This week we’re going to be thinking about the ethics of digital data and data collection. There are a lot of different ways we could go in this discussion, especially as we’re all thinking a lot more about our digital environment over the past year. But I want us to focus on how our technology can tell others a lot more about our lives than we necessarily intend, and what happens when mistakes are made on the Internet (gasp, yes, it happens!).

For this week’s response, you can pick whether to respond to Part 1 or Part 2. You do not need to respond to both (but you can if you want to), but you do need to read both readings.

This week we’re also going to be doing a bit of Slack discussion. On Monday morning, I’ll post some questions in the #discuss channel, and I’ll ask you to respond to them. You don’t need to have done the reading yet in order to start engaging (but you will need to have done it by the end).

Housekeeping

• If you haven’t filled out the first self-check, please do so!
• Reminder that if you contracted for an A, your base projects must be submitted (not necessarily signed off on) by Week 8. So if you’ve fallen a bit behind, now is the time to get caught up!

Reading

Part 1: Tracking

The insurrection of January 6 brought to light a whole host of issues, many of which are far beyond the scope of this class. (If you want to talk privately with me about them, I’m happy to do so.) But one thing that is within the scope of this class is how law enforcement and journalists have pieced together the story of what happened on that day.

Read this New York Times article (you can get a free NYT account through GMU; search the library website to find out how):

Charlie Warzel and Stuart A. Thompson, “Opinion | They Stormed the Capitol. Their Apps Tracked Them.,” The New York Times, February 5, 2021, sec. Opinion, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/capitol-attack-cellphone-data.html.

Response (blog post): What do you think about this article? Are you concerned about people tracking you (yes, I realize this is a loaded question, since you’ll be answering it online, in public)? Are there benefits to having tracking information known about you? Think about how many different devices and services you are currently logged in to. Who is tracking you? (Don’t answer this specifically in your post. 🙂 )

Part 2: Mis/disinformation on the Internet

Social media was used to track many of the Capitol insurrectionists, as you just read. But social media also has the potential to cause other problems, through rapid and unthinking spread of false ideas.

Read this article from Scientific American:

Filippo Menczer and Thomas Hills, “Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It,” Scientific American, accessed February 26, 2021.

Then watch this YouTube video (another video in the Crash Course you watched earlier):

Response (blog post): What is mis/disinformation? Why is it dangerous? How can inaccurate information be spread about on the Internet? What can be done once it’s out there? Think about the kinds of information you share on the Internet. Do you check the facts before posting?