Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/27/20: August 2020 Catch Up

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

A couple of recent developments remind us it’s time to update subjects we’ve looked at in the past: “dynamic pricing” that lets online vendors offer different prices for the same item to different people based on the highest price the vendor thinks a person will pay, and the always important topic of secure passwords.

Here are the links to sites we mentioned today:

Diceware on wikipedia

Dicekeys

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/20/20: Dark Patterns on the Web

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Seen any digital dark patterns lately? If you buy anything on the web, or subscribe to anything, or sign up for free samples of this or that, chances are pretty good that you have although you may not have noticed them. That’s the way they are designed, and not with your good in mind. Here’s how they work and why to avoid them.

Links mentioned in today’s program:

What Are Dark Patterns?

Link to the paper quoted today

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/13/20: Electronic Cottage in Washington?

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We doubt that politicians and officials in Washington actually listen the Electronic Cottage but we are very happy to see that issues that we’ve featured on the program over the past few months – for example, smart phones disgorging a person’s location data; facial recognition technology – seem to be getting increased attention in parts of the nation’s capital. Listen for some examples.

Here are some of the links mentioned in today’s program:

Limiting Location Data Exposure

NIST Study Evaluates Effects of Race, Age, Sex on Face Recognition Software

NIST Launches Studies into Masks’ Effect on Face Recognition Software

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/6/20: Summer Redux 2- HARPA

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Here’s another edition from the Electronic Cottage archives that might be worth another listen, this one from September of 2019.

What do you think might be a good way to address the problem of mass shootings in this country? Some folks might say making it more difficult to get automatic weapons. Others might say it isn’t guns that are the problem, it’s the people firing them – they must have mental health problems. Folks who think along those lines have proposed a new federal agency to be names HARPA which would use all sorts of monitoring technology to supposedly identify people with mental illness who might have a tendency to violence so they can be stopped before the next mass murder. Makes perfect sense to some people, including some in Washington. But, as you might imagine, there are a few problems…

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/23/20: Ventilators, Facial Recognition

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a lot going on in the digital world that doesn’t always make it through the headlines about the very real-life drama we are all living through. Here are two very vital topics that we all should be aware of because they are making a big difference today and potentially a bigger difference tomorrow. Give a listen.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/16/20: Living a Covid Digital Life

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’re all trying to adapt to living safely with Covid-19, and that includes all sorts of industries. One way to see how different businesses and industries are adapting is to take a look at publications aimed at folks in those business sectors. Today let’s look at some articles from some of those specialty publications to see how technology is affecting them, and through them, all of us.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/9/20: Facial Recognition Update and Broadband Expansion

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Two different but very important topics today: one, recommendations on suspending the use of facial recognition software from the largest association of computing professionals in the world, and a reminder that there is a very important question on the ballot in Maine’s upcoming election about the expansion of hi-speed Internet access in the state.