Tagged: internet

Many of New Zealand’s most popular websites use ‘dark patterns’ to manipulate users – is it time to regulate? - Hot off the press

Guest Author • Oct 19, 2021 •

• internet,
• New Zealand stories,
• websites

Cherie Lacey, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Alex Beattie, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington   More than half of the most popular New Zealand websites may be unfairly manipulating visitors, according to our latest research into the use of “dark patterns” in sites with a “co.nz” domain name. While legal, dark patterns … Read More

Undersea internet cables connect Pacific islands to the world. But geopolitical tension is tugging at the wires - News

Guest Author • Sep 20, 2021 •

• internet,
• Pacific,
• under cables

Amanda H A Watson, Australian National University   If you’ve ever emailed a resort in Fiji or Vanuatu about that long-awaited holiday, it’s likely your email travelled through an undersea internet cable. Such cables carry much of the internet traffic around the globe, in conjunction with underground fibre connections, satellites and microwave links. For Pacific Island countries, undersea internet cables … Read More

Using images to misinform - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Oct 02, 2018 •

• 1080,
• images,
• internet,
• misinformation

The internet, while it can be a godsend if you need to find something out (gotta love google maps for directions), can also be a wretched hive of wrongness and misinformation. That misinformation can take many forms, but when it comes to 1080 it’s clear that those opposed to NZ’s use of this chemical firmly believe that a picture … Read More

Tech giants are battling it out to supply the global internet – here’s why that’s a problem - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 23, 2018 •

• atmospheric drones,
• Europe,
• Facebook,
• FASTER,
• Google,
• infrastructure,
• internet,
• League of Legends,
• MAREA,
• Micosoft,
• Privatisation,
• Project Loon,
• remote,
• rural,
• Satellite,
• stratospheric,
• tech giants,
• trans-Pacific,
• undersea cable,
• US,
• Wikileaks

Claudio Bozzi, Deakin University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The US Federal Communications Commission last month granted Elon Musk’s SpaceX permission to launch 4,425 satellites that will provide affordable high speed broadband internet to consumers. The Starlink network will be accessible in the US and around the world … Read More

Competition and search in internet markets for used books - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Mar 02, 2018 •

• books,
• competition,
• Consumers,
• intenet,
• internet,
• markets,
• price,
• revenue,
• sellers

A couple of years back in an email about my book The Theory of the Firm: An overview of the economic mainstream I wrote: The other thing I don’t get is the price dispersion. $180 at the book depository but $355 at the NZ based Mighty Ape website. Isn’t this internet thingy supposed to do away with price … Read More

Protect your privacy during turbulent times: A hacker’s guide to being cyber-safe - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 13, 2018 •

• Chrome,
• computer,
• cybersecurity,
• Facebook,
• Firefox,
• Germany,
• hacking,
• internet,
• phones,
• privacy,
• protection,
• Safari,
• Switzerland,
• texting,
• Twitter,
• WhatsApp

Timothy Summers, University of Maryland This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Protecting individual privacy from government intrusion is older than American democracy. In 1604, the attorney general of England, Sir Edward Coke, ruled that a man’s house is his castle. This was the official declaration that a homeowner could … Read More

Death and Cyberspace - Guest Work

Jean Balchin • Jan 17, 2018 •

• cyberspace,
• death,
• internet,
• legacy

I first realised my brother was missing when I logged into Facebook one evening to see his bashful face grinning at me from a ‘MISSING’ notice. Rather absurdly, I wondered why they hadn’t picked a better photo of John instead of this blurry, orange-toned selfie. I continued scrolling through Facebook while frantically calling my family. Funny, innocuous videos of … Read More

A brief history of GnuPG: vital to online security but free and underfunded - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 19, 2017 •

• cryptography,
• Edward Snowden,
• GnuPG,
• internet,
• Linux,
• Open PGP,
• Phil Zimmermann,
• software

Ralph Holz, University of Sydney Most people have never heard of the software that makes up the machinery of the internet. Outside developer circles, its authors receive little reward for their efforts, in terms of either money or public recognition. One example is the encryption software GNU Privacy Guard (also known as GnuPG and GPG), and its authors … Read More

How to tell the difference between fact and fiction on a ‘post-truth’ internet - The Psychology Report

Sarb Johal • May 16, 2017 •

• bias,
• bubble,
• echo chamber,
• fact-checking,
• fake news,
• information,
• internet,
• news,
• politics,
• Psychology

“Right now we have a health hazard to democratic functioning.” Those are the words of Professor Sam Wineberg of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University in the United States, my guest on this edition of The Psychology Report.  You can listen to the original podcast here, as well as reading our conversation below.   Professor … Read More

Online privacy – companies not government the biggest concern - Griffin's Gadgets

Peter Griffin • Apr 14, 2016 •

• internet,
• online,
• privacy

Despite the Edward Snowden revelations of mass online collection of meta data and some high profile data breaches at our own government departments, what Kiwis most fear is not snooping spies, but companies harvesting our Facebook likes and internet searches. The latest World Internet Project survey of nearly 1400 Kiwis included for the first time a set of questions about online privacy … Read More