The Vatican Releases Its Own AI Ethics Handbook; Gizmodo, June 28, 2023

 Thomas Germain, Gizmodo; The Vatican Releases Its Own AI Ethics Handbook

"The Vatican is getting in on the AI craze. The Holy See has released a handbook on the ethics of artificial intelligence as defined by the Pope. 

The guidelines are the result of a partnership between Francis and Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Together, they’ve formed a new organization called the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC). The ITEC’s first project is a handbook titled Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap, meant to guide the tech industry through the murky waters of ethics in AI, machine learning, encryption, tracking, and more."

AirTags are being used to track people and cars. Here's what is being done about it; NPR, February 18, 2022

MICHAEL LEVITT, NPR; AirTags are being used to track people and cars. Here's what is being done about it

""As technology becomes more sophisticated and advanced, as wonderful as that is for society, unfortunately, it also becomes much easier to misuse and abuse," she told NPR. "I wouldn't say that we've necessarily seen an uptick with the use of AirTags any more or less than any cutting edge technology."

Williams said that what was rare was a technology company taking the issue seriously and moving to address it.

"[Apple is] not only listening to the field, but actively reaching out at times to do safety checks. That in and of itself might sound like a very small step, but it's rare," she said.

Still, Galperin thinks that Apple should have done more to protect people ahead of time. 

"The mitigations that Apple had in place at the time that the AirTag came out were woefully insufficient," Galperin said. 

"I think that Apple has been very careful and responsive after putting the product out and introducing new mitigations. But the fact that they chose to bring the product to market in the state that it was in last year, is shameful.""

Connecticut town tests 'pandemic drone' to find fevers. Experts question if it would work.; NBC News, April 22, 2020

Minyvonne Burke, NBC News; Connecticut town tests 'pandemic drone' to find fevers. Experts question if it would work.

"A Connecticut police department said it plans to begin testing a "pandemic drone" that could detect whether a person 190 feet away has a fever or is coughing.

But an expert on viruses and a privacy advocate question whether such technology can work and, if it does, whether it would help in controlling the spread of the coronavirus."

COVID-19 and the Ethical Questions It Poses; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, April 22, 2020

University of Nevada, Las Vegas; COVID-19 and the Ethical Questions It Poses

UNLV business ethics expert Wonyong Oh on the coronavirus pandemic and the ethical dilemmas facing health care workers, corporations, and government

"What are some ethical questions that businesses are wrestling with in light of COVID-19?

Let’s think about one controversial example. Real-time personal location information to track and manage the path of infection has been tried all over the world, especially actively in Asian countries like China, Korea, and Hong Kong. IT companies can track location information using smartphones to prevent virus spread. This raises ethical and legal issues surrounding access to personal information.

If you follow utilitarian ethics, tracking this kind of personal information can be allowed with the “maximum benefits for the greatest number” principle. It’s for keeping society safe from infection by sacrificing personal privacy. It seems that, recently, the views on tracking personal information in the U.S. and Europe began to change. In a few European countries, telecommunication companies began to use mobile phone data to fight COVID-19. In the U.S., Apple and Google are working together to track COVID-19 with Bluetooth. IT companies can help governments reduce the spread of the virus with their technologies. At the same time, high-tech companies need to balance that with protecting individual privacy, which is a new challenge.

Everything about the coronavirus pandemic, however, is unprecedented. The reality is that the virus threatens even ordinary freedoms, like the freedom of movement, with stay-at-home orders."

Happy “Data Privacy Day” – Now Read The New York Times Privacy Project About Total Surveillance; Forbes, January 28, 2020

Steve Andriole, Forbes; Happy “Data Privacy Day” – Now Read The New York Times Privacy Project About Total Surveillance

"It’s worth saying again:  every time we blog, tweet, post, rideshare, order from Amazon, rent an Airbnb – or anything that leaves a digital trail – we feed what Shoshana Zuboff calls “surveillance capitalism,” which is the monetization of data captured through monitoring people's movements and behaviors online and in the physical world, and which is summarized in the New York Times.  Countless digital systems now track where we are, where we go, what we eat, what we think, who we like, who we love, where we bank, what we know and who we hate – among lots of other things they know all too well because we remind them over and over again.  

Just in time for Data Privacy Day, the New York Times described just how pervasive surveillance really is. On Sunday, January 26, 2020, in a special section titled “One Nation, Tracked,” the Times presented some frightening stories...

Part of the ongoing “Privacy Project,” the Times analyzes every aspect of surveillance."

Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information; Pew Research Center, November 15, 2019

Brooke Auxier, Lee Rainie, Monica Anderson, Andrew Perrin, Madhu Kumar, and Erica Turner, Pew Research Center;

Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information

Majorities think their personal data is less secure now, that data collection poses more risks than benefits, and believe it is not possible to go through daily life without being tracked

"Data-driven products and services are often marketed with the potential to save users time and money or even lead to better health and well-being. Still, large shares of U.S. adults are not convinced they benefit from this system of widespread data gathering. Some 81% of the public say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits, and 66% say the same about government data collection. At the same time, a majority of Americans report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies (79%) or the government (64%). Most also feel they have little or no control over how these entities use their personal information, according to a new survey of U.S. adults by Pew Research Center that explores how Americans feel about the state of privacy in the nation.

Americans’ concerns about digital privacy extend to those who collect, store and use their personal information. Additionally, majorities of the public are not confident that corporations are good stewards of the data they collect. For example, 79% of Americans say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise personal information, and 69% report having this same lack of confidence that firms will use their personal information in ways they will be comfortable with."

Student tracking, secret scores: How college admissions offices rank prospects before they apply; The Washington Post, October 14, 2019

Douglas MacMillan and Nick Anderson, The Washington Post; Student tracking, secret scores: How college admissions offices rank prospects before they apply

"Admissions officers say behavioral tracking helps them serve students in the application process. When a college sees that a qualified student is serious about applying based on the student’s Web behavior, it can dedicate more staffers to follow up...

But Web tracking may unfairly provide an advantage to students with better access to technology, said Bradley Shear, a Maryland lawyer who has pushed for better regulation of students’ online privacy. A low-income student may be a strong academic candidate but receive less attention from recruiters because the student does not own a smartphone or have high-speed Internet access at home, he said.

“I don’t think the algorithm should run the admissions department,” Shear said."

Orwellabama? Crimson Tide Track Locations to Keep Students at Games; The New York Times, September 12, 2019

Billy Witz, The New York Times; Orwellabama? Crimson Tide Track Locations to Keep Students at Games

Coach Nick Saban gets peeved at students leaving routs early. An app ties sticking around to playoff tickets, but also prompts concern from students and privacy watchdogs.

"Greg Byrne, Alabama’s athletic director, said privacy concerns rarely came up when the program was being discussed with other departments and student groups. Students who download the Tide Loyalty Points app will be tracked only inside the stadium, he said, and they can close the app — or delete it — once they leave the stadium. “If anybody has a phone, unless you’re in airplane mode or have it off, the cellular companies know where you are,” he said.

 

But Adam Schwartz, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog, said it was “very alarming” that a public university — an arm of the government — was tracking its students’ whereabouts.

 

“Why should packing the stadium in the fourth quarter be the last time the government wants to know where students are?” Schwartz said, adding that it was “inappropriate” to offer an incentive for students to give up their privacy. “A public university is a teacher, telling students what is proper in a democratic society.”"

How to protect your digital privacy from new Christmas presents; The Guardian, December 18, 2019

Alex Hern, The Guardian; How to protect your digital privacy from new Christmas presents

"Here are the best tips to protect your digital privacy, without resorting to Christmas gifts whittled from wood."

'Tracking every place you go': Weather Channel app accused of selling user data; Associated Press via The Guardian, January 4, 2019

Associated Press via The Guardian; 'Tracking every place you go': Weather Channel app accused of selling user data

"“Think how Orwellian it feels to live in a world where a private company is tracking potentially every place you go, every minute of every day,” Feuer said. “If you want to sacrifice to that company that information, you sure ought to be doing it with clear advanced notice of what’s at stake.”

A spokesman for IBM, which owns the app, said it had always been clear about the use of location data collected from users and will vigorously defend its “fully appropriate” disclosures."

Welcome to the Age of Privacy Nihilism; The Atlantic, August 23, 2018

Ian Bogost, The Atlantic; Welcome to the Age of Privacy Nihilism

"Your data is everywhere, and nowhere, and you cannot escape it, or what it might yet do to you."

Congress tried to crack Zuckerberg – but Facebook still has all the power; The Guardian, April 10, 2018

Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian; Congress tried to crack Zuckerberg – but Facebook still has all the power

"In the end, it was Zuckerberg’s attitude toward his own privacy that was most revealing of the difference between the control that Facebook offers users and actual privacy. Zuckerberg said many times that he and his all his family used Facebook – a talking point we were apparently meant to take as proof that Facebook is safe.

Yet under questioning from Senator Dick Durbin, Zuckerberg expressed discomfort with revealing certain personal information, such as which hotel he was staying at while in Washington DC.

I’m a relatively well-informed Facebook user. I probably pay more attention than most people to privacy settings, and I consistently turn off things like location tracking. And yet, my Facebook data includes dozens of cases where the company has logged my location based on my IP address.

Zuckerberg may not want us to know where he slept last night, but his company sure as hell knows where the rest of us are sleeping."

The tyranny of algorithms is part of our lives: soon they could rate everything we do; Guardian, March 5, 2018

John Harris, Guardian; The tyranny of algorithms is part of our lives: soon they could rate everything we do

"The tyranny of algorithms is now an inbuilt part of our lives.

These systems are sprawling, often randomly connected, and often beyond logic. But viewed from another angle, they are also the potential constituent parts of comprehensive social credit systems, awaiting the moment at which they will be glued together. That point may yet come, thanks to the ever-expanding reach of the internet. If our phones and debit cards already leave a huge trail of data, the so-called internet of things is now increasing our informational footprint at speed...

Personal data and its endless uses form one of the most fundamental issues of our time, which boils down to the relationship between the individual and power, whether exercised by government or private organisations."

My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me From Inside My Body; The Atlantic, January 27, 2018

Neta Alexander, The Atlantic; My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me From Inside My Body: Cloud-connected medical devices save lives, but also raise questions about privacy, security, and oversight. An Object Lesson.

[Kip Currier: Not an overstatement to say that this 1/27/18 first-person piece in The Atlantic is a profoundly thought-provoking, unsettling case study at the intersection of personal health data, privacy, digital networked technologies, and cybersecurity.]

"The idea of a battery-equipped, internet-connected device living forever inside my chest both terrifies and fascinates me. When people say, “I’ll die if I lose my iPhone,” they never mean it literally. But I really might die without this smart gadget. I’m also at risk in other ways. A wireless pacemaker can be hacked, or, as recently happened in Ohio, become legal evidence that incriminates its user.

There is a crucial difference between my device and more ubiquitous digital technologies: I never made the choice to implant the pacemaker in my body. I’m grateful to the hardworking doctors who minimized my pain and helped me get better. At the same time, the device they installed raises questions that now haunt me. It’s not clear who might have access to data about my pulse, my health, and possibly my whereabouts—data generated by a device inside me."

WTF is GDPR?; TechCrunch, January 20, 2018

Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch; WTF is GDPR?

"The EC’s theory is that consumer trust is essential to fostering growth in the digital economy. And it thinks trust can be won by giving users of digital services more information and greater control over how their data is used. Which is — frankly speaking — a pretty refreshing idea when you consider the clandestine data brokering that pervades the tech industry. Mass surveillance isn’t just something governments do.

The General Data Protection Regulation (aka GDPR) was agreed after more than three years of negotiations between the EU’s various institutions.

It’s set to apply across the 28-Member State bloc as of May 25, 2018. That means EU countries are busy transposing it into national law via their own legislative updates (such as the UK’s new Data Protection Bill — yes, despite the fact the country is currently in the process of (br)exiting the EU, the government has nonetheless committed to implementing the regulation because it needs to keep EU-UK data flowing freely in the post-brexit future. Which gives an early indication of the pulling power of GDPR.

Meanwhile businesses operating in the EU are being bombarded with ads from a freshly energized cottage industry of ‘privacy consultants’ offering to help them get ready for the new regs — in exchange for a service fee. It’s definitely a good time to be a law firm specializing in data protection."

Amazon patents wristband that tracks warehouse workers' movements; Guardian, January 31, 2018

Olivia Solon, Guardian; Amazon patents wristband that tracks warehouse workers' movements

"Amazon has patented designs for a wristband that can precisely track where warehouse employees are placing their hands and use vibrations to nudge them in a different direction.

The concept, which aims to streamline the fulfilment of orders, adds another layer of surveillance to an already challenging working environment."

Face scans for US citizens flying abroad stir privacy issues; Associated Press via Hawaii News Now, July 12, 2017

Frank Bajak and David Koenig, Associated Press via Hawaii News Now; Face scans for US citizens flying abroad stir privacy issues

"During the trials, passengers will be able to opt out. But a DHS assessment of the privacy impact indicates that won't always be the case.

"The only way for an individual to ensure he or she is not subject to collection of biometric information when traveling internationally is to refrain from traveling," says the June 12 document on the website of Customs and Border Protection, which runs the DHS program...

Such concerns shouldn't stop the government from moving ahead with the program and U.S. citizens have already sacrificed considerable privacy as the price of fighting terrorists, said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which promotes restrictions on immigration.

He called it a "moral and security imperative."

Facebook can track your browsing even after you've logged out, judge says; Guardian, July 3, 2017

Olivia Solon, Guardian; Facebook can track your browsing even after you've logged out, judge says

"A judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Facebook of tracking users’ web browsing activity even after they logged out of the social networking site.

The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook used the “like” buttons found on other websites to track which sites they visited, meaning that the Menlo Park, California-headquartered company could build up detailed records of their browsing history. The plaintiffs argued that this violated federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws.

US district judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, dismissed the case because he said that the plaintiffs failed to show that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy or suffered any realistic economic harm or loss."

How to See What the Internet Knows About You (And How to Stop It); New York Times, July 3, 2017

Tim Herrera, New York Times; How to See What the Internet Knows About You (And How to Stop It)

"The relentlessly unyielding (but highly profitable) personalization of the products and services we use is getting deeper and creepier than ever. This type of data is incredibly valuable, we’re producing a ton of it every day, and it’s all being used to turn us into products. As one Facebook developer famously said: “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.”

Let’s go down this rabbit hole. Start with this neat and medium-scary site, which our friends at Gizmodo flagged, that shows you everything your browser knows about you the second you open it. Here’s another one."

Fight for privacy only beginning; Sun Sentinel, June 30, 2017

Sun Sentinel Editorial Board; Fight for privacy only beginning

"How much of your privacy are you willing to surrender in exchange for security? How concerned are you that the government has the capacity to trace your comings and goings? How bothered are you by license tag readers, surveillance cameras, red light monitors, websites that track your movements, retailers that collect and share your buying habits?...

In this age of the ubiquitous surveillance camera and the airport pat down, have we surrendered our expectation of privacy?

Is it too late to get it back? Do we feel safer without it?

Do we have a choice?"