Notes From The Electronic Cottage

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Difficult as it may be to get into stores these days, it’s still the holiday season and lot of folks are buying “smart” appliances. As we’ve mentioned on past programs, these devices are called “smart” for a reason, a point made by one of the regional offices of the FBI. Those agents offered some very good advice for any time of year but especially in the gift-giving season.
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, is trying to offer some swell advice as well about having your face scanned if you want to take a plane out of the country. That idea deserves a stocking full of coal. Here’s why.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Who wants to be talking about Covid-19 tracking in the holiday season? Probably no one. However, given the world we are in, it’s not a bad idea and think about one of the most important tools for stopping the spread of the virus – contact tracing. Technology was supposed to help make that cumbersome task easier but that will only happen if people choose to use it. So far they haven’t.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Despite all that is going on in the world, it’s still the holiday season and that means lots of folks are shopping, and increasingly shopping online, and that means an increase in email phishing attempts. Here are a few thoughts on how to falling prey to phishing attacks to help avoid the world of hurt those who succumb to those attacks can find themselves in.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s holiday shopping season again – and, it’s still Covid-19 safety season. One thing they have in common is remembering personal privacy while buying digital doodads, and/or loading Covid-19 apps on a smart phone. Here’s why.

Here are the URLs to web sites mentioned today:

Mozilla: Privacy not Included. Be Smart. Shop Safe.

The Pandemic App Ecosystem: Investigating 493 Covid-Related iOS Apps across 98 Countries

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Zoom has announced that it will remove the 40 minute limit on free Zoom use for Thanksgiving day so that folks can celebrate with family and friends safely in this pandemic time. Pretty cool! Some other recent actions by Zoom and Facebook and Google, however, aren’t cool at all. Here’s why, and the huge questions those actions raise in our increasingly online lives.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

While everyone was paying attention to our nail-biter presidential race in the 2020 election, it was easy to overlook several ballot initiatives that were also voted on around the country which affect consumer rights in the digital world. The results were very positive for consumers, as voters approved key initiatives in three states by majorities that would make any politician drool.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Perhaps you heard about or maybe even listened in to the Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on Oct. 28, 2020 with the heads of Google, Facebook, and Twitter. If so, do you have a clear idea what the hearing was about, or what Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is, or why some Congress people want to change it, or what proposed changes would mean for the Internet giants and the regular folks who use those services? If not, here is an attempt to answer those questions.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Many folks think that there should be some way to control some of the “noxious doctrine” – a term coined in 1927 by Justice Louis Brandeis – that is circulating online. The big question is who should decide what gets transmitted and what doesn’t in the digirtal age when we have a First Amendment in this country that protects free speech. It’s a big question. Let’s start to think about it.

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