Fears and Pet Peeves
This social media company was levied a record-breaking $5 billion penalty by the Federal Trade Commission for violating consumers’ privacy.
What is Facebook (or Meta)?
Name one of the four amendments in the US constitution that imply a right to privacy.
What is 1st, 3rd, 4th, or 5th?
In Orwell’s 1984, what is the name of the secret police organization?
What is the Thought Police?
The explosion of self-service DNA testing--popularized by this company--has helped solve cold cases, provided individuals with insight into genetic illnesses, and sometimes unearthed family secrets long-since buried.
What is 23andMe?
This film explores issues of consent and surveillance, telling the story of an insurance salesman whose life has been broadcast to the world on TV without him knowing anything about it.
What is "The Truman Show"?
This system utilized by the Chinese government tracks and evaluates individuals, businesses, and government institutions by scoring their trustworthiness.
What is the social credit system?
This social networking site suffered a data breach in 2013 stemming from a security flaw in its Account Recovery process that essentially allowed anyone to take over any account.
What is Myspace?
This novel written by Franz Kafka tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by an unknown authority without his crime being revealed to him or the reader.
What is "The Trial"?
The Gramm Leach Bliley Act, outlining how and when we can share customer data with non-affiliated third parties, was partly authored by Rep. Thomas J Bliley, Jr, whose family owns a chain of these in the Richmond, VA, metro area.
What are funeral homes?
The Alan Parsons Project sings “looking at you I can read your mind” in this hit from 1982.
What is "Eye in the Sky"?
This popular Amazon device has raised privacy concerns for “always listening” to conversations.
What is Alexa?
In 2016, Spamhaus, a regulatory watchdog agency, called into question Capital One’s email address collection practices, prompting this unprecedented risk mitigation measure.
What is halting ALL non-critical servicing and marketing emails (500mm)?
In this 1985 science fiction novel, the main character has a 'monitor' implanted on the back of his neck, allowing government personnel to observe how he experienced and interacted with the world around him.
What is "Ender's Game"?
This comedian made a joke at the Oscars about a nominee’s spouse, causing millions of people to make inferences based on physical appearance and become aware of a private medical issue without the consent of the subject of the joke.
Who is Chris Rock?
"Somebody's Watching Me" was recorded by this American singer, released by the Motown label in 1984, and features guest vocals by brothers Michael and Jermaine Jackson.
Who is Rockwell?
This former American NSA employee leaked highly classified information in 2013, alleging the pervasiveness of numerous global surveillance programs and prompting a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.
Who is Edward Snowden?
In 1890, former Supreme Court Justices Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published “The Right to Privacy” in the Harvard Law Review. According to them, privacy is the right to…
What is 'to be let alone'?
This 1992 cyberpunk novel by Niel Stephenson first coined the term “metaverse.”
What is "Snow Crash"?
This “family company” saw a 30% uptick in cyber attacks in 2020 due to its contributions to developing a COVID-19 vaccine.
What is SC Johnson?
This character from Parks & Rec throws his computer into a dumpster when he learns about cookies and finds his home on Google Earth.
Who is Ron Swanson?
This company holds the current record for most people affected by a data breach, stemming from a 2013 cyber attack affecting 3 billion people.
What is Yahoo?
This ancient Greek philosopher described the two spheres of life as polis (the public, political sphere) and oikos (the private, domestic sphere).
Who is Aristotle?
In Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder”, Hal Jeffries spies on his neighbors and becomes certain one of them is a murderer, inspiring this classic Hitchcock film starring Jimmy Stewart.
What is "Rear Window"?
In 2018, it was reported that 567,000 payment card numbers may have been exposed in 23 U.S. states through a cyber attack on Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, a restaurant owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc. This other Darden restaurant chain, whose slogan is "when you're here, you're family!" was reportedly unaffected by the breach.
What is Olive Garden?
Sting has expressed surprise that this classic song, about the obsessiveness of ex-lovers, surveillance, ownership, and jealousy, is thought of by many to be a "a very sweet love song”.
What is "Every Breath You Take"?