Thinking back to a recent day in November when I crisscrossed Manhattan as I often do—from a morning meeting to a midday lunch to my daughter’s school pickup—I pictured myself as a small dot on a map of the city grid. I might blink red for a moment her…
Thinking back to a recent day in November when I crisscrossed Manhattan as I often do—from a morning meeting to a midday lunch to my daughter’s school pickup—I pictured myself as a small dot on a map of the city grid. I might blink red for a moment her…
We are surrounded by technology. Our devices are always on and always connected, and therefore, so are we. We scroll through our smartphone notifications in the morning, listen to podcasts on our commute, spend an entire workday in front a computer scr…
Consumer genomics kits are all the rage. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year, industry leader 23&Me sold 1.5 million. I can understand the appeal. For one, it’s fun to learn about where your ancestors came from and perhaps even pick up a sur…
The European Union’s “General Data Protection Regulation,” or GDPR, went into effect at the end of May, to great international fanfare. At long last, a multilateral organization was seriously taking on the challenge of protecting privacy in the digital age. The patchwork quilt of national laws, ranging from aggressive privacy protection to nothing at all, has been predictably ineffective in the multi-jurisdiction online world. While regulation always comes with risks, it has become clear in recent years that cyberspace demands public measures to keep users safe and corporations accountable.
I spoke on politics and human rights at an important forum in New York last May, and my fellow speakers included many current and former politicians and academics there to talk about everything from North Korea to press freedom to cybersecurity. Former US Congressman Mike Rogers was one of them, and he gave a polished presentation about many of the risks we are facing today in the digital sphere, both for personal and national security. As the former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he was faced with these urgent concerns on a daily basis. (Unfortunately, the Committee has now become a political battleground, a very dangerous situation because security shouldn’t be a partisan issue.)
The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal that has captured the media spotlight in recent weeks is a reminder that online security threats are amplified by the ever-expanding reach and power of the digital world. They may seem abstract and less urgent t…
The example on everyone’s minds is, of course, Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, now further confirmed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The Kremlin’s use of social media to stoke existing partisan tensions in the U.S., achieved through a sophisticated multi-million-dollar operation, resulted in the indictment in February of thirteen Russian nationals and three companies.
As we enter 2018, I encourage everyone to include a simple resolution on their list: make sure you are well-informed about the technology you use, and avoid getting swept up in false narratives and exaggerated claims about its dangers. Let me be clear: there are genuine threats, but they don’t come from the technology itself. As I always say, technology is agnostic. The dangers come from the bad actors that are willing to use any tool at their disposal, including those in cyberspace, to do harm. Our real target should be combating these forces, not demonizing this or that latest technological development. Education about the realities of our digital world is the best antidote against misplaced fears. And, conveniently, it is also the best way to inoculate ourselves against the security issues that technology does indeed pose.
When a question confuses her, she squints slightly, a dimple creasing between her eyebrows. Mostly, though, she smiles politely and blinks. Today she wears a black short-sleeve shirt, revealing—just above the top button—a camera lens with a red glow. This is Sophia.