Notices by The Markup (themarkup@mastodon.themarkup.org), page 2

NEW TOOL: Students can connect to school Wi-Fi and monitor their #school’s #censorship in just a few clicks.

Share with a K-12 student in your life ⬇️
https://themarkup.org/digital-book-banning/2024/04/13/does-your-school-block-these-sites

Originally intended to block obscene or harmful content, web filters now prevent students from learning.

What five high schoolers have dealt with, in their own words:
https://themarkup.org/digital-book-banning/2024/04/13/five-high-schoolers-explain-how-web-filters-inhibit-their-learning-and-safety

#News: The #NYC government’s #AI #chatbot is telling businesses to break labor and housing #law.

With @THECITY and Documented NY: https://themarkup.org/news/2024/03/29/nycs-ai-chatbot-tells-businesses-to-break-the-law

Would you want Facebook to know if you visited a suicide hotline?

Our investigation from June 2023 found that over 30 suicide hotline websites sent visitor data to Facebook. That story has now become a finalist for a NIHCM award!

Revisit the story: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/06/13/suicide-hotlines-promise-anonymity-dozens-of-their-websites-send-sensitive-data-to-facebook

Shopping for Plan B? Facebook may be watching you.

Last June we found the Meta Pixel lurking on 12 major drug store websites. Today, that story became a finalist for a NIHCM award.

Read the winning piece: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/06/30/need-to-get-plan-b-or-an-hiv-test-online-facebook-may-know-about-it

Reminder: We found 37 companies in the growing, largely unregulated “connected vehicle data” industry that are trying to monetize data about you and your car.

What you need to know ⬇️
https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2022/07/27/who-is-collecting-data-from-your-car

Dorothy Gambrell created the below #comic about discovering her work was used to train #Midjourney #GenerativeAI.

We spoke to her about this comic—and the broken promises of the early web—in our most recent newsletter: https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/03/02/what-happens-when-your-art-is-used-to-train-ai

Illustrator Dorothy Gambrell's work was used to train MidJourney’s generative AI.

She found out through a court document.

We spoke to her about art, the internet, and control in our latest:
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/03/02/what-happens-when-your-art-is-used-to-train-ai

There’s been a lot of talk about #socialmedia companies’ power as users post support for #Palestine and report subsequent shadowbans.

We looked into it on Instagram—and found the platform:
⚠️ suppressed hashtags
⚠️ demoted photos of soldiers, tanks, and city ruins
⚠️ deleted captions without warning
⚠️ categorized comments criticizing Israel + supporting Palestine as “spam”
⚠️ limited users’ ability to appeal moderation decisions
⚠️ more.

Read the story and our methodology:
https://mrkup.org/demoted-main-mastodon

A #data broker boasted having info on “1.6B people across 44 countries.”

Then it went bankrupt.

So... what happened to people’s data? #News:
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/02/23/what-happens-to-your-sensitive-data-when-a-data-broker-goes-bankrupt

Journalist and author @micahflee is kind of a big deal in the leaked data world.

@jonkeegan spoke to him about his new book, “Hacks, Leaks and Revelations,” in our latest newsletter: https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/01/27/how-to-handle-the-growing-flood-of-leaked-data

We're back with another #privacy tip as part of our Gentle January series.

This tip can offer you a bit more separation between your work and home life:
https://themarkup.org/gentle-january/2024/01/12/sign-up-for-a-simple-burner-phone-number

🌅 Good morning.

New #research from Consumer Reports offers a rare look into the scope of Meta's online surveillance.

It goes way beyond what most may expect—Meta can know many of the websites you visit and even what you’re doing IRL.

@jonkeegan with the details: https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

Big #news out of the #FTC today, as the agency bans a major location data company from tracking and selling info about people's medical visits.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/09/in-the-fight-over-abortion-rights-the-government-bans-its-first-company-from-tracking-medical-visits-00134510

It’s that time of year.

Instead of arguing at family gatherings, help your loved ones find better-quality information online: https://mrkup.org/misinfo-guide

We recently shared a guide to anonymizing your phone.

Y’all had questions.

We’ve got the answers:

#Privacy #Security
https://themarkup.org/levelup/2023/12/13/without-a-trace-how-to-keep-your-phone-off-the-grid

7,200 images per hour—or two every second.

That’s how many screenshots smart TVs are taking to identify the shows you watch, and ultimately, target ads and make content recommendations. ⬇️
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2023/12/12/your-smart-tv-knows-what-youre-watching

Algorithms aren’t new.

Faulty algorithms *especially* aren’t new.

From the 1700s to today, @aaronsankin explains how institutions have been using predictions and failing communities in the process:
https://themarkup.org/2023/12/07/how-certain-algorithms-to-improve-the-human-condition-have-failed

"No one is immune from AI harm."

Don't miss our latest newsletter, a conversation with Dr. Joy Buolamwini:
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/11/18/unmasking-ai-and-the-fight-for-algorithmic-justice

“The uncertainty is a monster. It can eat you alive.”

Mirna El Helbawi is connecting Palestinians with eSIMs so that they can stay in touch with loved ones despite outages. Read her story:
https://themarkup.org/news/2023/11/07/let-me-tell-them-goodbye-before-they-get-killed-how-esims-cards-are-connecting-palestinian-families