangers of Openly Sharing and Covertly Collecting Data Clare Birchall (2017) Digital Tattoo Rating: 2/5 Summary What does it mean to share in the Digital Age? In her book Shareveillance: The Dangers of Openly Sharing and Covertly Collecting Data, Clare Birchall investigates the intricacies of digital sharing on personal and state levels, and […]
Guest Blog Post: Disconnection
Until very recently, connection was always framed in terms of individual choice. If people found issue with being connected, perpetually distracted, or dulled to their immediate surroundings by their devices, it was the users themselves, and their lack of self-control that was to blame. Any solution or “escape” was to be found in the individual’s […]
Digital Identity Digest (November 2018)
Have you ever lied on a dating app? Online dating apps are very popular, but they can have some pitfalls. Irina Manta, a law professor at New York’s Hofstra University and founder of its Center for Intellectual Property Law, wrote to the Washington Post that obtaining sex through fraud on dating apps should be legally […]
Guest Blog Post: Cluster What?
Cluster What? Written By: Henry St. Clair Information systems literacy comes front and center in a new work of theatre that was unveiled at Toronto’s 2018 Fringe Festival. The play, written by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information’s own Professor David Philips, is affectionately titled “Cluster F****d”. Philp’s piece attempts to lead the […]
In the News: Facebook pulls VPN from Apple App Stores over accusations of data harvesting
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, allow user internet traffic to be encrypted and redirected through a private server, creating added security for user data. Many people use these forms of anonymous browsing to transfer information, or mask geographic location. But what about the companies running the VPNs? Are they not able to see the traffic […]
Open Collaboration: A Reflection on OpenCon2018
As a member of the Digital Tattoo project, we are constantly striving to create different avenues for student learning, by making high-quality educational resources free and accessible. Because of this, I was impelled to apply to the OpenCon 2018 to learn more about Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data. At the beginning of November, […]
In the News: ‘WaitList.dat” file is harvesting text from touch-based Windows PCs
Do you have a touch-based Windows PC? If you have used the ‘Handwriting Recognition’[1] feature, text you entered through any method (keyboard or handwriting) may have been harvested and sent to Microsoft, according to ZDNet [2]. According to digital forensics and incident response expert Barnaby Skeggs, when this ‘Handwriting Recognition’ feature is turned on, a […]
Digital Identity Digest (October 2018)
Could facial recognition be a tool for dangerous mass surveillance? An Amazon employee published an anonymous op-ed on Medium speaking out against the company’s decision to sell its facial recognition product, Rekognition, to police in the U.S. They believe it’s a system for dangerous mass surveillance, which reinforces existing bias as demonstrated in a test […]
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