We all know that the rapid expansion of social media over the past decade or so has caused many, many problems for both individuals and society as a whole.
Arguably, it’s been even worse for kids and teenagers, many of whom tend to swim in this stuff far more than the rest of us, and are huge targets for the propaganda and data collection that have made these companies wealthy.
Evidently, our overly-large school district will help with that.
Put this in the category of “I didn’t know this was happening”: in a recent newsletter, we learn that parents can sign up to get a weekly report on “their child’s activity on an FCPS device”, courtesy of the company the district pays for content censorship filtering.
A recent article in The New Yorker asks, “Is Online Test-Monitoring Here to Stay?”.
Unfortunately, the answer is probably yes, especially since the broader student surveillance industry is rapidly expanding.
Microsoft recently announced they are shutting down their ebook store. Which means that anyone who purchased books will lose access to them on July 1st, although the company has promised refunds.
For most people that likely means nothing, since they probably didn’t even know Microsoft was in the digital book business in the first place. But the closing does provide yet another reminder that we probably don’t own the digital media in our collections.
I think for most people it’s pretty clear that media streaming services like Netflix and Spotify and software like Adobe’s Creative Cloud are only rental agreements. After all, you get a monthly bill with access to everything available. And another stark reminder on those relatively rare occasions when they are offline.
However, it’s not as obvious when you click the “Buy” button for something digital at a so-called store like Amazon or iTunes.
Those files may be sitting on your device but they also come with a software tether back to the company, commonly known as “digital right management” (DRM). Unlike a physical book or DVD, the code prevents you from making a copy of it1, loaning it to your friend, or selling it at your next yard sale.
That means you only “own” that ebook, movie, or TV show as long as the vendor allows. If, for some reason, they (or the copyright owner) removes it from their catalog, or the store closes entirely, your ability to use the media vanishes.
All of which is not to say you shouldn’t “buy” any digital media. Just understand that what you’re actually getting is a long term lease that can be revoked at any time.
Unlike the Microsoft ebook store, this hotel probably reopened after winter was done.
1. Most DVDs also come with DRM code that’s supposed to prevent copying. However, there is plenty of software available that will easily bypass those locks. It’s legal for personal use. Not so much for loaning or gifting the files.
Cathy O’Neil is the author of a great book with the wonderfully provocative title, Weapons of Math Destruction. But it’s not hyperbole. In it she clearly and compellingly explains how algorithms, fueled by big data, are being used everyday to make decisions about important points in our lives. This includes whether or not we qualify for a loan, get a job, or go to prison.
Or create the “value add” rating a teacher receives, the one that mixes student test scores with data other points to determine if they keep their job.
The companies who sell those evaluation systems want us to believe that their mathematics is completely objective and a neutral judge of people. O’Neil, however, presents a variety of examples, starting with the teacher evaluation programs sold by Pearson and others, to explain why that’s just not true. She explains how the data used to build the algorithms usually comes with biases based on how and why it was collected. And additional bias is built into the systems by the people who ultimately decide what the resulting numbers mean.
While I highly recommend reading the book, you can get the TL;DR version of O’Neil’s warning in her TED talk from last spring, recently posted to their site and embedded below.