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Presentation: Echo Chambers, Algorithms, and Social Media

Hi everyone! Happy last week of class! We (Lily + Jen) have a presentation for you on the topic of echo chambers and social media algorithms. We ask that you listen to this brief TED talk before the presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKyFL389qe8 The presentation can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17ddxeLsNrFkR4nBGYIg9xPNEuyW4Kx6W/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112960695207189737520&rtpof=true&sd=true. The presentation itself has embedded audio recordings that […]

Google autocomplete helps mislead public, legitimize conspiracy theorists: SFU study

Here is the SFU article: https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/media/issues-experts/2022/03/google-autocomplete-helps-mislead-public–legitimize-conspiracy-.html “According to Google, the subtitles generate automatically by complex algorithms and the engine cannot accept or create custom subtitles. ” Is this a good defense? We’ve seen changes to Google and social media platforms following the terrifying amount of mis-and-disinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, where sources are checked and […]

NCDII Presentation by Michelle M

Hi everyone, Happy April! I’m linking here my video presentation on Non-Consensual Disclosure of Intimate Images (NCDII). Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments on this post. Thank you! Michelle Markell https://youtu.be/EBfkEYyagms

How the FBI tracked down a pair of 20 year old “rug pullers”

During the in-class discussion on cryptocurrency and NFT’s it was mentioned that federal authorities in many countries had been making strides in catching fraudsters. However, given the theme of anonymity that runs through cryptocurrency, I became curious as to how the authorities actually find these scammers and then prove these cryptocurrency frauds. A recent example […]

Tokenization of Goats – Self Reliance for Rural Farmers (repost)

(*Sorry, this is a repost with my name at the bottom*) Hi everyone, It was really interesting to hear Liam’s presentation yesterday regarding blockchains, crypto, and more. It was really illuminating to hear about a lot of the issues in this space going forward. If I am completely honest, a lot of it is very […]

Tokenization of Goats – Self Reliance for Rural Farmers

Hi everyone, It was really interesting to hear Liam’s presentation yesterday regarding blockchains, crypto, and more. It was really illuminating to hear about a lot of the issues in this space going forward. If I am completely honest, a lot of it is very confusing to me but nonetheless, I find it very fascinating. I […]

Vancouver-made NFTs are supporting women in crypto and the community

Hi all, I had real mixed feelings when I came across this article, and I think you might too. The conversation around crypto is dominated by men, and while it’s always great to welcome more women into the conversation regarding crypto and technology more broadly, it’s hard to overlook all the downsides that Liam brought […]

CRTC’s Decision to Deauthorize the Distribution of RT

Hi everyone, After our talk about RT and censorship in class today, I thought I’d share the CRTC’s decision regarding deauthorizing the distribution of RT in Canada. It’s worth checking out to see the CRTC’s reasoning behind its decision as well as seeing how the decision making/consultation process works. You can read the decision here: […]

EBS Spectrum Licenses

Hey everyone – here’s a recent development from the U.S. that I found quite interesting (and surprising) relating to the side of communications law that governs information infrastructure: According to this National Law Review article (https://www.natlawreview.com/article/schools-hold-valuable-fcc-spectrum-licenses-now-can-be-sold-fairness-opinion), “starting in 1963, the FCC gave away…spectrum licenses to schools and public television stations for video and data use”. […]

Interesting Article on Surveillance Capitalism

Hi Guys! I stumbled across this article from the New York Times that I thought may be of interest to people in this class. It is from 2020, but its focus is on the way in which large tech companies are using our personal data to surveil us, and sell things to us (which unfortunately […]