Good Monday Morning!
It’s September 8th. Apple unveils the latest iPhone and other goodies today at 1 p.m. ET.
Today’s Spotlight is 858 words, about 3 minutes to read.
3 Headlines to Know
Dutch Regulator Fines Clearview $33 Million
Clearview AI, which has previously been fined over $100 million for privacy violations, received a $33 million penalty from Dutch regulators for continuing to use social media images without permission.
Alexa to get Claude AI upgrade
Amazon will offer a $5-$10 monthly upgrade to its Alexa assistant, integrating Claude AI starting in October, after investing $4 billion in Anthropic, the AI's developer.
Columbus Sues Researcher over Ransomware
The City of Columbus, Ohio, sued a security researcher for revealing that a ransomware attack leaked sensitive data, countering the city's claim that the information was unusable.
Running Your Organization: Execs Getting Doxxed
Business Week reports that extremists are doxxing business executives for their decisions, with dark web services offering access to a database of 176,000 individuals' personal details and an option to have new people added.
SPOTLIGHT: Doxxing Explained
Digital vigilantism and privacy concerns are becoming more pronounced as individuals use social media to hold others accountable. “Make them famous” has become a common rallying cry to crowdsource the identification of people in videos exhibiting bad or illegal behavior. Doxxing, the act of publicly sharing someone’s private information online, has become a widespread tactic that poses serious risks of privacy invasion and harassment.
TikTok creator Michael McWhorter (@tizzyent) exemplifies this trend. One of social media’s most popular creators, he often shows discriminatory or criminal scenes, crowdsourcing information that he passes to law enforcement. The result is a mix of often satisfying public justice and uncomfortable ethical lines, where accountability and exposure often cross into dangerous territory.
Doxxing Turns Deadly
Following student protests against the Israeli war with Hamas last year, a truck with digital billboards circled Columbia University, displaying personal information about students involved. This so-called "doxxing truck" sparked further protests, as it only identified pro-Palestinian students involved in the demonstrations. In response, Columbia, Harvard, and other schools that experienced similar incidents have since tightened their policies regarding the growing threat of online harassment.
But the impact of doxxing goes far beyond immediate exposure. Doxxing campaigns, even those lasting only a few days, can have long-term emotional consequences.
Christina Revels-Glick’s tragic story is a stark reminder. After video of her arrest on a relatively empty beach for indecent exposure went viral on multiple platforms, her name and location were added to the footage. The 34-year-old realtor died by suicide five months later, a tragic reminder of how public exposure can have devastating consequences.
Doxxing in a Capitalist Society
Adding to this complexity, data brokers like Radaris, which profit from selling personal data, are sometimes run by the same people who offer to remove it through privacy services. This conflicted operation of data companies exposes deeper ethical issues in the digital economy. Often, personal details such as a person’s date of birth, address, and phone number can be found online for free.
A recent Pew poll revealed that Americans remain skeptical of how companies handle their data, with 67% stating they know little about data usage. Criminals buying stolen personal data for as little as $15 and offering to sell that data has only deepened the trust issue, enabling services that let anyone easily access personal information.
The ACLU recommends practical steps to protect individuals from online exposure. These include opting out of data broker services, securing communications through encrypted messaging apps like Signal, and enabling multi-factor authentication to safeguard personal accounts. While helpful, these measures struggle to combat the widespread availability of personal information.
Doxxing is just one of the many erosions of privacy in today’s always-connected society, where the balance between transparency and personal safety grows more fragile with each passing day.
Practical AI: Turn Printed Schedules Into Calendar-Ready Files
Learn how Claude 3.5 can take an image of a printed schedule and quickly generate a computer-ready calendar file, saving time and reducing manual typing.
Debunking Junk: False Claim Spreads About Non-Citizens Voting
A viral disinformation campaign wrongly asserts that ten million immigrants are registered to vote, misinterpreting a Social Security Administration document; non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections.
Protip: 10 Free Google Sheets Templates
Create invoices, project plans, and calendars with these ten free Google Sheets templates curated by past Silver Beacon client XDA Developers.
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Tech For Good: Google Helping Cities Tackle Emissions
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Coffee Break - Sid Meier’s original Civilization PC still works
Firaxis revived the 1991 Compaq Deskpro 386 used to create Civilization. It even boots up with a playable pre-release build of the game. Cost then: $10K, which is about $23K now.