Hand Me the Paper #5
A newsletter that chomps through PDFs and brings you the hottest content from the very niche world of tech academia. Bite-sized.
I do a fair bit of reading. I read 52 books last year and am doing it again this year.
Starting this year, I also plan on reading more academic papers around tech and policy. Recording my readings and (sometimes, observations + annotated copies on this newsletter). Please do recommend papers and share your insights!
What I Read This Week:
Google Data Collection by Professor Douglas C. Schmidt, in Digital Content Next. [Link]
Here is a link to the document with my comments in the margins. [Link]
What You Should Know:
Google collects a LOT of data, most of it is passive in nature.
Passive data is when information is exchanged in the background without any notification to the user. (eg, Android phones will share your location with Google after you enter a search query)
The other half of the data is active, where information is directly exchanged between you and Google. (eg, what you type in the search box)
According to the study, Google collects more passive data than active (by a ratio of 2:1) and combines it with personal information it has about you.
This collection happens significantly more if you own an Android phone, but is also present in iOS devices, especially if you use Google services.
If you are looking for a headline with no nuance, Android phones submit data to Google 10x more frequently than iPhones communicate with Apple.
Data Sufficiency and Shiny Graphs (from the source):
What I Have Been Reading:
Music to My Ears:
This podcast episode featuring Nikhil Pahwa talking about platforms and when they choose to ban people. Nikhil offers a great framework to look at platforms and why their decisions to ban content depend on who is in power. Audio gold.