Guest Blog Post: Anonymous Advocacy: Keeping You and Your Data Safe at Protests
Guest Post by Kylla Castillo Being able to safely protest for causes you care about is an essential pillar of democracy, but in the age of mass surveillance and data collection, protestors need to be more diligent than ever to protect themselves when exercising this essential right. Due to those risks, this article will share […]
Alone Together: The Paradox of Loneliness in the Age of Social Media
Loneliness is universal—we all have experiences where we yearn for connection with others. Momentary loneliness is normal, but feeling chronically lonely can negatively impact mental and physical health. According to a study conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2020, young adults of university age were the hardest hit by loneliness from the […]
Poverty and Privacy: An Inverse Relationship (Part 2)
If you haven’t already, you may want to read part 1 of this series first. In the first part of this series, we discussed the ways in which people experiencing poverty are subjected to higher levels of surveillance, especially in a work context. We also explored the idea that wealth, while not necessarily decreasing how […]
Poverty and Privacy: An Inverse Relationship (Part 1)
We are living in an era where privacy has become less and less of a given: the default is now surveillance. From doorbell cameras to smart assistants, TikTok to Google calendar, we’re constantly being monitored and tracked. However, there are some groups who are afforded more privacy—who can buy more privacy—than the rest of the […]
Is the Price of Convenience a Loss of Privacy?
Connected objects and devices (aka the Internet of Things) are on the rise.[1] You probably have encountered an IoT object if you own a smartwatch or fitness tracker, or have a smart assistant like a Google Home. While these can be helpful gadgets, we suggest making some considerations before purchasing a smart object—check out what […]
Encrypted Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Private: A Look at WhatsApp Privacy Concerns
Guest Post by Karen McInnes What’s up with WhatsApp? You may have noticed increased news coverage on WhatsApp, this post will break down some of the privacy concerns being discussed. This all started in 2014, when WhatsApp was bought by Facebook. Two years later, WhatsApp began sharing user data with Facebook, unless users specifically chose […]
The Surveillance Economy: How Amazon Uses Your Alexa Data to Drive Profits
The Surveillance Economy: How Amazon Uses Your Alexa Data to Drive Profits Guest Post by Jill Pineau Voice AI assistants collect massive amounts of highly personal user data. Of the corporations that sell these devices – including Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon – Amazon’s data harvesting is arguably the most concerning, as the company itself […]
Green Hosting: One Small Step Towards a Sustainable Future
Green Hosting: One Small Step Towards a Sustainable Future Guest Post by Nora Varga The Internet as a Polluter Did you know that the internet is a major polluter? According to the Web Neutral Project, the internet produces about 2% of global CO2 emissions annually – the same amount as the aviation industry. And if […]
Don’t Fall Down the Rabbit Hole: The Importance of YouTube Privacy
Don’t Fall Down the Rabbit Hole: The Importance of YouTube Privacy Guest Post by Ying Chen In 2019, Digital Tattoo covered a news story on how YouTube updated its algorithm to make extremist content harder to find after growing criticism that the platform was leading its users towards misleading content, conspiracy theories and radical thought […]
Building Your Digital Avatar Using LinkedIn
Building Your Digital Avatar Using LinkedIn Guest Post by Maitreyi Bodkhe After more than a year of Zoom school and professors encouraging everyone to turn on their cameras, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering my social media usage and digital identity. One of my favorite pandemic activities has been creating quirky Zoom backgrounds for […]
People said…