The Nexus of 2024

Author: jon

  • About me

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    I’m a software engineer / entrepreneur / strategist and activist who focuses on justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality.  I also consult for and advise tech companies on software engineering, technology, and security. For the last fifteen years, my research focus has been on re-imagining computer science as a social science.   Sex, pleasure, and…

  • Privacy News: November 22

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    Privacy after Roe, ADPPA and KOSA in Congress, FTC comments, a big new lawsuit by Foxglove against Meta … and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. FTC Comments An FTC comment generated by the GPT-3 language model. The extended deadline for comments on the FTC potential rulemaking on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security was…

  • Consent, Automated Systems, and Discrimination (FTC Comments)

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    Submitted to regulations.gov a couple of hours before last night’s deadline.  An earlier version of points 2-4 appeared in the extended remix of my public comments in September. Thank you for your attention to the pressing issues of commercial surveillance and data security.  As the author of the Nexus of Privacy Newsletter, I write about…

  • Privacy News: November 17

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    Before we get to some very interesting articles on federal privacy legislation and Mastodon, first some important media news – and a very intriguing upcoming event. Protocol, the tech-news focused website, will shutter and lay off its entire staff Oliver Darcy, CNN (cnn.com) San Francisco-based Protocol has announced that they are shutting down and laying…

  • Privacy News: November 15

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    Checking out Mastodon?  The Nexus of Privacy is at @nexusofprivacy@mastodon.social! Webinar: The Fight for Privacy in a Post-Dobbs World Thursday December 1, 11:00 am Pacific (2:00 pm Eastern) This webinar, hosted by privacy scholar Daniel Solove, will focus on themes from Danielle Citron’s new book, The Fight for Privacy: online harassment and hate, Section 230,…

  • The elephant and the lame duck: ADPPA after the midterms (a federal privacy legislation update)

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    It could well be that [lobbyists] are just posturing, and the industry plan is to demand concessions on other fronts in return for a “compromise” on preemption. – me, in A “fresh wrench”, two hearings, and a busy week, July 17 Congress heads back to DC this week for the lame duck session. The Democrats…

  • Privacy News: November 10 – and a bit about disinfo too

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    First of all, apologies to subscribers for not providing more context about why we suddenly had two newsletters in a row about protecting democracy by fighting disinformation!  As we say on the About page, The Nexus of Privacy looks at the connections between technology, policy, strategy, and justice, so disinformation and the strategies about how…

  • How to fight election disinfo on Mastodon (UPDATED)

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    Last updated: November 9 If you’re on Mastodon, please help get the word out! * Perez is former Director of Product Management for Societal Health at Twitter, and a member of the Board of Directors of the OSET Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit election technology research, development, and education organization … so he knows what he’s…

  • 5 ways to protect democracy by fighting election disinformation

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    Want to discuss this post?  Check out 5 Ways to Fight Disinformation, starting with THINK before you engage or share. Full text in article.

  • Privacy News: November 4

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    Concerned about what’s happening on Twitter?  Check out the Nexus of Privacy’s Dreamwidth community – or follow us on Mastodon! Musk’s Twitter takeover raises more questions than answers about data privacy Katie Wedell on USA TODAY (usatoday.com) Actually I think the answer is pretty clear: assume that everything you’ve ever done on Twitter (including your…

  • #StopShotSpotter: Seattle Update

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    Seattle Mayor Harrell’s budget allocates $1 million for a “gunfire detection system” – presumably ShotSpotter, which Harrell’s tried to bring to Seattle for over a decade. As Lauryn Bray’s * One reason for this is that less than 10% of ShotSpotter reports produce anything prosecutors can potentially use as evidence of crimes.  Another reason is…

  • Privacy News: November 1

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    Concerned about what’s happening on Twitter?  Check out the Nexus of Privacy’s Dreamwidth community – or follow us on Mastodon! What Karen Memes Teach Us About White Women and Racialized Surveillance Dr. Apryl Williams on Panopto (yalelaw.hosted.panopto.com) “Karen memes constitute public surveillance of Black bodies by white women. This is no different than the racialized…

  • Privacy News: October 28

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    In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Chief Twit.  His other company is known for racial abuse of Black workers and software bugs, and as soon has he took over he fired Vijaya Gadde, the widely-respected head of Trust & Safety.  What could possibly go wrong? – A new Chief Twit – and a…

  • A new Chief Twit – and a big Twitter privacy issue

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    In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Chief Twit.  His other company is known for racial abuse of Black workers and software bugs,  and as soon has he took over he fired Vijaya Gadde, the widely-respected head of Trust & Safety.  What could possibly go wrong? If you care about digital privacy and you’re…

  • Privacy News: October 26

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    A bumper crop of links, including quite a few updates on state legislation – and international perspectives as well.   18 Books That Will Change the Way You Think About AI and Technology Mia Dand on Medium (miad.medium.com) An excellent list of 18 books written by scholars and technology experts.  Dand casts a broad net,…

  • Privacy News: October 21, Global Encryption Day

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    MENA region LGBTQ+ activist Afsaneh Rigot disucsses why encryption is crucial for keeping people in marginalized communities safe. Today is Global Encryption Day, sponsored by the Global Encryption Coalition. As the signatories write in their statement: Strong encryption is a critical technology that helps keep people, their information, and communications private and secure. It underpins…

  • Privacy News: October 19

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    The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’ Chris Gilliard on The Atlantic (theatlantic.com) Surveillance isn’t just imposed on people: many of us buy into it willingly. Gilliard’s latest outstanding article starts with a scenario of somebody using Amazon Halo, Amazon Echo, Amazon Ring, Amazon Neighbors … what could possibly go wrong? These “smart” devices all fall under…

  • Privacy News: October 17

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    Getting the week off to a good start with a bumper crop of links! Automated systems and discrimination Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why. Heather Vogell, ProPublica, with data analysis by Haru Coryne, ProPublica, and Ryan Little on ProPublica (propublica.org) Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the…

  • How and why to submit FTC comments on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security (UPDATED)

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    Originally publishes October 11, last updated November 3 with typo fixes. The deadline for comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on commercial surveillance and data security practices that harm consumers  has been extended until November 21!   This Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”) is the first step in a process that could lead…

  • Privacy News: October 13

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    Danielle Citron on ABC News: “We need a systemic solution” We had Danielle Citron’s new book The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age in the October 6 Privacy News.  Here’s a good short video from her apperance on ABC News last night, where she talks about topics including post-Roe…