Notes From The Electronic Cottage – Page 4 – WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 9/13/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Voting Security

Voting security in the digital age is much in the public eye these days, especially with an important election coming up. The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine just released a Consensus Report entitled “Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy”(https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy). It’s definitely worth a read. Just in case you don’t have a chance to read it, here are some of the highlights from that report. They deserve our attention – and our action.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 9/6/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Electronic Voting

Labor Day has come and gone and election season is in full swing. But whoever anyone supports, there is one thing we can all agree on – we want every vote counted accurately. In this age of electronic voting, can we count on that? Maybe, maybe not. Here’s why.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/30/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Labor Day is almost upon us, the unofficial end of summer. Folks are busy and so some tech issues might have passed by without much notice. Here are a such items to help us catch up as we move into a new season.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/23/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Devices that can be controlled by our voices can be very convenient. But sometimes they can be controlled by other voices we can’t even hear and this archived edition of the Electronic Cottage points out.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/16/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

On today’s summer rebroadcast, we think a bit about all the data that fitness monitors and cars generate and what they can reveal about where we go, what we do, when we do it, and, not surprisingly, who we are.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/9/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

DefCon 2018, a hacker convention in Las Vegas going on now, features a “Voting Machine Hacking Village.” Who will be attempting to hack into voting web sites? This year it will be young people, aged 8-16. Why young people? Because, in the words of one of the Village’s founders: “It’s just so easy to hack these web sites we thought grown-up hackers in the Vote Hacking Village wouldn’t be interested.” Think about that as we approach the 2018 Congressional elections in a few months, and then read the report from the Vote Hacking Village from 2017 at www.defcon.org/images/defcon-25/DEF CON voting village report.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/2/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Ever use a URL shortener?

Odds are pretty good that you have. They can be very convenient – and potentially very dangerous.
Have you read those Terms of Service for Google Docs (and pretty near any other online service you use)? No? Well, here are some of the things you have agreed to when you clicked “Okay” to use the service. Some of what you agreed to might surprise you. Here’s why.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/26/18

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Our world is going digital. We have Smart TVs, robot vacuum cleaners, and now even free Wi-Fi throughout most of New York City. Pretty cool! And also pretty important to understand the things these devices can do that never get advertised. Here are a few.