Computer Ethics, Fall 2021

Mondays 5:30-8:00, Dumbach 6
Class 6: Oct 18, 2021

Class 6 Readings

Read chapter 3 on Speech




iPhones and child pornography

Another take on Apple's plan -- now suspended -- to monitor your iPhone for child pornography:

Your Phone Is Your Private Space: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/spyware-your-iphone-step-too-far-privacy/619987.

The author writes that "future iPhones will almost inevitably scan for more than child porn". First, is this the real risk we're worrying about? Certainly Facebook is censoring more and more content. Would Apple start censoring iMessages that denigrated other social categories?

That your phone is your private space is an excellent point, but also a missed one. Apple is not proposing to check the photos on your phone; they are proposing to check the photos you save on iCloud. This gives Apple a little more credibility; they simply don't want to be storing anyone's child pornography for them.

Apple was going to do the scanning on the phone, as part of the process of uploading to iCloud. Does that make it different somehow?

Big Brother

From Big Brother Watch: YouTube Censors David Davis MP's Speech Against Vaccine Passports: bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/2021/10/youtube-censors-david-davis-mps-speech-against-vaccine-passports.

It was a somewhat irresponsible speech, as far as I can tell without actually watching it: Davis is claiming that people should have the "freedom" not to show vaccination records while out in public. But one might also argue that people who don't vaccinate should have the freedom to stay home.

In any event, YouTube reversed themselves: bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58915092.

German Big Brother Awards

https://bigbrotherawards.de/en

The EU has decided that automobile manufacturers must record your location in real time, as part of emissions monitoring. (It may just be nearest-tower location, though.)

Facebook Nanotargeting

That is, displaying an ad to just one person. FB had supposedly put mechanisms in place to prevent this, but a research group found a way around them.

www.unite.ai/facebook-nanotargeting-users-based-solely-on-their-perceived-interests.

The paper itself is at arxiv.org/pdf/2110.06636.pdf.

Moscow Subway

They are rolling out a facial-recognition payment system. This would be creepy even if the country were not Russia: www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/15/privacy-fears-moscow-metro-rolls-out-facial-recognition-pay-system. It is apparently opt-in, however, and Moscow has tens of thousands of street cameras already (like Chicago).

St Louis Post-Dispatch finds huge security flaw; Missouri governor Parson vows to prosecute them

That is unbelievably counterproductive.

krebsonsecurity.com/2021/10/missouri-governor-vows-to-prosecute-st-louis-post-dispatch-for-reporting-security-vulnerability.


Pennsylvania laptops

Facebook

    News Feeds
    Cambridge Analytica
    email targeting
    Political ads

Credit-like bureaus

    Social Credit

Facial Recognition

Tinder

Transactional Privacy

Online advertising and third-party cookies

Location information

Pregnancy

Insurance

Price discrimination