Vulnerable By Design

Who or what is normal? Why does normality hold such a grip on people? Might normal actually be dangerous? No outrageous plans this week, as we dive deep into the terrifying zone of normality.

Do privacy concerns differ across cultures? And if yes, should that have any technology design implications? We cover a recent paper on cross-cultural privacy.

Molotov cocktails! What are they? How do they work? What's up with the funky name? And how come they don't immediately explode in people's hands?

A fast-paced round-up of recent vulnerability research. This week we cover: susceptibility to misinformation, vulnerable cycling in Dublin, and the apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People by the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Advertising fuels much of the Internet today. But what if programmatic, targeted ads don't actually work? We read Tim Hwang's Subprime Attention Crisis.

Like buttons are everywhere. But is liking really all that likeable? We investigate it all, from zero likes to like hiding. With a touch of proper hedonism.

Wikipedia's backstage is a battlefield. Well, sometimes at least. In this episode we look at the edit wars fermenting in articles on the world's biggest encyclopedia.

You've won a prize! Or have you? This week we look at recent developments in phishing research. Think: Do your personal values make you more phishable? And do phishers always run a profit?

Does powerpoint make you dim? We look at the debate, the evidence, the history. We might even throw in a little slideware liberation manifesto.

Big tech companies are spending precious euros lobbying the European Union to resist, or weaken, regulation of digital markets. A recent report by two lobby-watching groups has the ghastly details.

How are public sector bodies accountable for using algorithmic systems? We look at a recent report.