Tag: security

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/2/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Some estimates suggest that there could be 50 billion connected devices in the world by 2020 making up a huge web that many refer to as the Internet of Things (IoT). From interconnected devices in our cars to our homes to our children’s toys and beyond, we humans are going to be interacting regularly with often artificially intelligent sensors and electronic devices. Are we ready to handle them all? A recent report from the Community Computing Consortium raises some pretty important questions. If you’d like to see the whole report yourself, take a look at http://cra.org/ccc/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/02/Safety-Security-and-Privacy-Threats-in-IoT.pdf.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/2/16

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Former Attorney General Eric Holder recently said that he thought Edward Snowden had done a public service for Americans and generated a conversation that we needed to have about privacy and security. A recent vote in the Senate Intelligence Committee that would allow the FBI to gain access to information about our emails without a court order, and a new patent for a police cruiser light bar that would include facial recognition capability might make us wonder where that conversation is ending up.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/19/16

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Over 200 years ago, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed a prison model called a Panopticon based on the belief that people change their behavior when they think they may are being watched. Recently, the National Telecommunications Information Administration has confirmed that people are behaving differently online today based on fears about privacy and security. That could be bad news for both our civic and our economic health in the US. To read about the report, go to https://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2016/lack-trust-internet-privacy-and-security-may-deter-economic-and-other-online-activities. To listen, click right here.

WERU News Report 9/11/12

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

9/11 retrospective, WERU-style

Featuring archived audio from September 2001 and the months that followed, including a speech given by performance artist Reverend Billy Talen at the New Chautauqua in Unity, Maine in September 2001; Person-in-street interviews re: the PATRIOT Act and what rights people were “willing to give up for security”; and clips from massive rallies for peace that drew hundreds of thousands of people – but were ignored by the corporate media

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/29/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Do you use the web? Do you use passwords to access banking or credit card accounts, or buy stuff from Amazon, or have a Facebook or Twitter account? Do you spend a lot of time trying to devise a secure password? If the answer to the first two questions is yes, whatever the answer to the third question, best listen up. We’re dealing with a whole new world of password insecurity these days, and if one of yours happens to get cracked, your digital life could take a big dive.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/10/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’ve heard a lot about the Internet lately with the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. What we haven’t heard so much about are questions about personal information security right here at home. Today we take a brief look at both in this first installment on Internet Security.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/26/10

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

If bad uses of technology upset you, maybe you’d better pass this edition by. But if you use an ATM machine or a cell phone or GPS, you may find some of this information not only disturbing but useful as well. And as for the credit and debit card number skimmers that crooks have taken to using of late, check this site out for some pix. Can you tell the difference betweena skimmer and your favorite real ATM?  We can’t.  http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/02/atm-skimmers-part-ii

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/29/10

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Location based services – neat things that happen when service providers like Yahoo or Google or Foursquare know where you are at any given moment – can be very cool and convenient. But as a new web site called “Please Rob Me” (http://pleaserobme.com) points out, they can also tell very undesirable characters that you’re not home. This is only one example of how privacy is changing in our digital world, a good topic of conversation during the first national  Choose Privacy Week (www.privacyrevolution.org) sponsored by the American Library Association. It’s happening May 2-8, and may be happening at your local library. If privacy, or its demise, concerns you, join in the conversation.