Are we more exposed with the incoming 5G tech?
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Developments in 5G technology have been hitting the headlines over and over this year. In Canada, the diplomatic dispute around the Chinese company Huawei is only one of the layers of the discussion. As CBC reports, this is even impacting a possible government decision to ban the tech company from helping to build Canada’s 5G wireless network. Going East, the European Union digital commissioner has already announced they will look for a common approach to address 5G cybersecurity concerns, according to TechCrunch.
The technology promises to dramatically advance the connections between people and things. But more connections also mean more risks. For instance, TechCrunch reports that a group of researchers from Purdue University and University of Iowa found three new security flaws both in 4G and 5G. “Any person with a little knowledge of cellular paging protocols can carry out this attack… such as phone call interception, location tracking, or targeted phishing attacks,” said Syed Rafiul Hussain, from Purdue University.
While those disputes are still ongoing, our role as consumers is to keep asking questions and also to be hopeful about the good advances that 5G might bring to our lives. For example, TechRepublic published that, within the university, 5G could contribute to a better integration of augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence into teaching and learning.
Does negative content on social media about people we don’t know harm us?
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The Verge published a long-form piece describing the mental health effects on people who work as content moderators for Facebook. Their job is to verify posts that were denounced as hate speech, violence or pornography, and decide whether the content should be banned from the platform. As a consequence of being exposed to such a toxic environment, employees have developed severe anxiety, PTSD-like symptoms, and even started to believe in conspiracy theories from some of the videos and memes they have to moderate. According to the article, by the end of 2018, Facebook had over 30,000 employees working on safety and security all over the world, and about half of them were content moderators. The revelation of those negative impacts isn’t something new. In July 2018, Ellen Silver, Facebook’s VP of Operations, acknowledged that “this work is not easy”, and also wrote that content reviewers receive proper training and have access to mental health resources.
The negative effects of dealing with toxic content on social media are not limited to those whose mandate is exclusively to turn down disturbing posts. In an article we posted recently, Tamara Baluja, CBC Vancouver’s social media editor on leave and honorary research associate at UBC’s School of Journalism, said that people who work with social media have to take care of their mental health, since they are connected for long periods and are more exposed to negative content. The BBC also published an article last year discussing how social media affects people.
What about you? Have you ever felt that negative content on social media was affecting your mental health? Share your thoughts with us on the comment box below. You can also send us an email at digital.tattoo@ubc.ca.
Is our money safe with digital currencies?
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According to the New York Times, Facebook, Telegram and Signal are investing on cryptocurrencies that would allow users to send money over their messaging systems. The article points out that, like Bitcoin, those new digital coins facilitate money transactions between countries. Something similar already happens in China with WeChat, where the app works also as a virtual wallet for many people.
Even though this could be an accessible tool for consumers, there are questions around how safe cryptocurrency is. For Martin Wolf, from the Financial Times, digital money needs tougher regulations. “So far cryptocurrency craze has made online criminality easier, created bubbles, fleeced naive investors, imposed grotesque waste in so-called “mining,” offered funding for malfeasance and facilitated tax evasion,” he wrote.
But why has there been so much buzz around it? As Forbes wrote last year, blockchain — the technology behind digital currencies — is being promoted “as the next internet.” This could be because it relates to an idea of decentralisation and non-sovereignty, which is particularly attractive for youth. Such is the demand that even traditional universities, known to be conservative institutions, are looking for ways to take the lead — for example, offering blockchain courses. You can find more information about the technology on a recent blog post we wrote.
What do you think about this cryptocurrency craze? Would you consider sending a digital currency for another country via messaging apps? Would you be open, for example, to receive or send tuition money using this tool? As always, you can leave a comment with your thoughts in the discussion box below.
Read our most recent blog posts:
- Blockchain
- In the News: Facebook begins launch of new petition feature
- When Social Media is Also Work
- Digital Activism
- In the News: WinRAR Users Threatened By Security Flaw
- Book Review: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
- In the News: Indian government proposes strict internet censorship laws
What’s happening:
VANCOUVER:
Hackathon – HackUBC: Learning Analytics + Canvas API Hackathon
When? March 29 and 30
Where? UBC Point Grey Campus – Sauder Learning Labs, David Lam Building, Room DL009, 2033 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C.
TORONTO
When? March 12, from 4 pm to 6 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Centre for Ethics, Larkin Building, Room 200, 15 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ont.
Film Screening and Discussion – Ethics & Film: Westworld, feat Mark Kingwell
When? March 12, from 6 pm to 8 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Centre for Ethics, Larkin Building, Room 200, 15 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ont.
Lecture – What’s Behind the Techlash? (And What to Do About It), with Taylor Owen
When? March 15, from 5 pm to 7 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy / Bloor – 1st floor Boardroom/Round Room/Library, 315 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ont.
When? March 21, from 4 pm to 6 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy / Devonshire Place – 208N, North House, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ont.
Edit-a-thon – Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
When? March 23, from 12 pm to 5 pm (EST)
Where? The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)
Lecture – Making Good Decisions and Getting AI to Do the Same, with Sheila A. McIlraith
When? March 26, from 4 pm to 6 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Centre for Ethics, Larkin Building, Room 200, 15 Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ont.
Lecture – Tomorrow’s Leviathan: Intelligent Machines in a Political World, with prof. Phil Howard
When? March 28, 6:30 pm (EST)
Where? U of T St. George (Downtown) Campus – Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave, Toronto, Ont.
Edited by: Elyse Hill
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