Anonymity on the web becomes increasingly fractious as Tor and Bitcoin come into question with recent headline-grabbing stories. A quick scan of this weekend’s NYTimes reveals three big articles on the novel ways our digital histories stay with us. Clearly, our story has come to the fore.
This week, we’re also looking forward this coming week’s OpenCo and the Quantified Self global conference, both in San Francisco. As always, if you want to keep up with what we’re reading/thinking about on a weekly basis the best way is to subscribe to the “else” feed either as an email newsletter or through RSS.
FBI’s Case Against Silk Road Boss Is A Fascinating Read – Techdirt
The capture and revelation of dramatic details of the Ulbricht’s Silk Road drug trafficking website has called into question both legitimate and seedy uses of anonymous technologies like Tor and Bitcoin. NSA and GCHQ target Tor network that protects anonymity of web users – The Guardian
Tor, a routing system that masks traffic through a network of relaying nodes, isn’t safe from government spying. The latest Guardian NSA piece describes measures designed to peel ‘back the layers of Tor with EgotisticalGiraffe.’
How a Purse Snatching Led to the Legal Justification for NSA Domestic Spying – Wired
The unlikely story behind the precedent for monitoring metadata with a “pen register” illustrates how our technical systems outpace or legal means for dealing with them.
When Meta Met Data – NYTimes
There was a time when “meta” meant something self-referential and funny. This is a thoughtful take on cultural shifts as we begin to understand what our metadata says about us.
Rage Against the Algorithms – The Atlantic
“Algorithms, driven by vast troves of data, are the new power brokers in society, both in the corporate world as well as in government.” Makes the case for journalists and others to reverse-engineer these black boxes to better understand how they work and to develop algorithmic accountability.
Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers – NYTimes
Getting beyond cookies to bridge ad experiences across all connected devices, from desktop to tablet to phone.
Mugged by a Mug Shot Online – NYTimes
The business of reputation management is lucrative for these exploitative sites with high SEO ranking that bring up mugshots, long after you’ve been cleared.
Deciding Who Sees Students’ Data – NYTimes
Systems for managing and tracking students’ progress offer great potential in personalizing education, but we’re still figuring out where more student data is appropriately applied and used.
Living with Data: Personal Data Uses of the Quantified Self – Sara M. Watson
I posted my thesis on the Quantified Self in full for those interested: “As Big Data becomes standard practice and more sensors enter into our homes, cars,devices, and bodies, data proliferates. This will happen whether or not we are actively engaged in the creation and uses of data. As such, we are all becoming quantified selves. We have a responsibility in this emerging data environment to recognize and engage with this fact. If we ignore this reality, we risk losing our agency.”