Items
Tag is exactly
privacy
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2022-05-03
CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders
This is a news story from Vice by Joseph Cox. The CDC bought access to location data harvested from millions of phones in the United States. Although it was originally purchased for lockdown related reasons, it is intended to be used for non-COVID purposes too. The way they did this was through purchasing data from SafeGraph. The author of this piece mentions how the decision to do this was not without controversy, as it brings into question the freedom of movement and the rights to privacy. Google has banned SafeGraph from its app store in June. -
2020-09
The Sound of Learning - Teaching During the Pandemic
On March 12th, 2020, all of the teachers and support staff in the high school where I work in Stafford, Virginia (A suburb of Washington DC) were called down to the auditorium and told by the head principal that our school would be shut down for the next two weeks as a result of Covid-19. Long story short, I did not return into that building until January of 2021. Even though I did not enter the building, between September and December of 2020, I toiled away teaching virtually via Google Meet from my basement. Teaching online was difficult - due to privacy concerns, students were not required to turn their cameras on - and none did. For the first time, I was teaching to a class of thirty without seeing anyone other than myself. Many students did not want to ask questions by unmuting their microphones, so instead they would type out questions, make comments, tell jokes, etc through the chat feature. Each time a student would send a message, my computer would make a small beeping noise. I learned to love this noise as it was the only reminder I had that there was someone listening to me. As a teacher, forming relationships is so central to the profession. At first, it seemed impossible to be a meaningful teacher when I had no clue what my students even looked like. But every time I heard that beep, I was delighted to know that someone was on the other side of that screen. Without the fear of immediate judgement of their peers, many of my students provided commentary on the lesson and made teaching fun. When teaching in person, I hate when a student tries to talk over me, so only dealing with a tiny beep was much more manageable and it was nice to see these kids communicate with one another while separated by the pandemic. Many articles that I have read have been incredibly critical of online learning, and some with good cause. I did not reach every student. Some fell back asleep, logged in then walked away, played video games, and even one of my students admitted to me that he was taking his dog on a walk during class. But hearing that beep reminded me that there are students out there that can make connections even when it seems impossible. -
2021-06-23
Blank screens
Turn on video All eyes on me, exposing Me, I turn it off… -discouraged student -
2021-04
Covit-19 Volunteering
I like to volunteer for good causes, and I though that volunteering for a Covet-19 and I thought that volunteer at one of the Vaccination Centers was one of them . . . until I read the fine print. Among the normal document you have to sign, the last one was title “Consent and Assignment to use Likeness and Information”. The first part is just fine, of course if pictures are taken during your duty, you allow them to use it for promotion etc etc, but the second part is about “Information” and the text says: “Such Information may include my name, age, gender, address, work history, work location, job description, job title and other identifying information, including health conditions, and my comments, statements or other communications endorsing or describing any of my personal experiences or Cigna's products, services, programs and other initiatives based on such personal experience”. So, in order to volunteer for a good cause, I have to agree to release my personal info about my personal life and health condition? I attached the all document, please read the full document before volunteering, you may volunteering too much. -
2021-04-07
NC Law proposed would ban Trans Students and Report Them
A new law making its way through the North Carolina legislator would force educators to out Transgender students to their parents. It also would not allow for people younger than 21 to have hormones for transgender surgery or to have surgery or anything like that. -
2021-04-01
Live theaters get long-awaited reopening guidelines from state, but many hurdles remain
San Deigo County has issued reopening guidelines for theatres. This marks the first time the theatres will be able to reopen in over a year. However, with the new guidelines theatres fear being accused of privacy violations. -
2021-03-18
The next frontier in air travel: Digital passports as proof of vaccination or testing
With vaccines rolling out, there have been talks of digital passports. These passports would allow for international travelers to upload proof of a COVID-19 vaccine or negative test. However, concerns of human rights and privacy violations have been raised. These fears stem from the possibility of the passports causing inequality due to vaccine accessibility. -
2020-11-13
The pandemic has revealed the question of privacy
In China, every confirmed patient needs to report their family name, their activities in last three days and what places they’re been to so that the close contact persons would also be easily to followed. This method is meant to use as a clue for the public to know if they have been in close contact with the confirmed patient so they could self-report to the community that they are in high-risks. However, many have used these information as a clue to dig up the personal information of the confirmed patient and cyberbully him or her. This time for Chengdu’s outbreak, many people were furious that the patient had been to a dozen places in a night even she did not know that she was confirmed. Keyboard warriors started to find her personal information, and many girls were mistakenly recognized as the patient, they all suffered cyberbully and their personal information, pictures were posted online and the public demanded them to apologize. This has been a huge fight in Chinese social media these days, many supported the victim and the question of privacy has been brought up. Many believe that personal privacy should be valued, however, in the time of internet, the scope of privacy is getting narrowed. -
2020-07-13
Bottleneck for U.S. Coronavirus Response: The Fax Machine
One problem the United States is facing during the pandemic is a fragmented health care system that is reliant on outdated technology, like the fax machine. This article goes into detail about why we are in this situation and the effects it is having on the nations response to the virus. -
2020-05-31
Life in Quarantine As A Student
In the picture, I have my laptop and notebooks next to me. I am sitting on the kitchen table, which I share with two brothers as we do not have private spaces to work. Countless students, including myself, are feeling disadvantaged in quarantine. Succeeding academically, as well as balancing school and outside responsibilities, is especially difficult when there is no physical separation between home and school.