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 […]
Nothing is “Neutral:” Passive Digital Footprints and the Perpetuation of Inequality
Nothing is “Neutral:” Passive Digital Footprints and the Perpetuation of Inequality Guest Post by Kathryn LeBere Have you ever paused to reflect on your passive online activity? How long you lingered on a post? Which links you clicked on while browsing? We all make thousands of semi-unconscious decisions when using the Internet. Our digital presence, […]
Are your Fitness Trackers Spying on You???
Are your Fitness Trackers Spying on You??? Guest Post by Sheryl Lim Quantifying and tracking our physical activity, lifestyle, and habits is increasingly conveniently today. Gary Wolf termed this rise in self-tracking the “quantified self” movement [1], where people turn towards numbers to measure and interpret their lives. As wearable fitness trackers such as Fitbits […]
(Privacy) Check, Please!: The Privacy Implications of QR Code Menus
(Privacy) Check, Please! The Privacy Implications of QR Code Menus There are many habits we now consider the “new normal”. Masks, sanitizer, and awkward Zoom hangouts are just some of the facets of daily life we no longer think twice about. As restaurants open and we can meet outside our screens again, one of the […]
Guest Post: Targeted Advertising and Ad Blocking Technologies
Targeted Advertising and Ad Blocking Technologies by Laura Moberg Have you ever wondered if your phone was listening to you? In an episode from their podcast Reply All, Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt investigate the belief many people have that Facebook is listening to us through our devices and using that information to create targeted […]
Guest Post & Quiz: Data Breach: Don’t Let it Get You!
Data Breach: Don’t Let it Get You! by Amruta Phansalker Check out the end of this post for a fun quiz to see if you can spot potential data breaches! We hear of data breach incidents often. But what are they exactly, and why should we worry about them? Did you know that your data […]
Guest Post: Algorithms and the Death of Democratic Discourse
Algorithms & The Death of Democratic Discourse by Christian Koch Our entire digital history tracked— and is still being tracked. Platforms like Google, Facebook, and others collect data from links clicked, time spent on a particular page, whether or not the content is shared, and even the most seemingly inconsequential choices— all to build pictures […]
