Digital Ethics

Six experts offer a variety of perspectives on the subject of data ethics.

Can privacy survive?

To prove a point about common location-sharing apps, I asked my wife to use them to spy on me.

Ninety years ago, René Magritte painted a pipe. I’m sure you’ve seen the work; it’s among his most famous. Written under the rendering of the object are the words Ceci n’est pas une pipe — “This is…

At the Adobe 99U conference there was an on-stage conversation between author Courtney E. Martin and Tim Brown, CEO of design firm IDEO. During the interview they touched upon the topic of ethics. Author and design consultant Kim Goodwin reacted to the exchange, calling out Brown’s remarks as “a disturbing statement”. I agree, and I …

Sponsored ads on Amazon’s baby registries are leading the family and friends of new parents to make purchases of unwanted gifts.

This week, the Trump campaign announced it raised an impressive $54 million in the second quarter of this year. The Republican National Committee raised another $51 million. Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, says he is on track to raise over $1 billion to support Trump's reelection.

In a new preprint paper published on Arxiv.org, a team of researchers propose an AI system that classifies emotions from walking style.

That is unless you know how to delete them manually.

In a new research paper, a team of scientists created an AI model that can predict per-item and per-cart product return probability.

When ⁦@profgalloway⁩ is away, with ⁦@CaseyNewton⁩ I play. Actually a dead serious Pivot episode on his epic pieces on Facebook content moderators. https://t.co/00znSakgH5— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) June 28, 2019

Over the past 25 years, email has weaved itself into the daily fabric of life. Our inboxes contain everything from very personal letters, to work correspondence, to unsolicited inbound sales pitches. In many ways, they are an extension of our …

Here's a perfect example of the problem of cool tech that's abusive of user data, and why we care so much about it at @6d_aihttps://t.co/Ggo0esXnDHLittle rant 👇 [1/7]— Anthony Maës (@portemantho) May 24, 2019

DeepNude will no longer be offered for sale and further versions won’t be released. The team also warned against sharing the software online, saying it would be against the app’s terms of service.

One of the biggest problems facing designers is how to create a more humane future. This has probably been the case for as long as there’s…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants the G20 summit to set the rules on how countries share data, but nations are deeply divided on the issue.

In the last five years, private companies, research institutions as well as public sector organisations have issued principles and guidelines for ethical AI, yet there is debate about both what constitutes "ethical AI" and which ethical requirements, technical standards and best practices are needed for its realization. To investigate whether a global agreement on these questions is emerging, we mapped and analyzed the current corpus of principles and guidelines on ethical AI. Our results reveal a global convergence emerging around five ethical principles (transparency, justice and fairness...

Video of pwning 🤦🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/d8y6pgGFYG— Jeff Smith (@jeffpersonified) June 25, 2019

The Jetson prototype can pick up on a unique cardiac signature from 200 meters away, even through clothes.

Google is being sued along with the University of Chicago Medical Center in a potential class-action lawsuit which accuses the tech giant of inappropriately accessing sensitive medical records belonging to hundreds of thousands of hospital patients.

Your guide to understanding an industry where capitalism is euphemized

The worst case scenario? The ability for governments to keep a persistent record of everyone's public movements. New tech makes it possible.

Data brokers know everything about us because they buy and sell the personal information of millions of Americans with whom they have no direct relationship. New laws in Vermont and California aim to help users learn more about them.

Amazon and Google have made a hard push into the home security market, but civilian surveillance could have real impacts on privacy and racial profiling.

Machine learning could look at your brain to see how well you understand a given concept.

Computational surveillance empowers governments and corporations and diminishes accountability.

In response to mass shootings, some schools and hospitals are installing microphones equipped with algorithms. The devices purport to identify stress and anger before violence erupts. Our testing found them less than reliable.

Delta Air Lines announced it will give passengers who are flying out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport the option to use facial recognition to board their flight instead of a normal boarding pass.