Our Podcast…
The Digital Tattoo Project Podcast raises questions, shares stories, speaks with experts and encourages us to consider our digital lives.
Listen to us on iTunes or Soundcloud
In the News: Google’s Knowledge Graph can be used to misinform
Have you used Google to answer a question, to find that the answer appears in a big box on the right hand side of the search results? This is Google’s Knowledge Graph technology, which stores the ‘answers’ to common questions within a structured database that organizes information on websites in a standardized way [1]. It […]
In the News: Canada’s Auditor General reports ‘no plan’ to connect the digital divide
Though many perceive the ability to be online as a basic necessity, several rural communities across Canada still find themselves without access to high-speed connection. Many of these disconnected areas are Indigenous communities that already experience a disproportionate lack of vital resources, such as the absence of clean water or all-weather roads in the Shoal […]
In the News: Screen Composers Guild of Canada Proposes ‘Copyright Tax’ On Internet Use
A proposal by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) to The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, released on September 25, 2018, aims to introduce a ‘copyright tax’ on Internet use, according to the documents released by TorrentFreak [1] In the report [2], the SCGC proposed a tax collected by internet service providers “that is […]
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 […]
In the News: ‘WaitList.dat” file is harvesting text from touch-based Windows PCs
Do you have a touch-based Windows PC? If you have used the ‘Handwriting Recognition’[1] feature, text you entered through any method (keyboard or handwriting) may have been harvested and sent to Microsoft, according to ZDNet [2]. According to digital forensics and incident response expert Barnaby Skeggs, when this ‘Handwriting Recognition’ feature is turned on, a […]
In the News: Google Automatically Logs Users Into Chrome Browser on Google Sites
Google launched version 69.0 of its Chrome web browser on September 5, 2018 [1]. After the last version update of the browser [2], we talked Google’s decision to mark all HTTP-only websites as ‘Not Secure’. In their update for Chrome 69, Google decided to log users who had turned the ‘Sync’ feature into their […]
In the News: Google Tracks Smartphones that Disabled Location Services
You probably already know that there are tradeoffs involved with certain services offered through the internet. One such tradeoff is providing a service with your geographic location to find out where you are, or how to get to a destination from your current location. Google also receives your current geographic location via GPS data sent […]
In the News: France Implements Smartphone Ban in Schools
As of September of this year, elementary and middle school children in France are no longer allowed to carry their smartphones while in school. As a part of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign, the controversial ban details that children up to the age of 15 must either leave their phones at home or give them to […]
In the News: Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance: “Privacy is not Absolute”
Five Eyes (FVEY) Intelligence Alliance is a multi-national agreement for signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom [1]. This group emerged as a result of the 1943 Britain-United States of America Agreement (1943 BRUSA Agreement)[2]. Although the treaty was signed and enacted in 1943, the public was only […]
In the News: Researchers develop sonar technology to steal smartphone passcodes
Last month, researchers from Lancaster University in England released work detailing a new technique where a smartphone’s built-in speaker and microphone can act as a sonar system to steal the phone’s unlock pattern. Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging) uses sound propagation to detect the surrounding objects and their movements [1]. In this case, the development […]
People said…