@vitak
She/her. Professor at University of Maryland's iSchool. Director of the HCIL. General Chair for CSCW 2025. Research: privacy, surveillance, data ethics. https://jessicavitak.com Come for the academic expertise. Stay for the cookie content.
So odd that @vitak.bsky.social and I have similar opinions re the privacy & ethical issues of microchipping employees. We both comment here:
fortune.com/2026/03/10/w...
Azerbaijan just closed airspace "in the south of the country" per Bloomberg macro squawk. Losing that link would have a massive impact on Europe-Asia (incl the Indian subcontinent and ANZ) air travel.
If we registered and didn't get an email, is there someone we should contact?
Do you like the work we do? Come and hang out with us.
Call for International Doctoral Students: Funded Short-Term Research Visit at the Social Media Lab socialmedialab.ca/2026/02/24/c...
“The fact that Meta’s legal team appears to have come to this hearing in a trial over the dangers their systems cause equipped with invasive glasses that put jurors and others in the courtroom at risk is a bit on the nose.”
We enjoyed demoing the PERVADE Data Ethics Decision Support Tool, designed to support reflexive research ethics education, at @sigcse-ts.bsky.social in St. Louis. @vitak.bsky.social and @michaelzimmer.bsky.social got great feedback from #TS2026 attendees.
I am SHOCKED. Shocked I tell you!
Heading to @sigcse-ts.bsky.social in St. Louis with @vitak.bsky.social & @cfiesler.bsky.social to get feedback on the @pervade-ethics.bsky.social PERVADE Data Ethics Decision Support Tool, designed to support reflexive research ethics education. sigcse2026.sigcse.org/details/sigc...
#SIGCSE #TS2026
Also, I know colon cancer in particular can be weird to talk about for some people, but remember: everybody poops. Signs to talk to your doctor about include: bloody stool, changes in bowel habits (diarrhea/constipation) that lasts >week, unexplained weight loss, persistent abdominal pain/cramping.
Just saw the news about James Van Der Beek. Especially disheartening to see another Xennial dying from colorectal cancer far too young. Please pay attention to your body. Get checked out if something changes. Colonoscopies are really not that bad -- I know, I've had seven.
Also, fuck cancer.
Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick
::screams into the void::
Interested in privacy, law, policy, and technology? Consider submitting to our annual symposium on Contextual Integrity - deadline is Feb 13!
Join us at 12:30pm ET Thursday, 2/12, in the HCIL Lab (HBK 2105) or online for our weekly brown bag speaker series. We'll hear from Dr. Gabriel Kaptchuk on "On Using Differential Privacy" Visit hcil.umd.edu/bbl-speaker-... for more information.
How to Help Minnesota in light purple letters with dark purple background on a glittery background that includes stars
Want to help people in Minnesota? The best place to start is: www.standwithminnesota.com
You can donate money to people who need it, donate airline miles, send supportive messages, & read about other things to do to help or prepare your own community:
www.standwithminnesota.com/actions-to-t...
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Open your eyes people. Just because they don't have gas chambers doesn't mean these detention centers aren't concentration camps. If you were horrified reading accounts of the Nazis during WW2, you should be horrified now.
In his forthcoming book, Your Data Will Be Used Against You, George Washington University Law School professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson explores how sensor-driven technologies, social media monitoring, and artificial intelligence can be weaponized against democratic values and personal freedoms.
Join us at 12:30pm ET Thursday, 2/5 , in the lab (HBK 2105) or online for our weekly brown bag speaker series. This week we'll hear from two researchers about their UIST papers! Visit hcil.umd.edu/bbl-speaker-... for more information
📢 CSCW is piloting a rolling submissions experiment.
🔸 More flexibility for authors
🔸 Emphasis on paper quality over deadline pressure
🧪 Important: Only a small number of papers will be invited to participate, and authors can nominate their work for possible selection.
cscw.acm.org/2026/rolling...
Message from "Signal Support" Dear User, this is Signal Security Support ChatBot. Our system has detected a recent login attempt to your account from an unrecognized device or location. As a security measure, we have blocked this attempt and sent a verification code via SMS to your registered phone number. If this was NOT you: To secure your account and block this unauthorized access, please reply to this message with the verification code you just received. If this WAS you: You can safely ignore this message. The login attempt will be automatically approved shortly. Thank you for helping us keep your account secure.
Signal will never message you like this.
If you get a message like this, SOMEONE IS TRYING TO HACK YOUR SIGNAL.
DO NOT GIVE THEM THAT CODE.
That's awesome! Hope to see some folks in Barcelona.
Alex Pretti’s Sig handgun has history of accidentally firing — offering possible clue to why Border agent shot him
From the NY Post. You know they are really scrambling when they are running "The gun was no angel" stories.
I finally returned a book to the university library today after renewing it every six months for the last 7-8 years. It was time.
Be free Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy. Be free!
UMD's College of Information is hiring lecturers in five areas: networking fundamentals, information design, security, programming and databases, and experiential learning. 3-3 load, $95k-$102k. I love working here. Asshole-free environment. Spread the word! Not on the committee but happy to talk.
Picture of blue t-shirt featuring a woman riding a horse and carrying a lasso. There are several cats running in front of the horse and some cacti. The text on the shirt reads, "Nothing to see here, just herding my cats."
I'm seriously considering buying this shirt and wearing it to every meeting I'm running from here on out.
Harrowing NY Times expose of the FBI, with some operational details of Minneapolis investigations & comments from ex-agents on the current federal occupation. The FBI is more fucked than you expect, which makes them less effective AND more dangerous. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... (gift link)
I'm hiring a senior policy analyst/counsel for the privacy & data team at CDT!
"Inquire within"
Did you have a qualitative paper rejected from #chi2026? As you're revising for your next submission, check out this crowdsourced document containing common critiques of qualitative research and ideas for responding -- and add any new critiques you've encountered:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...