Who Watches the Watchers?
Tue, Nov 21
Today's class revisits the topic of privacy. We've previously discussed privacy in the context of social media and surveillance capitalism. The business practices of large tech companies are indeed troubling, but they're not the only concern when it comes to the protection of personal data. Other entities, some ostensibly working in the public's interest, are mounting large-scale data harvesting operations to understand the movements and activities of individuals across the globe. Protections around privacy are not nearly as strong as many folks believe.
We have four main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Be able to clearly define the term 'privacy', and distinguish it from the general notion of security.
- Understand the legal landscape around privacy, along with shifting public perspectives around government data access.
- Scrutinize the activities of non-government and non-corporate entities that are prying into personally identifiable data.
- Learn some basic strategies for protecting your own data.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Cyrus Farivar asks in Ars Technica How We got to Mass Surveillance Without Even Trying?
Sean Gallagher, also writing in Ars Technica, covers the recent government push for Encryption Backdoors
Tim Cook explains Apple's Position on Privacy when it comes to the company's products
Katie Heaney writes in BuzzFeed News about Facebook Leaking Very Personal Information About its Own Users
The Pillar, an independent group of Catholic investigative journalists, made use of Cellphone Data to Expose a Priest's Use of Grindr
Liam Stack reports on the Fallout from The Pillar's Data Harvesting Operation in the New York Times
These optional readings provide a few more details on the debate surrounding privacy:
"Everything as a service" is coming --- but we're not quite there yet
How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?
To catch a priest: How ad tech data was used to oust a senior Catholic cleric, and how most anyone can do the same (technical speculation on The Pillar's techniques)
Do This:
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: How can the legitimate concerns about AI be addressed?
Project 03
This project is due Thursday 12/14 at 5pm.
The project for this unit on Information Security will be an Infographic that summarizes your group's dialogues over the course of the next several weeks. Review the instructions that have been posted on the Project 03 page.
Reading Quiz 12
The form for Reading Quiz 12 follows below. If you can't see the form below, try this direct link.