Digital Grievance
Digital Grievance By Dominique Rivera For anyone born in or after 2004, Facebook has been active for their entire lives. For some, there has never been an option not to have a digital identity. From the moment they were born, their parents were posting their baby pictures online. Trying to have control over your own […]
Digital Identity Digest (February 2019)
Are we more exposed with the incoming 5G tech? 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 […]
In the News: Facebook begins launch of new petition feature
At the end of January, Facebook began to roll out a petition feature for users across the United States, calling the new tool “Community Actions.” Here, users are able to create a petition about a self-identified social issue, and accrue support from friends and members of the broader Facebook community. As well, this feature allows […]
Digital Identity Digest (January 2019)
What is the best educational measure against piracy? Canada’s government has amended its Copyright Act to clarify that piracy notices can’t demand cash from Canadians. The piracy-notice system took effect in 2015, allowing “copyright holders to send warning emails to people suspected of illegally downloading content such as movies or music,” CBC explains. According to […]
Digital Identity Digest (December 2018)
Do the benefits of having a Facebook account outweigh the risks? In December, Facebook hit the headlines once again for a privacy scandal. This time, they revealed that a Photo API bug gave some third-party apps too much access to the photos of up to 6.8 million users. According to their statement, developers might have […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Digital Identity Digest (September 2018)
Facebook’s largest security breach in history The biggest news of September came right in the end of the month. Facebook announced that an attack on its computer network had exposed personal information of almost 50 million users. The New York Times reported it was the largest breach in the company’s history. The attackers exploited a […]
In the News: Facebook Pushes for Facial Recognition Software
Despite facing legal trouble in the US for violating state privacy laws by misusing biometric data [1], or the ongoing investigation into the data mining practices of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook recently announced plans to implement facial recognition software in Canada and the European Union. This software was originally introduced within the United States […]
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