Edward Snowden

Surveillance and the Limits of Law

Section 215 of the Patriot Act is set to sunset. New legislation would kill it entirely. But how much do intelligence agencies follow the law anyway?

By Alex Marthews | March 4, 2020 | Defense, Government, Human Rights, Law, Privacy, Security | Amazon, AT&T, Black Lives Matter, Civil Liberties, Congress, Constitutional Law, Dissent, Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FBI, FISA, Foreign Intelligence, Fourth Amendment, Gang of Eight, ICE, Intelligence Agencies, Internet, Jewel v. NSA, Law Enforcement, Legal Precedent, Mass Surveillance, Michael Hayden, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, NSA, Orwell, Palantir, Patriot Act, Privacy, Restore the Fourth, Revolution, Russell Tice, Section 215, Sensors, Spying, Standing Rock, Supreme Court, surveillance, Surveillance Oversight Ordinances, Violence

WeChat Pay

WeChat: From Medium to Mediator

China’s omnipresent app regulates much of society. Will it be a blueprint or cautionary tale?

By Chris Neels | January 22, 2020 | Culture, Economics, Government, Media, Policing, Privacy, Society | Beijing, Cashless, Censorship, China, Cybernetics, Dissent, Economics, Free Speech, Freedom, Information, Mediation, Metadata, News, QR Codes, Ride Hailing, surveillance, Tracking, Virtualization, WeChat

The Technoskeptic Issue 4

Print Preview: Issue #4 | Fall 2019

Our fourth print issue—covering issues of identity, censorship, Internet infrastructure and more—is about to ship nationally.

By Mo Lotman | September 5, 2019 | Cognition, Culture, Government, Identity, Media, Philosophy, Privacy, Psychology, Relationships, Review, Society | Book Recommendations, Censorship, China, Eric McLuhan, Identity, Infrastructure, Internet, Katherine Birbalsingh, Marshall McLuhan, Protest, Public Space, Selfie Murals, Selfies, Smartphones, surveillance, The Cloud

Ben Green

Podcast #34: Ben Green on Smart Enough Cities

Data technology researcher and author Ben Green punctures the myth of the smart city.

By Mo Lotman | August 8, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, Community, Culture, Government, Human Rights, Law, Podcasts, Policing, Politics, Prediction, Privacy, Safety, Security, Society, Transportation | Alphabet, Autonomous Vehicles, Bike Share, Boston, Branding, Cameras, Cities, City Services, Civic Engagement, Civic Pride, Complexity, Data Gathering, Data Monetization, Democracy, Dynamic Systems, Efficiency, Engineering, Google, License Plate Readers, Mixed-Use, Optimization, Predictive Policing, Public Policy, Public Space, Racism, Reductionism, Richness, Seattle, Sensors, Sidewalk Labs, Smart Cities, Smart Technology, Social Justice, Street Life, surveillance, Surveillance Oversight Ordinances, Tech Goggles, Traffic, Transportation, Urban Design

Podcast #32: Josh Golin on Marketing to Kids

Josh Golin, Executive Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, fights a metastasizing marketing machine that has swept kids into its orbit of consumerism and surveillance.

By Mo Lotman | June 19, 2019 | Advertising, Community, Culture, Education, Ethics, Family, Law, Media, Podcasts, Privacy, Psychology | Activism, Advertising, Alexa, Amazon, Baby Einstein, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Children, Citizenship, Commercials, Community, Consumerism, Critical Thinking, Digital Nanny, Disney, Echo Dot for Kids, Ed-Tech, Edward Markey, Environment, Fast Food, Hello Barbie, Internet, iPads, Josh Hawley, Marketing, Mattel, Movement Building, Obesity, Pornography, Schools, Scree-Free Week, Screen Time Action Network, Screens, Smartphones, surveillance, Technology in Schools, TV, Violence, YouTube

Print Preview: Issue #3 | Summer 2019

Our third print issue is about to ship nationally.

By Mo Lotman | June 7, 2019 | Community, Economics, Environment, Health, Philosophy, Relationships, Review, Society | Activism, Addiction, Automobiles, Capitalism, Distraction, National Parks, Nature, Ralph Nader, Smartphones, surveillance

Jonathan Taplin

Podcast #28: Jonathan Taplin on Internet Aggregators

Jonathan Taplin, former music and film professional, tells first-hand what the new rentier economy of Internet aggregators like Google and Facebook has done to the creative arts, journalism, and democracy.

By Mo Lotman | March 13, 2019 | Advertising, Culture, Economics, Journalism, Law, Media, Podcasts, Politics, Society | Addiction, Advertising, Amazon, Annenberg Innovation Lab, Antitrust, Art, Automation, Bing, Bodycams, Cambridge Analytica, Campaign Finance, China, Civil War, Consumers, Copyright, Creative Fields, Decentralization, Democracy, Digitization, Dystopia, Eric Garcetti, Europe, Fake News, Federal Government, GDPR, Google Facebook, Head Tax, Infrastructure, Internet, Jeff Bezos, John Seely Brown, Journalism, LA Times, Larry Page, Law, Levon Helm, Local News, Localism, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Luther King, Middle Class, Musicians, New York Times, Newspapers, Parking Apps, Peter Thiel, Photography, Privacy, Producers, Recommendations, Record Business, Robert Bork, Roger McNamee, Royalties, Safe Harbor, Search Engine, Social Credit, Social Networking, State Politics, surveillance, The Band, The Last Waltz, The Weight, Throat Cancer, Tim Berners-Lee, Tristan Harris, Vint Cerf, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Watchdog Role, Winner-Take-All, Yelp, YouTube

David Bosworth

Podcast #23: David Bosworth on Conscientious Thinking

Author and cultural critic David Bosworth discusses America’s myth of individualism and how it feeds a digital culture that ironically infantilizes its users and demands constant approval from strangers.

By Mo Lotman | December 12, 2018 | Culture, Ethics, Philosophy, Podcasts, Relationships, Society | "Momism", Accumulation, Affiliation, Atomization, Common Sense, Connection, Conscience, Convenience, Corporations, Descartes, Ethics, Idiot Savant, Individualism, Infantilization, Internet, Malls, MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte, Profit, Science, Smartphones, Superficiality, surveillance, Thomas Paine, University of Washington, Value, Virtue, Wikipedia

Ryan Calo

Podcast #22: Ryan Calo on Technology and the Law

Legal theorist Ryan Calo explores how the law is (or isn’t) evolving in response to technological quandaries like robotics and digital surveillance.

By Mo Lotman | November 13, 2018 | Culture, Government, Human Rights, Media, Podcasts, Policing, Privacy, Society | Advisory Boards, AI, Autonomy, Carpenter v. US, City of LA v. Patel, Crime, Emergence, Intent, Mens Rea, Negligence, NSA, Privacy, Recklessness, Responsibility, Robotics, Robotics Commission, Section 702, Senate, Stanford, Strict Liability, surveillance, University of Washington, US v. Jones, White House, Yale

Facebook's Portal

Your Portal to Privacy Invasion

In the wake of ongoing privacy breaches, releasing Facebook’s newest offering, a videophone with an auto-tracking camera, takes a lot of chutzpah.

By Michael Bugeja | November 1, 2018 | Media, Privacy | Alexa, Amazon, Data Breach, Facebook, Hacking, Interpersonal Divide, Michael Bugeja, Portal, Privacy, surveillance

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