COMP7004 Class 01.3

Thinking about the John Oliver video on Credit Scores from the last class I asked student to propose ideas that a government might use to make the problems less severe.

We came up with some suggestions and discussed them briefly.

We watched a video on the Social Credit system in P.R. China.  I asked the class how much of the problem stems fro the technology, and how much of it is about how it is used.  Someone pointed out that there is widespread surveillance in UK cities, but none of us would have any cause to be afraid.  So is it the technology itself, or how it is used? Is technology neutral? These are questions we will return to.


I asked students to speculate on which countries in Europe had citizens most paranoid about data privacy.  One student proposed Sweden and Finland, and speculated that this was connected the their proximity to Russia. I proposed Germany, because if it's past.

Full report: http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/flash/fl_225_en.pdf

It turns out Finns are super happy. It has been argued that fear about data protection is inversely correlated with trust I the government.  Finn trust their government. Germany came second.  The Austrians are most concerned.

COMP7004 Class 01.2

We started a bit late to give students time to arrive. However thanks to the snow and ice this morning only five students made it to class.

We watched a video about credit reports in the US.

We discussed how the situation is better in Europe due to Data Protection laws. Data Protection is one of the topics we will discuss in this module.

I gave out paper copies of the module descriptor and talked a bit about the assessment for this module.

Following on from today's class I asked student to read these articles:
Big Brother, Meet Big Data: China Invents the Digital Totalitarian State, The Economist, 17 Dec 2016
Could a Bank deny Your Loans Based on Your Facebook Friends, The Atlantic, 25 Sep 2015

SOFT7008 Week 01

I wasn't feeling well so I have to cancel the live session.

I asked students to watch Class 01 and Class 02.

Class 01

Class 02

Students should install XAMPP and get it working.

I will e-mail students about times for live support sessions this week for any students that need help.

COMP7004 Class 01.1

Class was cancelled because I had to be somewhere else.