The world’s leading for-profit geneaology company, Ancestry.com, was founded in Provo, Utah in 1983. Thirteen years later, an 18-year-old woman named Angie Dodge was sexually assaulted and murdered in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Nearly two decades after her death, a twisting set of circumstances and rapidly-evolving technology have linked those two events in ways that have…
Samir Chopra, a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, posed an interesting question on Facebook this morning: [fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/samir.chopra.7737/posts/10100282856185893/” width=”550″ /] The consensus of the comments is that since arrest records are public, there is nothing that prevents police departments from posting them to…
An arrest nearly two years ago of a man in New South Wales for allegedly using his cellphone to record so-called “upskirt” videos of women on a train platform wound up rocking the halls of one of Sydney’s oldest schools. After the arrest was made, police identified the suspect as Robert Emmett, a 36-year-old teacher…
On April 2, 2015, the North Dakota House of Representatives spent roughly 90 minutes debating whether the state should add “sexual orientation” to existing state law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability or status with respect to marriage or public assistance.” The measure,…
For the last couple of years, tech writers (including yours truly) have been warning that Internet-connected baby monitors are vulnerable to hacking. In 2013, for instance, the Chinese-manufactured Foscam brand was found to have a glaring security hole that allowed hackers to gain access to the audio and video feeds transmitted by the cameras. Forbes…
Each year, the American Library Association celebrates “Choose Privacy Week” from May 1 to May 7. According to a blog post by Michael Robinson, the Chair of the ALA-IFC Privacy Subcommittee, this year’s theme is “Who’s Reading the Reader”: It feels like online privacy has taken a step closer to center stage in libraryland in…
2015-02-24 Cybertraps for Educators from Frederick Lane This is a lecture I delivered to the Alaska Society of Technology in Education on February 24, 2015. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or professional development program for your organization on this topic, please contact me for information regarding my rates and availability.
2014-08-28 American Privacy: The 400-Year History Of Our Most Contested Right from Frederick Lane A keynote presentation delivered to the 2014 International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators in Phoenix, Arizona on August 28, 2014. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or professional development program for your organization on this topic, please contact me…
2014-08-27 Cybertraps for Educators: The Professional Perils of 24/7 Communication from Frederick Lane This is a lecture I delivered to the faculty and staff of the Yakutat School District on August 27, 2015. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or professional development program for your organization on this topic, please contact me for…
2014-04-24 The Age of SnapPrivacy from Frederick Lane A brief overview of the history of personal privacy and the impact of technology delivered at the Cyber Privacy Symposium at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY on April 24, 2014. Included is a discussion of what actually constitutes privacy. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or…
