On the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, scholars, theologians, and laymen alike yearn to understand and perceive the drama of Martin Luther’s mallet on the Wittenberg Church door. A common temptation in seeking contemporary moments analogous to the dynamics of 16th Century Germany consists of limiting the range of observed events to the pews […]
From Wittenberg to WikiLeaks: The Parallel Paths of Martin Luther and Edward Snowden
November 13, 2017 By
Data Privacy and Terms of Service: A Graphic Novel
November 24, 2014 By
“What if we’re not getting a fair trade for our information?” asks Josh Neufeld in a new exploration of the bigger questions surrounding data privacy. (Added cool factor bonus: it’s a graphic novel). We’ve gotten used to giving services like Facebook or Gmail access to data about our lives. But as mobile devices have become ubiquitous […]
Snowden Updates
August 8, 2014 By
A Web Guerrilla Breaking News From the Jungle: Inside Glenn Greenwald’s Mountaintop Home Office by David Carr at the NYTimes “On approaching Glenn Greenwald’s home office high in the jungle-encrusted mountains above Rio de Janeiro, all is tranquil, bucolic even. A gurgling stream at the entrance frames the idyll. And then the dogs notice the incursion. […]
Loneliness vs. Electric Shock. Who wins?
July 18, 2014 By
Blaise Pascal famously wrote: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” and now science shows us a deeper truth: that we would rather administer electric shocks to ourselves than sit quietly in a room alone. Read on below. The Latest Snowden Leak Is Devastating to NSA Defenders […]
Snowden: “I was trained as a spy”
June 2, 2014 By
In case you missed the latest Snowden interview, here’s a short clip where Snowden explains that contrary to official government releases, he was not simply a “low-level systems analyst” but actually trained as a spy. You can see the whole interview with Brian Williams and read more at NBC News.
Reading List: Snowden in Russia, Tech Cultists, and the Lottocracy
January 27, 2014 By
Happy Monday! If you enjoyed our brief treatment of tech cultism last week, you’ll love the Verge’s long read on fanboys. We’ve also got some updates on Snowden staying in Russia, social media guidelines from the Church of England, and a proposal that we replace our elections with a lottery. Fanboys – The Verge “I’m […]
Reading List: Snowden and Surveillance
January 6, 2014 By
For our reading list this week, we’ve got all the best Snowden, NSA and surveillance coverage we could find, starting with a video of the message he released on Christmas day. Enjoy! Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower – NY Times A quick and dirty overview of the entire Snowden story to get you up to speed. […]
Snowden: The Mission’s Already Accomplished
December 24, 2013 By
While it’s common to see news articles, TV shows, pundits, editorials, blogs, tweets and books discussing what limits we should or should not put on technology, Edward Snowden is one our few public figures who saw what was going on internally at the NSA and decided that our technological progress needed limits. Contrary to those […]
Online Privacy: How Did We Get Here?
July 26, 2013 By
From the description: As technology has evolved over the past two centuries, so have our expectations about privacy. This new digital world allows us to connect with each other with increasing ease, but it has also left our personal information readily available, and our privacy vulnerable. Cultural norms have pushed us all online, seemingly at […]
McLuhan on Snowden…in 1972
July 17, 2013 By
An interview of Marshall McLuhan in 1972 recently surfaced and is published in full by Maclean’s. Many of McLuhan’s insights are more relevant than ever, particularly his comments on surveillance and espionage with electric media. The new human occupation of the electronic age has become surveillance. CIA-style espionage is now the total human activity. Whether […]
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