Facebook’s Failure to End ‘Public by Default’
Co-authored by Woodrow Hartzog and Evan Selinger
Co-authored by Woodrow Hartzog and Evan Selinger
We live in an e-commerce utopia. I can call out orders and my demands are satisfied through an automated, seamless transaction. I just have to ask Alexa, or Siri, or one of the other digital assistants developed by Silicon Valley firms, who await the commands and manage the affairs of their human bosses. Read more about Here’s why tech companies abuse our data: because we let them
The questions surrounding the role of Facebook and other social media sites in the politics of our time have been coming at what feels like an accelerating pace. Read more about Facebook’s New Controversy Shows How Easily Online Political Ads Can Manipulate You
What exactly was the extent of Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign? How widespread was its infiltration of social media? And how much influence did its propaganda have on public opinion and voter behavior?
Scholars are only now starting to tackle those questions. But to answer them, academics need data — and getting that data has been a problem. Read more about How Facebook Stymies Social Science
To hear some in industry and government tell it, the answer to our modern privacy dilemma is simple: give users more control. There is seemingly no privacy-relevant arena, from social media to big data to biometrics that cannot be remedied with a heaping dose of personal control. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “What people want isn’t complete privacy. It isn’t that they want secrecy. Read more about Privacy and the Dark Side of Control
Over the past couple of years, the U.S. government and Microsoft have been fighting a legal battle over whether Microsoft has to provide customers’ email that is stored on company servers located in Ireland. On Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled against the government, saying Microsoft was under no legal obligation to provide the data.
This case has been very closely watched, as it has very important implications for how the U.S. legal system deals with a world where data moves easily across borders. Read more about Microsoft just won a big privacy fight with the government. Here’s what that means.
Facebook’s announcement that it is testing a digital assistant called “M”means that each of the “big five” technology companies is now in the digital assistant game. Read more about Facebook's new digital assistant 'M' will need to earn your trust