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Ricochet is an open source effort to make it possible for you to chat privately. In this article we get some insight on why this program is important. Ricochet should be introduced in an user friendly version this November.

Ricochet is an open source effort to make it possible for you to chat privately. In this article we get some insight on why this program is important. Ricochet should be introduced in an user friendly version this November.

"As a result, it's not so simple to say that we shouldn't trust the cloud anymore, and that whatever happens to us is our fault if we do. It's an argument ignorant of the online-only reality consumer technology is hurtling toward more and more every day. Already, the cloud is the primary data store for a lot of people, for better or worse. Is it really so unreasonable to expect that the privacy, security and protection of our data should keep pace?"

Surveillance and society

For those that haven't seen it, Richard Stallman's dystopian short story, written in 1997, on a dilemma posed by the use of computers and licensed content in the mid 21st century.

By Cory Doctorow - Share this article This article is based on a keynote speech to the Chaos Computer Congress in Berlin, Dec. 2011. General-purpose computers are astounding. They're so astounding that our society still struggles to come to grips with them, what they're for, how to accommodate them, and how to cope with them.

This is a charged essay on the challenges to computing freedom in light of copyright, digital rights management (DRM), piracy (SOPA) and related issues. The author argues for the need to examine and, at user's discretion, shut down backdoor programs that monitor and/or enforce limits of fair use.

Have you ever been in a similar situation? It´s important to know your rights on the street as well as on the internet, does anyone know a good resource for reading about what our rights are on the internet? Besides that, does the internet give us more freedom or does it take it away by monitoring us and making our personal profiles into data? I think that was the transcending question and dilemma which the first module presented, so do we accept the internet as an oxymoron, if not what is happening in the world inregards to being able to opt out from being monitored and used as a statistic and still enjoy the benefits of internet.

In this article I could see that the privacy is a topic very important in the life of each person in America, with the increment of technology, people can enjoy of many services that help to make any task in a easier way, but the government has taken a lot of actions "worried" about social welfare, finishing with the privacy that new technological services can offer. So, I think that the providers of these services should explain the rules to use them in a clearly way, and people must decide about what personal information to share and specify that this have to respect, and think in alternatives to change this trend where government wants to control everything, well, it's just a review.

As I participate in, and contribute to, the MOOC for Changing the Global Course for Learning, I will inevitably tie the readings / work / ideas back to education at the K12 level. As noted, "Before the internet there were two important things to teach: content and skills, like writing," November said. "Now there's a third skill which is to build out your network to the world."

"This study examined the impact of three dimensions of digital literacy on privacy-related online behaviors: (a) familiarity with technical aspects of the Internet, (b) awareness of common institutional practices, and (c) understanding of current privacy policy.However, the findings were mixed when accounting for the interaction between knowledge and Internet experiences. There were limitations on the extents of knowledge and action related to personalized information. Furthermore, those limitations divided with sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, and education."

"This study examined the impact of three dimensions of digital literacy on privacy-related online behaviors: (a) familiarity with technical aspects of the Internet, (b) awareness of common institutional practices, and (c) understanding of current privacy policy.However, the findings were mixed when accounting for the interaction between knowledge and Internet experiences. There were limitations on the extents of knowledge and action related to personalized information. Furthermore, those limitations divided with sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, and education."

Concerns about the decline in personal privacy have long troubled citizens, scholars and politicians. This is a list of recent academic research studies and reports that address issues relating to digital privacy.

It's Banned Books Week! An annual event held in the last week of September, Banned Books Week seeks to draw attention to books being banned or challenged in libraries and schools while promoting free and open access to knowledge.

Wow. To be honest, I really thought that this was a thing of the past. I had no idea that it is still happening today. Super interesting - sad, but interesting.

"To what extent is it possible - or desirable - to disengage from the growing cultural database? How do surveillance and "sousveillance" play a role in the policing of individuals by institutions, and vice versa? Can we disentangle the issues surrounding localized record keeping from globalized control over the archives? In this article, we discuss a range of cultural practices, epistemological regimes and intellectual discourses that have emerged to cope with these questions, and we assess the strategic options for communitarian and individual agency in an era we describe as "the end of forgetting."* I included this link as the article has an excellent model to describe the different strategic responses of agency to the openness of data and the resultant privacy issues.

Perhaps a bit narrow, but relevant to me. The article touches upon some aspects of privacy and openness bothering librarians. On the one hand people themselves are sharing lots of information about their reading lists, reading habits and favorites. On the other hand, libraries are trying to preserve patrons' privacy and protect their privacy from unwanted eyes.

I enjoyed this reading very much, thanks! Not to spoil the end, but it is a good comment that in order to protect the patrons' privacy, they must do their part too. If they use machines that requires to log in to Amazon, for example (I don't own a Kindle so I don't know it that is true), well, libraries cannot protect their privacy on what they are reading. Which reinforce the idea of the role that libraries should play in educating people about online privacy. the example of combining books that were borrowed by the same person that allows to identify the patron is very powerful and shows how something that looks innocent like a list of borrowed books can be harmful.

I think this article really demonstrates how the meaning of libraries is constantly in flux, and in recent decades has been evolving quicker than it has in perhaps the past couple of centuries. But the library has always been evolving, first mostly accessible to academics and eventually democratizing its mission by bringing literacy to the masses with public libraries. Now we are evolving to decide how open and social the patron habits should be. I think there is a way that libraries can adapt to this change and incorporate ways for patron data to inform the collection and recommendations, but also give patrons the option of being completely private, perhaps similar to an "incognito" browser window. Ultimately, the library should take privacy seriously and give patrons options that do not deceive. Thanks for sharing!

An online review and ratings of the Terms of Service from different social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and more. "Terms of service are often too long to read, but it's important to understand what's in them. Your rights online depend on them. We hope that our ratings can help you get informed about your rights. "

I think people really need this online review because most of people do not have patience to read the long list of Terms of service but it does not mean they do not care about their rights online. This tool is great, I would like to use it and share to all of my friends. Hope more people could know that such a great tool exists.

This snapshot of terms of service for the various social media sites is excellent. Bookmarked!

En este post se habla de Randy Schekman y su postura sobre las revistas de lujo y el open access

Reuters / Eric Thayer Internet giant Twitter is suing the Department of Justice in hopes that the United States government will let the web company publish more details about requests made for user data. The complaint, filed in federal court on Tuesday this week, asks the Justice Dept.

An interesting read. Freedom of speech is allowed as long it does not relate to the US government. One important thing to understand here is that the flow of information can never be stopped or banned (at least only temporarily.) There is no such thing as good or bad information - it all depends on who interprets the information and what point of views these people have.

In the world, there are many issues that people hate about privacy, because many organizations, government, etc. have access to personal information. It also exists a problem about creating accounts to use a service from a website, but there are different solutions, one of them to use OpenId Connect, that is a standard log in website through a third party entity that guarantees complete security in our personal information, with benefits like easier and faster access.