Author: Abby Shulman

is an aspiring physician and student at Rice University. Beyond working as a writer for The Center, she’s involved with health and service organizations on campus. She likes New Yorker articles, hiking, and stand-up comedy.

New bill protecting companies from cyberattacks compromises individual privacy

November 5, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Citizen Justice, Cybercrime, Government, Privacy, Security

The US Senate voted this past Tuesday to pass the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which allows companies to share evidence of cyberattacks with the US government, even if that data includes the personal information of individuals.

Those in favor of the bill argue that CISA will help the government protect companies. Most big tech companies comprise the opposition, and say that the new act is another loophole that allows the US government to snoop on citizens. President Obama supports CISA.

Al Franken, a senator from Minnesota and one of 21 who voted against the bill, said in a statement following CISA’s passing, “There is a pressing need for meaningful, effective cybersecurity legislation that balances privacy and security. This bill doesn’t do that.”

Companies are supposed to remove personal information about customers—such as emails and text messages—before sending data to the government. Currently, however, no accountability system exists to ensure that personal identifiers are in fact deleted before reaching government databases.

CISA was most likely passed in response to recent high-profile hackings, such as those committed against Sony Pictures, Ashley Madison, and United Airlines.

“With security breaches like T-Mobile, Target, and [the US government’s Office of Personnel Management] becoming the norm, Congress knows it needs to do something about cybersecurity,” said Mark Jaycox, Legislative Analyst of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It chose to do the wrong thing.”

Article via CNET, October 27, 2015

Photo: The Capitol, in Washington, D.C. US Senate and The House of Representatives via DeusXFlorida [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Inneract Project offers free courses on design in technology to students

November 2, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Education

Inneract Project, an organization established by Yahoo designer Maurice Woods in 2004, will be holding a panel discussion next month titled “Valuing Diversity in Design and Technology” in San Francisco. The panel will include a variety of leaders in technology that focus on sharing their skills with young people in minority populations.

Woods founded Inneract Project with the intention of helping underrepresented students learn about design in technology. Based in San Francisco, the organization offers three free programs: Youth Design Academy, an eight-week course for middle-school students, Learning Labs, one-day educational events for students and parents alike, and Designed, a video series that follows designers.

Design is vital in the implementation of any technology being used by a broad consumer base, and as a result, designers today are in high demand.

“Technology needs to be considerate of empathy, of how people learn and how people use devices, and that’s design,” said Woods. “That’s what designers do. Without that, it’s hard for the consumer to be able to digest and understand that technology.”

Maurice Woods also speaks about using “cultural context”—the idea that kids learn based on their surroundings outside of school—when planning programs for students. He states that minority students are familiar with music and sports, which is why Inneract Project will soon introduce a basketball program in which kids can design jerseys and logos, thus learning design in a context they’re familiar with.

Each of Inneract Project’s programs contributes to Woods’ mission to “see kids succeed and get into design and tech fields.”

Article via TechCrunch, November 1, 2015

Photo: Minority Serving Institute Partnership Program via Sandia Labs [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Teenage hackathon addresses cyberbullying

October 30, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Hackathon, Tech

Fifteen teenagers from across the country convened in New York City to participate in DoSomething.org and Coca-Cola’s co-sponsored Happiness Hackathon, designed to invent creative solutions to cyberbullying. The one-day event took place on October 3rd.

According to DoSomething.org, just under 50 percent of young people have been cyberbullied. Equally alarming is the estimate that 90 percent of teens who witness online bullying do nothing to address it.

Out of several hundred teenagers who submitted proposals to reduce cyberbullying, the fifteen chosen were from diverse backgrounds and generally had personal experiences with bullying.

“We wanted 15 different perspectives, different ideas, different ways of tackling the problem,” said Aria Finger, DoSomething.org’s Chief Operations Officer.

The teens were broken up into groups of three, and each team was provided a mentor to help develop their ideas. Among the proposed solutions, one team thought of an app that let users compliment others; another group designed a program that required teenagers suspended from social media for cyberbullying to take an online anti-bullying seminar before reactivating their accounts.

Finger awarded the teams for different accomplishments, such as “Best Use of Tech” and “Most Unique Idea.”

“We’re absolutely committed to being in touch with the teens and advocating for them and their ideas,” Finger said. “We are committed to this long term.”

Article via Mashable, October 28, 2015

Photo: GameLab Exhibit via Ars Electronica [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Internet freedom declining globably

October 29, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Citizen Justice, Government, Human Rights

A recent study released by the organization Freedom House found that Internet freedom is declining globally due to a variety of reasons, among them surveillance and online censorship. Of the 65 countries surveyed, 29 percent are deemed “not free,” while 27 percent are considered “free.” This is the first year that more countries are considered to have restricted Internet than free Internet. Last year, 15 countries were “not free” and 19 countries were “free.”

After the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo’s newspaper staff, France’s digital free speech rights were restricted and government surveillance was increased. This led to a dramatic drop in the country’s Internet freedom score—four points—which Freedom House considers “problematic.”

Cuba, in contrast, saw an increase of eight points as a result of recovering relations with the United Sates and a recent decision by state telecom operators to half the price of Internet in the country.

Europe and the United States have recently experienced controversies with encrypted Internet traffic, leading to decreases in digital freedom scores. Freedom House uses several factors to calculate scores, including quantity of Internet access within the country, how much Web content is restricted, and whether or not Internet users can be punished.

Article via The Washington Post, 28 October 2015

Photo: Internet Yami-Ichi via Ars Electronica [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

America’s technology gap continues to widen

October 25, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment FCC, Government

As Internet and smartphone usage continues to expand, a population of Americans still refuses new technologies. The Internet is a vital educational and career tool, and thus the technological gap prevents Internet non-users from succeeding in multiple spheres of society.

Up to 10 million U.S. households without Internet say that they would seek Internet if offered a government subsidy, as indicated by Federal Communications Commission estimates. This population overlaps with the 19% of Internet non-users that cite high prices as the greatest barrier to Internet usage, according to Pew Research Center.

However, 34% of the 51 million people lacking Internet say that the Internet isn’t relevant to their lives, and the 32% that believe the Internet is too difficult to use. Roughly two-thirds of households, therefore, won’t be convinced to get broadband at any price.

Administrators are trying to close the technology gap through a series of initiatives. The FCC stated in August that it would give $9 billion to Internet providers like AT&T, Frontier and Windstream in the next six years to establish broadband infrastructure in rural regions. Another FCC program, named Lifeline, intends to subsidize high-speed Internet for low-income Americans in the coming years, and the White House has established a $1 billion annual budget devoted to connecting schools and libraries to the Web.

However, initiatives can only help those who are willing to use the Internet if given more resources. It’s a much more difficult and intangible task to convince low-income Americans that they should seek out community centers and libraries to research things or apply for federal benefits online. It requires a niche initiative to encourage seniors to use the Internet to keep in touch with family members and friends.

As technology progresses, technology gaps will widen, and inequalities in other sectors will follow. It will take a targeted approach by Washington, state governments, and communities to prevent greater damage in the future.

Article via The Washington Post, 22 October 2015

Photo: Old Barn in Vermont via Geoffrey Coelho [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

IPhone factory investigated: wages and conditions are poor

October 24, 2015 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Business, Citizen Justice, Human Rights, Tech

Tech giant Apple is under scrutiny for factory conditions overseas. Despite the company’s efforts to regulate its manufacturers, a recent report by China Labor Watch indicated that many improvements are still to be made.

The report, released this Thursday, detailed criticisms of an iPhone factory in Shanghai. The organization urged Apple to raise staff wages, which currently amount to $1.85 an hour. Employees work shifts of 9 hours a day, in addition to a minimum of 20 hours overtime each week during the busy September season—when Apple prepares to release the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus—in order to cover living expenses. Including overtime, workers generally earn $753 a month. China Labor Watch also noted cramped living dorms and a lack of adequate safety training.

Apple does make an effort to monitor its manufacturers, however. The company audits the companies in its supply chain on a regular basis and releases the reports independently. Apple also sets the guideline of a 60-hour maximum workweek, which 92 percent of factory staff were compliant with for the majority of 2014. That number fell to 75 percent September of last year, when Apple primed to release the iPhone 6. In the Shanghai factory featured in the recent report, only 42 percent of employees worked 60 hours or less a week.

Apple also is advocating clean energy usage by its manufacturers, and announced new solar power and energy efficiency projects in China this Thursday. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook commented, “Our culture is to leave the world better than we found it.”

Article via CNET, 22 October 2015

Photo: RT @ BGR via Humans Developer [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]