Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/25/19: School Surveillance 2019

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

In many schools in this country, students are surveilled 24 hours a day. Why? Is this a good idea? Why or why not? And what might the long term effect of this kind of monitoring be on our children and our country. Good questions. Too bad school boards and the companies that are providing this monitoring technology don’t seem to be asking them.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/18/19: Electronic Fingerprinting

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

If you were a business with a product to sell, you would probably want to know as much about your potential customers as you could, and then try to reach them with news of your product or service just when they were ready to buy. How would you do that online at a time when people – and web browsers – are increasingly aware of being tracked online and are taking steps to defeat that tracking. Perhaps you might find a recent technology called digital fingerprinting attractive. Here’s why.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/11/19: Ownership in the Digital Age

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Have you bought an ebook from the Microsoft store? If so, you’ve probably heard by now that it is going to disappear any day now along with any electronic notes you might have made in it. This is another reminder that ownership of digital products is not like ownership of a pair of shoes – we don’t own the digital product that we paid for. Here’s why.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/4/19: 2020 Census and Privacy

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There’s a very big even coming in 2020 which will affect the country for a long time. Oh, you thought we meant the 2020 election? Nope, it’s the 2020 Census, and the Census Bureau has discovered a big potential problem with preserving personal privacy due to advances in technology. Happily, they have also discovered an equally big potential solution, also due to advances in technology. Here’s why it matters.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/13/19: Summer Redux Panopticon Online

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Have you ever noticed that you behave a bit differently if you think you’re being watched? If so, you aren’t alone. What does that human tendency mean for the web? Well, it turns out, it may mean dollars and cents, and, as we know, if economics is involved, that tends to get the attention of legislators and businesses. Here’s some empirical evidence that people’s concern about being watched can have economic consequences.

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