Browsing Category:
Business, Entrepreneurs, Privacy
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Uber Says It’ll Stop Tracking Riders After They’re Dropped Off
by Tammy on August 29, 2017Their penchant for wanting to track people was weird. Why it took so long to stop this nonsense is beyond me. Via LA Times. Uber will end a controversial policy of tracking some riders for five minutes after their trip ends, the ride-hailing company said Tuesday as it tries to repair its privacy reputation. Uber was criticized by users and privacy advocates when it announced last year that it would collect location data from riders through its app from the time the trip was requested through five minutes after it ended. Uber said it was doing so “to improve pickups, drop-offs, customer service, and to enhance safety.” Users who didn’t want to be tracked after their ride ended could opt...
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Amid Complaints From Parents, Virginia School Board Pauses New Transgender Policy
by Tammy on July 21, 2016Good. The rush to political correctness, whatever the issue, without parental involvement, has got to be stopped. In the case of schools it involves allowing anyone who “identifies” in a certain way to have access to locker rooms, bathrooms and other sex-segregated facilities. Parents must remain involved in every action by a school. We are now at a point where presuming adults involved in the system will be doing the right thing is a mistake. Via Daily Signal. After facing significant resistance from parents, a school board in Northern Virginia has decided to temporarily suspend the implementation of new regulations for accommodating transgender and gender nonconforming students. “Fairfax County Public Schools will keep handling transgender student matters with privacy and...
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Surveillance And The Culture Of Self-Censorship
by Pat_S on April 3, 2016The internet and social media have been touted as democratizing forces. A recent study suggests that knowing there is government and private cyber surveillance results in self-censorship of minority opinions and creating a dominant voice online. Under Surveillance: Examining Facebook’s Spiral of Silence Effects in the Wake of NSA Internet Monitoring Since Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency’s use of controversial online surveillance programs in 2013, there has been widespread speculation about the potentially deleterious effects of online government monitoring. This study explores how perceptions and justification of surveillance practices may create a chilling effect on democratic discourse by stifling the expression of minority political views. Using a spiral of silence theoretical framework, knowing one is subject to surveillance...
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Feds Developing Technology To Determine Body Mass Index From Our Photos
by Shifra on September 15, 2014Looks like Mooch’s fingerprints, all over this one: Via Free Beacon: Feds Developing Technology to Detect Obesity from Your Picture The federal government is developing a body mass index (BMI) detector intended to be available to every American “anywhere and anytime,” according to a grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The detector is expected to rely on the analysis of facial and body imagery…. “Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of the ratio between an individual’s weight and height, which is an important parameter to characterize human bodies into four categories, i.e., underweight, normal, overweight, and obese,” the grant states. “A high BMI value is associated with a higher risk for conditions such as type 2 diabetes,...