Learning Takeaways for Week 15 (Monday 16^th)

Reclaiming Your Privacy 

i)     Recent Privacy Developments

(1)  Mark Zuckerberg update 

(a)  Google and twitter CEO’s didn’t have to appear in the court

(b)  However, they have 14 questions that they have to answer due the 25^th

(c)  Google does way more advertising than Facebook does

(2)  346,000 Wuhan Citizens Secrets 

(a)  Art exhibit with special papers hung up displaying people’s private information that can be seen with special glasses

(b)  This exhibit was shut down after two days 

(c)  The artist said that he bought all of the information

ii)   Valarie’s Post-Multiple Platforms

(1)  Explains ephemeral messaging and identities

(2)  She listed 6 platforms

(a)  Snapchat, Wickr, Mirage, Dust, Confide, Facebook Messenger

(i)   Facebook Messenger uses encryption

1.    Secret Conversation: You can set timers for how long people can see your message before its erased

(b)  Vaporstream

(i)   “Say what you mean on Vaporstream”

(ii)  Their main hit was that email encryption only does so much

(iii)This platform makes it so that as soon as the message is read its gone

(3)  Cole’s Comment

(a)  Teens are bolder and less cautious when they have ephemeral messaging

(b)  People can use these apps to send explicit photos or say aggressive hateful things with no fear of repercussion 

(4)  Brady’s Comment 

(a)  Brady would like to keep records so that he can back up any false claims against him with evidence

(5)  Andrew’s Comment

(a)  Since the messages disappear online records can help back validity 

(6)  Quaid’s Comment 

(a)  Quaid said that ephemeral messaging is no different than speaking in private or burning letters like George Washington

iii)  Mark Cuban made Cyberdust to avoid government sifting through

(1)  Mark’s motivation to create Cyberdust was because of the fact he was prosecuted for inside trading

iv)  Not all Ephemeral Messaging apps are created equal

(1)  The questions you should find out before you use an ephemeral messaging platform

(a)  What electronic trail will be left?

(b)  Can you change the time the messages are seen?

(c)  Can you prevent screenshots?

(d)  Is the platform encrypted and encrypted in motion?

(e)  Is metadata collected?

v)    Issues and Challenges of Ephemeral Messaging

(1)  It can be limiting based on what the platform wants 

(2)  Can be abused for sexual harassment

(3)  Could be used for HIPPA and FERPA violations

(4)  Basically, it has pros and cons

vi)  Unique Issues to government use of ephemeral messaging

(1)  There is no accountability

(2)  Violates the Freedom of Information Act

Personal Takeaways

            I came into this lesson thinking ephemeral messaging might take over the business world in the future. However, it wouldn’t be for a while just because of the fact that email is the way of business. People aren’t easy to change especially if something like the email has been the standard forever. After this lesson, my feelings remained the same. Learning even more cons about ephemeral messaging just reinforced my feelings. The fact that the messages disappear is unreasonable In the terms of business. Contracts and agreements need to be recorded and evidence needs to be provided. I do like the concept of encryption however so I do believe that more and more companies will switch over to some kind of encryption. If ephemeral messages are involved without the disappearing of messages, then I would say their time is coming a lot sooner than later.