A Contextual Approach to Privacy Online

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Nissenbaum

Recent media revelations have demonstrated the extent of third-party tracking and monitoring online, much of it spurred by data aggregation, profiling, and selective targeting. How to protect privacy online is a frequent question in public discourse and has reignited the interest of government actors. In the United States, notice-and-consent remains the fallback approach in online privacy policies, despite its weaknesses. This essay presents an alternative approach, rooted in the theory of contextual integrity. Proposals to improve and fortify notice-and-consent, such as clearer privacy policies and fairer information practices, will not overcome a fundamental flaw in the model, namely, its assumption that individuals can understand all facts relevant to true choice at the moment of pair-wise contracting between individuals and data gatherers. Instead, we must articulate a backdrop of context-specific substantive norms that constrain what information websites can collect, with whom they can share it, and under what conditions it can be shared. In developing this approach, the paper warns that the current bias in conceiving of the Net as a predominantly commercial enterprise seriously limits the privacy agenda.

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petter Bae Brandtzaeg ◽  
Antoine Pultier ◽  
Gro Mette Moen

Personal data from mobile apps are increasingly impacting users’ lives and privacy perceptions. However, there is a scarcity of research addressing the combination of (1) individual perceptions of mobile app privacy, (2) actual dataflows in apps, and (3) how such perceptions and dataflows relate to actual privacy policies and terms of use in mobile apps. To address these limitations, we conducted an innovative mixed-methods study including a representative user survey in Norway, an analysis of personal dataflows in apps, and content analysis of privacy policies of 21 popular, free Android mobile apps. Our findings show that more than half the respondents in the user survey repeatedly had refrained from downloading or using apps to avoid sharing personal data. Our analysis of dataflows applied a novel methodology measuring activity in the apps over time (48 hr). The investigation showed that 19 of the 21 apps investigated transmitted personal data to a total of approximately 600 different primary and third-party domains. From an European perspective, it is particularly noteworthy that most of these domains were associated with tech companies in the United States, where privacy laws are less strict than companies operating from Europe. The investigation further revealed that some apps by default track and share user data continuously, even when the app is not in use. For some of these, the terms of use provided with the apps did not inform the users about the actual tracking practice. A comparison of terms of use as provided in the studied apps with actual person dataflows as identified in the analysis disclosed that three of the apps shared data in violation with their provided terms of use. A possible solution for the mobile app industry, to strengthen user trust, is privacy by design through opt-in data sharing with the service and third parties and more granular information on personal data sharing practices. Also, based on the findings from this study, we suggest specific visualizations to enhance transparency of personal dataflows in mobile apps. A methodological contribution is that a mixed-methods approach strengthens our understanding of the complexity of privacy issues in mobile apps.


Author(s):  
Oscar D. Guillamondegui

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious epidemic in the United States. It affects patients of all ages, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). The current care of these patients typically manifests after sequelae have been identified after discharge from the hospital, long after the inciting event. The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of identification and management of the TBI patient from the moment of injury through long-term care as a multidisciplinary approach. By promoting an awareness of the issues that develop around the acutely injured brain and linking them to long-term outcomes, the trauma team can initiate care early to alter the effect on the patient, family, and community. Hopefully, by describing the care afforded at a trauma center and by a multidisciplinary team, we can bring a better understanding to the armamentarium of methods utilized to treat the difficult population of TBI patients.


Author(s):  
Christopher A. Bail

In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.


Author(s):  
Stephanie K. Pell

After the September 11 attacks, law enforcement's mission expanded to include, at times even prioritize, the general “prevention, deterrence and disruption” of terrorist attacks, which presumed a new emphasis upon threat detection and identification by analyzing patterns in larger, less specific bodies of information. Indeed, the unprecedented level of “third-party” possession of information inevitably makes the private sector the most reliable and comprehensive source of information available to law enforcement and intelligence agencies alike. This chapter explores the potential applications of systematic government access to data held by third-party private-sector intermediaries that would not be considered public information sources but, rather, data generated based on the role these intermediaries play in facilitating economic and business transactions (including personal business, such as buying groceries or staying at a hotel on vacation).


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-44
Author(s):  
Alyson Cole

Until the l970s, ‘survivor’ referred predominantly to individuals who outlived others in the aftermath of disaster, or stood to inherit the remains of an estate; it was not imbued with evaluative connotations. In the United States today, however, survivorship abounds with positive meanings. This transvaluation rests on three intersecting trajectories that together transformed survivorship from denoting that one sustained or was spared a hardship to signifying a superior social status. The first trajectory follows the aftermath of the Shoah, when survivors acquired moral authority as victims of and public witnesses to a new violation, ‘crimes against humanity’. The second tracks the stigmatization of the term ‘victim’ in American public discourse. A consequence of struggles over the welfare state and other progressive policies, victimhood is now associated less with specific harms or injuries, and more with the supposed negative attributes of the victim herself. The third traces how survivorship became integral to the recuperative strategies of new therapeutic disciplines addressing the traumatized – from war veterans and rape victims to cancer patients. These three processes coalesced to create and legitimize a hierarchical opposition between ‘victims’ and ‘survivors’, transforming these terms into political categories and emblems of personal and group identity. In this essay, I argue that the victim/survivor binary constitutes one juncture where neoliberalism converges with Trump-era populism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106002802110233
Author(s):  
C. Michael White

Objective Assess the current daily interim reference level of lead and the amount contained in current mineral and multivitamin-multimineral (MVM) products. Data Sources PubMed search from 1980 to May 15, 2021, limited to the English language, via the search strategy ((mineral OR multivitamin OR calcium OR iron OR magnesium OR copper OR zinc OR chromium OR selenium) AND (heavy metals OR Pb OR lead)). Study Selection and Data Extraction Narrative review of studies assessing lead content in mineral or MVM products. Data Synthesis Products containing different calcium forms (dolomite, bone meal, natural carbonate) have historically had higher lead levels than others (refined carbonate, lactate, gluconate, acetate, sevelamer), but the gap has closed considerably since the year 2000. Although only limited assessments of magnesium and zinc supplements have been conducted, no alarming average lead amounts were found. MVM products assessed since 2007 had low median or mean lead concentrations. However, large interproduct differences exist, with many products having very little lead and some products having concerning amounts. Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice It is difficult for pharmacists and consumers to know the amount of lead in an actual product unless it is tested in an independent third-party lab. The United States Pharmacopeia and NSF International will provide a seal on the products stating that the products have a low level of lead, but even so, children could receive more lead than the Food and Drug Administration’s Interim Reference Level. Conclusions The threat from lead exposure in mineral and MVM products have diminsihed considerably over time but some products can still have excessive amounts. Without third-party testing, it is difficult for clinicians and consumers to know which outlier products to avoid.


Author(s):  
Nik Theodore

For decades El Salvador has been reliant on migration, mainly to the US, to provide remittances and an outlet for widespread underemployment. The deportation of tens of thousands of migrants annually by the United States, however, threatens to exacerbate problems of joblessness, poverty, and informality in local economies, calling into question the suitability of prevailing economic development strategies. This study proposes an alternative approach—labor force-based development—that was initially proposed to assist US cities confronting widespread job losses following deindustrialization. Through a survey of 198 Salvadorans who were apprehended by US immigration authorities and deported, this article documents deportees’ employment experiences in El Salvador and the US, tenure in their primary occupation, education and training obtained, and the localities to which they will return. It also provides recommendations for improving the employment outcomes of deportees. Given that a substantial proportion of deportees have worked in the construction industry, opportunities exist for designing workforce development programs that meet the needs of jobseekers as well as local communities facing housing shortages.


Author(s):  
R. MUKUNDAN

Geometric moments have been used in several applications in the field of Computer Vision. Many techniques for fast computation of geometric moments have therefore been proposed in the recent past, but these algorithms mainly rely on properties of the moment integral such as piecewise differentiability and separability. This paper explores an alternative approach to approximating the moment kernel itself in order to get a notable improvement in computational speed. Using Schlick's approximation for the normalized kernel of geometric moments, the computational overhead could be significantly reduced and numerical stability increased. The paper also analyses the properties of the modified moment functions, and shows that the proposed method could be effectively used in all applications where normalized Cartesian moment kernels are used. Several experimental results showing the invariant characteristics of the modified moments are also presented.


Author(s):  
Julie C. Garlen

Since the beginning of Western modernity, evolving perceptions of what childhood “should” be have shaped public discourse around what knowledge is of most worth and informed paradigms of curriculum development. Thus, “the child,” the discursive construct that emerges from dominant ideologies about the nature and purpose of childhood, is a critical artifact in understanding contemporary curriculum in the United States. Significantly, “the child” has operated as a key mechanism to reproduce and expand particular logics about who counts as fully human. In this way, curriculum is implicated in social injustices premised on the protection and futurity of “the child.” Tracing the history of conceptions of “the child” as they relate to curriculum development and theory illuminates the ways that childhood and curriculum are intertwined, and illustrates how childhood operates as a malleable social construct that is mobilized for diverse and sometimes contradictory political purposes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kreps

BACKGROUND Misinformation about COVID-19 has presented challenges to public health authorities during pandemics. Understanding the prevalence and type of misinformation across contexts offers a way to understand the discourse around COVID-19 while informing potential countermeasures. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to study COVID-19 content on two prominent microblogging platform, Twitter, based in the United States, and Sina Weibo, based in China, and compare the content and relative prevalence of misinformation to better understand public discourse of public health issues across social media and cultural contexts. METHODS A total of 3,579,575 posts were scraped from both Weibo and Twitter, focusing on content from January 30th, 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and February 6th, 2020. A 1% random sample of tweets that contained both the English keywords “coronavirus” and “covid-19” and the equivalent Chinese characters was extracted and analyzed based on changes in the frequencies of keywords and hashtags. Misinformation on each platform was compared by manually coding and comparing posts using the World Health Organization fact-check page to adjudicate accuracy of content. RESULTS Both platforms posted about the outbreak and transmission but posts on Sina Weibo were less likely to reference controversial topics such as the World Health Organization and death and more likely to cite themes of resisting, fighting, and cheering against the coronavirus. Misinformation constituted 1.1% of Twitter content and 0.3% of Weibo content. CONCLUSIONS Quantitative and qualitative analysis of content on both platforms points to cross-platform differences in public discourse surrounding the pandemic and informs potential countermeasures for online misinformation.


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