privacy
In the News: Facial Recognition Software at Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics
By elyse hill on August 22, 2018 | Tagged with Data Collection, facial recognition, In the News, privacy
The organizing committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games announced their plans to use facial recognition software as a security measure to verify the identities of athletes, officials, and media representatives at entry checkpoints. The intention behind the added technology is for increased security, comfort, and convenience, as stated in recent press release [1]. […]
Canvas Exposed: The little problem with UBC’s big, expensive new tool
By bryan short on August 20, 2018 | Tagged with Canvas, cloud computing, Consent, Contract, data, data residency, Digital Rights, Exposed, FIPPA, Forced Consent, Informed Consent, privacy, privacy policy, terms of use, UBC
The little problem with UBC’s big, expensive new tool Last year, UBC introduced a new learning management system. Canvas by Instructure was rolled out to replace the aging and underperforming Blackboard Connect. When classes begin this September, UBC’s more than 60,000 students will only be using the new Canvas system. Learning management systems are useful […]
In the News: Facebook Pushes for Facial Recognition Software
By elyse hill on July 25, 2018 | Tagged with Data Collection, facebook, facial recognition, In the News, privacy, Social media
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 […]
Guest Blog Post: Predictive Policing in the Nation’s Capital
By mitch jackson on June 21, 2018 | Tagged with Data Collection, guest blog, predictive policing, privacy, security
On October 24th 2016, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) launched the Ottawa Police Strategic Operations Centre (OPSOC), an initiative to “use crime information to improve public and officer safety” [1]. A February 2017 article appearing on Motherboard, a Vice News channel, instead labelled OPSOC as a manifestation of a larger movement in police forces […]
Digital Rights Now – Sign the Petition
By bryan short on June 18, 2018 | Tagged with Bill of Rights, Consent, Data Collection, Digital Rights, digital tattoo podcast, privacy
A few months ago, we proposed a bill of rights for learning data. While the need for reform within the context of our university systems is still real, events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal—which occurred in the interim—highlight the need for all Canadians to have a bill of rights to protect their digital identities. Today, […]
New on the Podcast: The City with Eyes
By bryan short on June 13, 2018 | Tagged with Bianca Wylie, digital tattoo, digital tattoo podcast, Episode 5, podcast, privacy, Sidewalk Labs, Sidewalk Toronto, Smart City, surveillance, technology, The City with Eyes
The Digital Tattoo Podcast – Episode 5 As the government of Canada slowly prepares to embrace the future of city building, a small plot of land races ahead to become the nation’s first smart city. Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., is developing a proposal for 12 acres on the downtown […]
How to Access Information Collected From Your Digital Accounts
By Jason Cheung on June 11, 2018 | Tagged with Access My Info, Citizen Lab, Data, freedom of information, Munk School of Global Affairs, Office of the privacy commissioner, PIPEDA, privacy, Privacy Act, terms and conditions, transparency
Terms and Conditions – TL;DR: Take My Data Terms and conditions of use often bind users to agreements in unsuspecting ways about the use, storage, sale, transfer, and deletion of their account, data, or identity. Examples include popular software such as Twitter, which stipulates that they can profit from selling your pictures without prior […]
Technology companies are updating their privacy policies for their benefit, not yours
By bryan short on May 25, 2018 | Tagged with EU, GDPR, personal data, privacy, regulations, technology
You may have noticed that a lot of companies are updating their privacy policies. It’s not a coincidence. And these major corporations haven’t suddenly begun caring about the privacy of their users; in fact, many are still profiting from exploiting the information that they collect. These companies are updating their privacy policies to protect themselves. […]
#DeleteFacebook? An Investigation into the Cambridge Analytica Scandal Part 2
By elyse hill on May 10, 2018 | Tagged with Cambridge Analytica, Canada, data, data mining, facebook, personal data, privacy, security, Social media
As we learned in Part 1 of this series, Global Science Research (GSR), Facebook, and Cambridge Analytica have each been the subjects of recent controversy for their respective roles in mining data from over 50 million Facebook profiles. While we can investigate how each company contributed to this event, we must also examine our […]
#DeleteFacebook? An Investigation into the Cambridge Analytica Scandal Part 1
By elyse hill on May 3, 2018 | Tagged with Cambridge Analytica, data, data mining, facebook, personal data, privacy, security, Social media
On March 17, 2018, Cambridge Analytica came under fire and amassed international attention as news broke of the company’s role in harvesting data from over 50 million Facebook profiles [1]. While the unfolding story has outraged many, it has also presented numerous questions: how did this happen? How much trust are we putting in our […]
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