Guest Post: The Revolution Will Not Be Streamed: Digital Activism in the Era of Mass Surveillance
The Revolution Will Not Be Streamed: Digital Activism in the Era of Mass Surveillance by Leila Matte-Kaci On December 4th, 2020, the State Council of France expanded three decrees to widen the scope of police surveillance. [1, 11, 28] French police will now be able to track citizens or groups whose activities indicate that they […]
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 […]
Guest Video: Privacy vs. Anonymity
Privacy vs. Anonymity by Misha Khawaja and Ali Albastaki Do you know the difference between online privacy and anonymity? This excellent video by Misha Khawaja and Ali Albastaki from the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology, University of Toronto, Mississauga does a great job of explaining the difference! Which is more important to you […]
Guest Post: The Many Sides of Being Social
The Many Sides of Being Social by Alannah Berson In 2014, several drag queens found themselves locked out of their Facebook accounts because their names weren’t “authentic”. [1] The accounts had been flagged after Facebook instituted a “Real Name” policy that limits what types of usernames are allowed on the site and seeks to tie […]
How to Protect Your Digital Identity Based on Your Zodiac Sign
We all can do more to protect ourselves online, but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. To help you out, we’ve come up with simple steps each Zodiac sign can take to increase their online safety. Let us know if your sign’s advice speaks to you, and let us know how […]
Book Review: Data and Goliath
Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World Bruce Schneier (2015) Digital Tattoo Rating: 4/5 1 2 3 4 5 Leave it on the shelf Give it a skim An informative read Would give to a friend A must read!!! Summary Once, while talking with Digital Tattoo contributor Elyse, […]
Voice as Identity: Rising Use of Vocal Biometrics
In this blog post, we will look at: What are voice biometrics? Why would companies want to start using voice biometrics? Are there risks in using voice biometrics? We may be becoming more familiar, and even more comfortable, with using biometric identifiers for authentication or security keys. A common usage of a type of biometric […]
In the News: Government Malware Disguised as Android Apps
A report by Vice News [1] published last week points to a report made by the cybersecurity group Security Without Borders [2] about Android malware that disguises itself as innocuous apps on Google’s Play Store. While disguising malicious software as harmless applications is not a technique that is new [3], the article published by Vice […]
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 […]
Book Review: Shareveillance
Shareveillance: The Dangers of Openly Sharing and Covertly Collecting Data Clare Birchall (2017) Digital Tattoo Rating: 2/5 Summary What does it mean to share in the Digital Age? In her book Shareveillance: The Dangers of Openly Sharing and Covertly Collecting Data, Clare Birchall investigates the intricacies of digital sharing on personal and state levels, and […]
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