Morgan Banville, PhD

Reminder: SIGDOC presenters, you may submit a paper for the 2026 Proceedings, due MARCH 30. The deadline will NOT be extended.

Also, don't forget that ACM has transitioned to a new Open Access process as of 2026: sigdoc.acm.org/blog/2025/10...

Seriously

Online age-verification tools spread across U.S. for child safety, but adults are being surveilled New age-verification laws and tools are designed for child safety on social media and the internet, but adults are in the crosshairs, say privacy experts.

Age verification risks tying users’ “most sensitive and immutable data” — names, faces, birthdays, home addresses — to their online activity, EFF’s @mollibroccoli.bsky.social told @CNBC.com. “Age verification strikes at the foundation of the free and open internet.” www.cnbc.com/2026/03/08/...

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000: The Newsletter Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this companion newsletter, linguist Prof. Emily M. Bender and sociologist Dr. Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science f...

Was the Anthropic hullabaloo ultimately an example of an AI company finally standing up to the Trump regime and doing the “right thing” when it comes to concerns about the lethal entanglement between the military & “AI”? Sadly, no.

To find out why read the MAIHT3k newsletter
buttondown.com/maiht3k

"BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that we affirm the rights of students and teachers to refuse to sign up for, prompt, or otherwise use generative AI in the writing classroom."

College writing teachers have spoken, y'all.

The CCCC resolution affirming students' and teachers' right to refuse generative AI in the writing classroom passed by an overwhelming majority at the #4C26 Annual Business Meeting this past Friday, March 6.

Link to the full resolution below.

Republicans are using kids as a smokescreen for what Big Tech lobbyists want: a national surveillance program to harvest our data with zero protections for people and their privacy.

We must fight this dangerous expansion of surveillance technology.

She Came Out of the Bathroom Naked, Employee Says Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’...

The data from your Meta Ray Bans is used to train Meta's AI, which most people don't understand means that humans are looking at the most intimate details of their lives. www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met...

84% of the time, “ChatGPT Health” killed a customer using their paid service as advertised

Let’s Talk About the Flock Study That Says It Solves Crime A Flock study claims it is “instrumental in solving 10% of reported crime in U.S.” A researcher who oversaw the study is now questioning how it was done.

Also: Flock lies about this. ASICVAB: all surveillance-industrial-complex vendors are bullshitters

www.404media.co/researcher-w...

As part of our series “Democratizing AI for the Global Majority,” Teanna Barrett (@bound4nostar.bsky.social) examines the politics and power asymmetries shaping AI development in Africa today, and how developing local AI ecosystems might offer a path for progress. datasociety.net/points/towar...

‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companies

when people talk about AI used in moderation of social media posts, you must remember there is always the human-in-the-loop, often a woman, often in the Global South, always dehumanised and forgotten

1/n

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

DHS Opens a Billion-Dollar Tab With Palantir "If you are interested in helping shape and deliver the next chapter of Palantir’s work across DHS, please reach out,” a Palantir executive wrote to employees about the massive purchasing agreement.

SCOOP: DHS strikes $1 billion purchasing agreement with Palantir.

The news comes as Palantir leadership struggles to address internal tensions over the company's work with immigration enforcers.

Here's how it was announced internally:
www.wired.com/story/depart...

I just finished prepping my Surveillance and Professional Communication course for the Spring semester (we begin March 3), and I just cannot wait to teach this. It’s going to be so good📹👁️

Higher Ed, in particular, should have fought 2FA on personal phones and removing our office phones tooth and nail for this reason.

Yeah, hi, I’m a person with “mobility challenges” (excuse me while I hurl). What we want, by and large, are not expensive, heavy devices that will “help us walk again”, but ramps.

I know, it’s not sexy, as technology invented before Christ, but it is overlooked in favor of…this. Repeatedly.

An image of a global map showing purple and black icons that represent numerous locations for Palantir technology contracts, most icons are hovering over Europe, the Middle East west coast of South America, South and East Asia and the South East tip of Australia.

@afsc-org.bsky.social is mapping out the schools, hospitals and corporate offices that have connections and contracts with Palantir. afsc.org/map-palantir...

That critique of the government extracting resources from PR. The power poles.

Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous

Trying to understand all of the ins and outs of digital security can be overwhelming, but our team at EFF is here to help. With our security starter pack, you can take a few simple steps to improve your digital privacy. ssd.eff.org/playlist/wa...

Is There Any Point in Resisting Face Scanning? Yep. And You Should Police already use facial recognition to identify people. But refusing to opt in when there's a choice, in places like airports, can still matter.

Some people have been saying…

How AI Surveillance Tech is Creeping From the Southern Border Into the Rest of the Country Surveillance technology has long been part of policing the border. ICE’s growing raids are bringing it to many other areas.

Tech deployed at the border “includes everything from hyper-visible tethered aerostats — massive blimp-like detection platforms hovering thousands of feet over the desert — to stealthy devices like unattended ground sensors to detect footsteps, and license plate scanners disguised as traffic cones.”

Houston schools are using AI to watch student mental health. Experts are worried Ed tech companies like GoGuardian and Lightspeed Systems offer for AI software to detect self-harm. Experts and students are concerned about its accuracy and unintended consequences.

Students said “they believe the monitoring software has created a sense of fear among students who worry looking something up online can get them into trouble at school, and even if their school district means well, the constant digital surveillance creates more stress, not less.”

My heart 🥹

I won’t be going too far: I am still the Program Co-chair for this year’s conference along with Elena Kalodner-Martin. Stay tuned for acceptances, coming this week 😎

I’ve been involved in @sigdoc-acm.bsky.social since my first proceedings article in 2020. It’s been a pleasure serving as the Communication & Social Media Manager. But, it is time to pass the torch! I’m excited to welcome Dr. Abi Bakke, who will be keeping everyone up to date with all things SIGDOC!

This sort of pricing is absolutely immoral.

I would criminalise it.

Note - *in the US*

Being owned in the US has made Tiktok a worse and more threatening experience... entirely for users in the US.

they’re also useful against chemical weapons like tear gas, and, to some extent, pepper spray.