Category: Technology
US Eyes TikTok Ban While Books are Pulled From Hong Kong Libraries
A ban seems a bit like using a meat cleaver where a scalpel might be more appropriate. I’m also troubled by the potential message a TikTok ban sends; we want to encourage China to be more protective of and open to free speech, especially in light of the troubling shift toward censorship in Hong Kong. Can we really do that if we are banning their apps? By banning their apps, are we taking steps in that same direction?
IFC Forms Working Group to Respond to Facial Recognition Technology
By: IFC Chair Julia Warga. The ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee formed the Facial Recognition Working Group in order to better understand the issues relating to this evolving technology and how it would impact the privacy of library users. We believe the work is urgent given that there are libraries and educational institutions who are beginning to adopt facial recognition software as a means of identifying authorized users and students.
Providing eBooks For All
The #eBooksForAll initiative can be applied to other issues of access: eBooks in prison and accessibility.
Intellectual Freedom Fighters, Part 5: Rural Internet Access Groups
The final installment in the Intellectual Freedom Fighters Series looks at different projects to bring internet access to rural communities.
The New Arms Race: Deep Fakes and Their Impact on Information
In today’s roller-coaster technological world, the hackers have gotten more sophisticated using open source software and machine learning algorithms, raising the bar as to how destructive they can be. That’s why Congress is so nervous about the upcoming 2020 elections. Imagine the election impact seeing a video of Donald Trump shooting someone in the street, something he claimed he could do with no recourse during the 2016 election.
This is Your Brain on Facebook
Facebook’s boundless pursuit of data has broken into your gray matter. Our last stronghold of privacy will be compromised so we can type faster. Seems legit.
New Privacy Law in Utah
The privacy act stipulates that individuals retain ownership of the data they transmit electronically and not service providers or software vendors.
Surrendering our Privacy to Technology
The world continues to change quickly, and I would argue that librarians are uniquely situated to consider the implications of technology changes on our users and society. I think we have an ethical responsibility as keepers of our patrons’ data and educators of the next generation of digital citizens to make this a priority.
The Privacy Implications of Self-Driving Cars
Those behind the advent of autonomous vehicles would convince consumers that altruism motivates their drive to create robotic taxis. However an analysis of these arguments exposes gross violations of privacy in the name of profit and societal control.
DNA Kits: What Does Your Cousin’s DNA Reveal About You?
Many of us have probably seen news articles raising privacy concerns regarding home DNA test kits, but now evidence indicates that choosing to take one of these at-home DNA tests may have privacy implications for not only you, but also your family members.