Have you ever lied on a dating app?
Image Dating Love App Tinder Phone_By_Tumisu Used Under CC0 1.0
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 penalized. In an interview to CBC, Manta explained that little lies, like weight or height, are not the problem. What she is concerned about are more substantial lies, such as a person’s marital status. To punish those predators, Manta is asking state lawmakers to create a civil sanction. She brings up the case of Anna Rowe, a woman in the U.K. who was deceived by a married man for over one year. Rowe explained in an interview to CBC, that he created social media accounts with false information, and had even a phone dedicated to his affairs. So far, she found other 13 women that were deceived by the same man.
In November, another case of catfishing — creating a false identity online to pursue deceptive romances — hit headlines. The New York Times reported that a 26-year-old Norwegian man pretended to be a teenage girl to meet boys and young men on online chat forums. He was charged with sexually abusing more than 300 people.
Do you want to keep the discussion going? You can share your thoughts on Digital Tattoo’s online dating section.
Is Facebook’s content removal process fair?
Image Mark Zuckerberg_By_Alessio Jacona Used Under CC BY-SA 2.0
Over 80 organizations called on Facebook for more transparency and accountability on their process to remove content. “Facebook’s content takedown policies too often backfire and silence the very people that should have their voices heard on the platform,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in a press release. They request the release of transparency reports, and the implementation of appealing standards that could be easily followed by average users. But as Motherboard highlights, this comes after a year of Facebook claiming to expand its content moderation process to protect its users from hate speech. Therefore, the company has to find solutions that would work well for both situations. This could be the creation of an independent body responsible for working on users’ appeals, as Mark Zuckerberg announced recently, according to Business Insider.
Have you ever had a post removed by Facebook that you considered a mistake? If you want to share your story, send us an email: digital.tattoo@ubc.ca.
Should data from smart speakers be released to law enforcement?
CBS News reports that prosecutors in New Hampshire, U.S., requested Amazon to release recordings from an Echo device at the scene of an alleged murder. However, the company is resisting to turn over any data “without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us.” As the Washington Post writes, this puts the company in the centre of a debate around public safety and privacy. Amazon and other tech companies have been questioned about privacy concerns, so they tend to protect customers’ data from external requests. On the other side, according to EFF senior staff attorney Nate Cardozo, law enforcement has been increasingly requesting the release of data from connected devices.
As Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming more integrated into our daily routines, we should reflect on how information about us is being collected and used. In August, CNBC reported that colleges are expanding the use of smart speakers, including installing them in dorm rooms.
Earlier this year Digital Tattoo published a reading guide to authors and filmmakers examining some of those issues. It’s worth taking a look!
Image Amazon Echo_By_Quote Catalog Used Under CC BY 2.0
Read our most recent blog posts:
- Guest Blog Post: Cluster What?
- In the News: Facebook pulls VPN from Apple App Stores over accusations of data harvesting
- Open Collaboration: A Reflection on OpenCon2018
- In the News: ‘WaitList.dat” file is harvesting text from touch-based Windows PCs
What’s happening in December:
Lecture – Policy Solutions for Big Data and AI Innovation in Health
When? Dec. 13, from 4 pm to 5:30 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Women’s College Hospital Conference Centre Auditorium, 2nd Floor, 76 Grenville Street
Written by: Monique Rodrigues
Edited by: Elyse Hill
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