#big advocate for your using privacy settings and all tools available and take note of those red flags early

[isabellehemlock]

Sometimes stepping onto social platforms feels like the equivalent of answering the door without checking to see who is on the other side first. Nine times out ten, it's a mix of people with various motivations, and sometimes they align with yours. But boy the one out of ten sure does make you question ever answering the door again.

[perfectirishgifts]

Algorithmic And AI Assessment Tools — A New Frontier In Disability Discrimination

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/algorithmic-and-ai-assessment-tools-a-new-frontier-in-disability-discrimination/

Algorithmic And AI Assessment Tools — A New Frontier In Disability Discrimination

Algorithms rely on large data sets that are used to model the normative, standardized behavior of … [] majority populations

The use of software algorithms to assist in organizational decision-making and their potential negative impact on minority populations will be an increasingly important area for humankind to resolve as we embrace our AI future.

These critical issues were brought into even sharper focus earlier this month with the publication of a new report by the Center For Democracy & Technology entitled “Algorithm Hiring Tools: Innovative Recruitment or Expedited Disability Discrimination?”

Looking beyond just the employment sphere, a dedicated panel discussion at last week’s Sight Tech Global conference explored other important areas for people with disabilities impacted by algorithmic decision-making, such as the administration of welfare benefits, education and the criminal justice system.

The key messages emerging from both the panel discussion and the report convey a unanimously stark warning.

Disability rights risk being eroded as they become entangled within wider society’s drive to achieve greater efficiency through the automation of processes that once required careful human deliberation.

This is dangerous for disabled people due to an inescapable tension between the way algorithmic tools work and the lived experience of many people with disabilities.

By their very nature, algorithms rely on large data sets that are used to model the normative, standardized behavior of majority populations.

The lived experience of disabled people naturally sits on the margins of “Big data.” It also remains intrinsically difficult to reflect disabled people’s experiences through population-level modeling due to the individualized nature of medical conditions and prevailing socio-economic factors.

Jutta Treviranus is Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre and contributed to a panel discussion at Sight Tech Global entitled “AI, Fairness and Bias: What technologists and advocates need to do to ensure that AI helps instead of harms people with disabilities.”

“Artificial intelligence amplifies, automates and accelerates whatever has happened before, said Treviranus at the virtual conference. 

“It’s using data from the past to optimize what was optimal in the past. The terrible flaw with artificial intelligence is that it does not deal with diversity or the complexity of the unexpected very well,” she continued.

“Disability is a perfect challenge to artificial intelligence because, if you’re living with a disability, your entire life is much more complex, much more entangled and your experiences are always diverse.”

Algorithm-driven hiring tools in recruitment

The use of algorithm-based assessment tools in recruitment is a particularly thorny pain point for the disability community. Estimates suggest the employment rate for people with disabilities in the U.S. stands at around 37%, compared to 79% for the general population.

Algorithm-hiring tools may involve several different exercises and components. These may include candidates recording videos for the assessment of facial and vocal cues, resume checking software to identify red flags such as long gaps between periods of employment and gamified tests to evaluate reaction speed and learning styles.

Algorithm-driven software is also marketed as being able to identify less tangible, but, potentially, desirable characteristics in candidates such as optimism, enthusiasm, personal stability, sociability and assertiveness.

Of course, straight-out platform inaccessibility is the immediate concern that springs to mind when considering interactions with disabled candidates.

It is entirely valid to wonder how a candidate with a vision impairment might access a gamified test involving graphics and images, how a candidate with motor disabilities might move a mouse to answer multiple-choice questions, or how an individual on the autism spectrum might react to an exercise in reading facial expressions from static photos.

Indeed, the Americans with Disabilities Act specifically prohibits the screening out of candidates with disabilities through inaccessible hiring processes or ones that do not measure attributes directly related to the job in question.

Employers may themselves think they are helping disabled candidates by removing traditional human bias and outsourcing the assessment to an apparently “neutral” AI.

This, however, is to set aside the fact that the tools have most likely been designed by able-bodied, white males in the first place.

Furthermore, approval criteria are often modeled off the pre-determined positive traits of an organization’s currently successful employees.

If the workforce lacks diversity, this is simply reflected back into the algorithm-based testing tool.

By developing an over-reliance on these tools without understanding the pitfalls, employers run the very real risk of sleepwalking into the promotion of discriminatory practices at an industrial scale.

Addressing this point specifically, the report’s authors note, “In the end, the individualized analysis to which candidates are legally entitled under the ADA may be fundamentally in tension with the mass-scale approach to hiring embodied in many algorithm-based tools.”

“Employers must think seriously about not only the legal risks they may face from deploying such a tool, but the ethical, moral, and reputational risks that their use of poorly-conceived hiring tools will compound exclusion in the workforce and in broader society.”

During the Sight Tech Global panel discussion, Lydia X. Z. Brown, a Policy Counsel for the Center For Democracy & Technology’s Privacy and Data Project, was asked whether algorithm-driven assessment tools really do represent a truly modern form of disability discrimination.

“Algorithm discrimination highlights existing ableism, exacerbates and sharpens existing ableism and only shows different ways for ableism that already existed to manifest,” responded Brown.

She later continued, “When we talk about ableism in that way, it helps us understand that algorithmic discrimination doesn’t create something new, it builds on the ableism and other forms of oppression that already existed throughout society.”

Yet, it is the scale and pace at which automation can further seed and embed discrimination that must be of greatest concern.

Building a more inclusive AI future

The CDT report does make some recommendations around the creation of more accessible hiring practices.

The key leap for organizations is to first develop an understanding of the inherent limitations of these tools for assessing individuals with varied and complex disabilities.

Once this reality-check takes hold at a leadership level, organizations can begin to proactively initiate policies to offset the issues.

This may start with a deep-dive into what these tests are actually measuring. Are positive but vague qualities such as “optimism” and “high self-esteem,” as elicited by a snapshot test, truly essential for the position advertised?

Through understanding and appropriately discharging their legal responsibilities, employers should seek to educate and inform all candidates on the specific details of what algorithmic tests involve.

It is only by communicating these details that candidates will be able to make an informed choice around accessibility.

For candidates who proceed with the test, organizations should be energetic in their data collection on accessibility issues.

For candidates, who fear an algorithm may unfairly screen them out, a suite of alternative testing models should readily be made available without any implied stigma.

Finally, it should be incumbent on software vendors to keep accessibility at the forefront of the initial design process.

This can be further bolstered by more stringent regulation in this area but the most useful measure vendors might adopt right now is to co-design alongside disabled people and take account of their feedback.

The simple truth is that AI isn’t just the future. It’s here already and its presence is reaching out exponentially into every facet of human existence.

The destination may be set but there is still time to modify the journey and, through best-practice, take the more direct shortcuts to inclusion, rather than the long road of having to learn from mistakes that risk leaving people behind.

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

[indieelite453]

Visually Impaired Dating Sites

Mountain revealing tools dating websites for visually impaired. Simulates the other visually impaired dating site in uk and usa goalball 6 gawaz salonat dating services for visually impaired women websites for visually impaired. Belarusian dating back. Tinder settings iphone - selective search dating sites make it simple to go dating sites free. Westend61 via Getty Images. Online and offline dating aren't the easiest when you're legally blind. If you’re single these days, you know that connecting with someone on a dating app is truly like finding love in a hopeless place. Now imagine how much more complicated it would be if you were blind. After all, dating apps are inherently visual. Dating Tips for the Visually Impaired. Tip 1: When meeting a new person you are interested in dating give them your cell number not your home number. I have found this to be a good safety precaution because home numbers can be traced to your home address. A cell number gives you some level of privacy and can keep you in better control of the.

Visually Impaired Dating Sites Available

Dating Sites For Visually Impaired

Dating Sites For The Blind

Blind Visually Impaired Dating

Visually Impaired Dating Sites Like

Visually Impaired Dating Sites Available

Editors note: Guest blogger Joe Strechay is the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) CareerConnect Program Manager and is a prolific and well-known blogger for AFB.

Joe: I have written on the American Foundation for the Blind’s Blog about online dating and how I met my wife. Prior to all of that, I wrote this piece but never published it. I have been asked many times for tips on dating as a person with vision loss. So, I thought I would bring this piece to you as a special Valentine’s day post from my former single point of you and now from my married point of view. By utilizing some simple personal tips, I was able to keep my mingle, and I found myself no longer single.

The First Date

When talking about social interaction the subject of dating always comes up. What kind of experiences can be expected and for anyone who has dated, there is always the “first date.” We all have had those awkward or regrettable first dates. What about having to deal with your first date and being visually impaired. What tips or hints for planning for a first date can you offer a person who is visually impaired? Professionals, family and people who are visually impaired have been asking this for a few years now.

Tips From Single Joe

As a person who is visually impaired, a professional in our field and a male who has dated ,I think I offer a different point of view of the whole situation and can offer some tips out there for those single persons with visual impairments. This can be used by any and whoever is interested.

Be prepared

Plan out where you want to go

Pick a place you have been to or scout it out beforehand

Pick a location at which you think you are or will feel comfortable. There already is amount of stress with dating; this will reduce adding any additional unneeded stress.

What To Look For When Scouting Out a Location

Layout of place or restaurant

Lighting of the different areas; you can even request a specific area

Learn where the bathroom is located

Check out what the sound is like in the place, where the speakers are, they can be used as clues or landmarks with the place

Note where things are location in relation to others

You may be able to get a copy of the menu online or via an app like Foursquare

Having an idea of what you want from the menu will make conversation a little easier

If you do pick out what you want prior, you can skim through, as not to rush your date

Find out if they have a braille menu

What To Eat or Not To Eat

When going out on a date, there are some things I may avoid eating. I don’t think this has anything to do with being visually impaired, this is to avoid messy things, preventing making a mess. Plus, I may not notice that I dripped something on my clothing, no matter how careful I am. Think about what foods you find to be messy and hard to eat normally. The same goes on a first date. I avoid things like linguini or spaghetti with drippy sauces. Salads are always a good starter for easy foods to eat. Zoosk app crashing. Make sure you cut the salad up so you don’t end up with big pieces of lettuce hanging out of your mouth. Be careful with the tomatoes. Soups can be okay with care, as are most appetizers in general. Meats are good, as long as you slice it into small pieces. Note: it is often considered rude to cut up all of your meat prior to eating, and it can sometimes be easier to cut as you go. Think about things that will allow you to focus on the conversation while eating. Fish is pretty simple to eat.

Dinner Conversation

Overall, the rule is that if you are comfortable eating the food and feel you will not make a mess, go for it. But the main idea of the first date is to get to know each other. It is almost like a lunch interview. Make sure you listen carefully, don’t over talk. By over talking, I mean allow the other person to speak and ask questions, but don’t go over board. Be prepared to answer questions about yourself, but do not monopolize the conversation.

If you have not discussed your visual impairment or blindness much, be prepared and comfortable speaking about it. Realize that most people do not know much about it. Also be aware that your date may have already Googled information about your vision loss or blindness. I know for a fact many of my dates have done this prior to our initial date or second date.

Remember your manners, be polite and be on your best behavior. First impressions are important.

Transportation

You have to be able to get to the location. There are a couple of options including asking for a ride from the person you are going out with, but that may not be a viable option on the first few dates. Other options include getting a taxi or taking the bus. It helps to get there early to get a table and scout out the situation. I have done this and feel that it helps me feel more comfortable. It really all depends on how well I know the person.

Dating Sites For Visually Impaired

From “Off the Market” Joe

Dating Sites For The Blind

Dating is not the easiest or most comfortable situation for most persons; it isn’t a “visually impaired thing!” All people wrestle with this, but just as with any skill, practice, practice, and practice some more. I would never tell you that I was an expert on dating, and I have my share of funny stories. The more comfortable you get with setting up a date, the easier it gets. I know that I had a few standard locations in my bank of date locations. But, you don’t always want to be the one picking the location, and you should be open to new spots. But, that might mean some planning or just being able to advocate in a comfortable manner.

Blind Visually Impaired Dating

Some terminology I use with people, not just for dates. If I want to ask for human guide or sighted guide, I may ask, “Can I get a tow? Do you mind if I grab your arm? This is called human guide.” It is all about your comfort level, and I like to make little jokes here and there. If you are using a braille menu, be prepared to give a little description of braille that is a code and such. If you are using a magnifier, also be prepared to explain. It is funny; many waitresses have said that they would love to have something like that to help them while in dark restaurants. I have utilized braille menus and that always sparks a conversation. It is always interesting to see if they are up to date or even have prices on them.

Visually Impaired Dating Sites Like

Remember, these are just my own personal tips from years of dating as person with vision loss. Let us know some of the tips you would like to share.

Senior dating international group. Senior Dating Group is a Senior Dating Agency providing a dating service for those of us who are young enough to want to meet new people and rediscover the joy of romance and old enough to have the wisdom to grasp the modern technology to achieve it.

[rivaco]

Dissecting Away’s toxic use of messaging software to create a culture of anxiety and fear

A leadership lesson for all businesses

A damning report about the culture at the luggage company, Away, was recently published by The Verge. The article details abusive behavior committed by the executive leadership at Away, focusing on CEO Steph Korey. The article offers many lessons to all managers and people who aspire to learn how not to lead a team and build a business.

One of the elements that struck me was the company’s frankly terrible use of their internal messaging tool, Slack. I work for Flock, which is a messaging tool very similar to Slack. To be honest, Away could have done the same things with Flock as they did with Slack. That’s why I was appalled by the way messaging software was weaponized by senior executives to bully, shame, and suppress the voices of employees.

Messaging tools are simply that, tools. Toxic cultures bend work tools to their strange tendencies, and Away opted to amplify that culture through their chat tool. While there are a plethora of problems with how Away’s executive team chose to run their business, I wanted to focus specifically on how their poor culture translated into abusive messaging practices.

How Away Approached Communication

At Away, employees used Slack as their messaging tool. All company communications were to happen on Slack because the company did not use email. The policy was for all teams to communicate and collaborate in public team channels, where anyone in the company could join in take part in conversations. This was meant to encourage transparency and is a pretty common practice amongst companies with flat hierarchies. We love when messaging software is used to foster collaboration and communication because it leads to improved team performance.

“Once you break barriers to people engaging with one another you create the condition for people to collaborate more, to increase innovation activities, to be more productive because they’re not duplicating work and to give people the sentiment that they’re part of one organization that increases their sense of commitment and loyalty to the organization and then feeds their motivation to do more.” — Tsedal Neeley, Professor, Harvard Business School

Away employees were told they could only directly message each other for non-work conversation, like asking if someone wanted to go grab lunch. Any work related conversations were supposed to happen in public channels, whether they were big team updates or nitty gritty process conversations. Private channels, where the channel itself is hidden and only invited members can take part in conversations, were discouraged.

So how did things go so wrong?

Issue 1: Senior leaders used messaging software to berate and publicly shame employees.

Because private conversations and emails were discouraged as a matter of policy, every team at Away operated in a public channel. Everyone had to have conversations out in the open, whether they liked it or not. Away’s CEO chose to use these public forums to berate, bully, and intimidate team managers and team members.

I don’t need to explain why that is poor leadership. Teams absolutely should learn to disagree and dissent in the open, but there is a clear line that Korey crossed in the messages shared in The Verge article. While most CEOs give critical feedback behind closed doors or to a smaller group, Korey took their communication tool and weaponized it. Everyone in the company got to see what she was thinking.

““Slack bullying is a thing,” explains a former member of the creative team we’ll call Erica*.

… Korey was infamous for tearing into people on Slack. “You could hear her typing and you knew something bad was going to happen,” says a former customer experience associate we’ll call Caroline*. Yet while her feedback was almost always sent online, its effects were felt in the real world, often when employees burst into tears.”

Issue 2: Leadership enforced an always-on mentality that demanded instant responses to messages, regardless of time or date.

The team’s use of messaging software exacerbated the always on habits of the leadership team. Because leadership chose to work all day and night, they had no empathy for their employees and expected them to do the same.

Messaging tools have Do Not Disturb settings and give people the ability to set themselves as “away” to reduce the pressure of always being on. But it’s clear that the Away team was not allowed to use those features. Employees were expected to be available and responsive at all times. This created a culture that exhausted and stressed the Away staff:

“They were reprimanded for not answering messages immediately — even late at night and on weekends.”

In one example, a harangued customer service manager sent a 1,200-word message to her team asking them to work on New Year’s Day — 1,200 words in a single message! How did the employees react to the note?

“I burst into tears,” Caroline says [after getting the message]. “I was trying to finish so I could have my first day off in weeks. I was telling my mom, ‘I just need a break and I can’t get one,’ and she was like ‘just say no.’ I was like, ‘I can’t do that.’”

Lots of articles have been devoted to “hustling 24/7” and “doing whatever it takes” to succeed. We need the flip the narrative and focus on why balance for employees is a good thing, and why working nonstop is not good for human beings with interests and ties outside of work. In fact, having happy, healthy employees increases productivity and profits.

Issue 3: By banning email and private conversations, the Away team took away the ability for employees to voice concerns in the workplace.

Even if Away offered other ways for employees to voice concerns or report sensitive HR violations, it’s clear the culture they created — one of “intimidation and constant surveillance” — discouraged employees from speaking out on public channels.

Many business leaders we speak to worry that private conversations or gossipy channels that may derail productivity. But professors at Harvard Business School and UC Santa Barbara have found that fears that “employees are going to be on there, screwing around and engaging in all kinds of chit-chat that [leaders are] not going to be able to control and [which will] sap their productivity” are unfounded. In fact, the water cooler conversations were where the best ideas and solutions emerged.

When you communicate in silos you are less likely to share ideas, figure out solutions, or inspire one another. When conversations are more open and more public they’re more effective and you build a stronger fabric within your organization.

Regardless if your business chooses to disable DMs or private channels, ensure you build a culture that values and encourages candid feedback and conversation. More importantly, employers need to offer support and privacy to employees if they need to flag inappropriate behavior. It also protects the business from potential liability. Of course, it doesn’t help that it was the CEO who was acting inappropriately in Away’s case.

Issue 4: When Away found out about a private channel where people of color and LGBTQ discussed their feelings of discrimination, they opted to confront people in the channel and then fire them, rather than reflect on the feedback they saw from concerned employees.

As more companies strive to increase diversity and inclusion in their organization, it’s important to establish safe spaces for different identities to feel protected and able to advocate for themselves. What occurred at Away is a classic example of thin-skinned leadership. Leaders who are unwilling to introspect and reflect on their weaknesses, to take feedback, and unwilling to try to be better will eventually be called out.

Take what Away did and do the opposite

The Verge article showed that the culture at Away was rotten, and it infected all facets of the company. The leadership team grew the company at the expense of the health and happiness of their employees. Surely companies can grow in a customer-centric way while protecting their most valuable assets: the employees who make everything happen. Somewhere along the way, the executive team lost sight of what helped catapult their brand’s growth. And they forgot that their words can live on long after they’ve sent them.

After all, the irony is that Steph Korey’s own words were used against her in the Verge article. She may not have realized it, but her words were public and on the record because she used messaging software. She was not the first CEO to deliver harsh criticisms, but in the days before messaging software existed, those tense sessions happened face to face or over the phone behind closed doors. Because she chose Slack as the channel to deliver her words, they were recorded for posterity and for technology reporters. One thing is clear: if you adopt messaging software your organization will become more transparent, for better or worse.

Dissecting Away’s toxic use of messaging software to create a culture of anxiety and fear was originally published in Flock Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

[neptunecreek]

Securing The Institutions We Rely On: A Grassroots Case Study

Grassroots digital rights organizing has many faces, including that of hands-on hardware hacking in an Ivy League institution. Yale Privacy Lab is a member of the Electronic Frontier Alliance, a network of community and student groups advocating for digital rights in local communities. For Yale Privacy Lab, activism means taking the academic principles behind Internet security and privacy out of the classroom and into the real world, one hacking tutorial or digital self-defense workshop at a time. Yale Privacy Lab is an initiative of Yale Law School’s Information Society Project—which concerns itself with digital freedom, policy, and regulation—and serves as the project’s practical implementation arm. We interviewed founding member Sean O’Brien and Cyber Fellow and researcher Laurin Weissinger about their work empowering the next generation of digital rights defenders, and offer advice for those wishing to emulate their example. Yale Privacy Lab has been going strong since 2017. Tell us a bit about your origin story. Sean O’Brien: Privacy Lab grew out of workshops that we were already doing for the law school. I had been doing them in New Haven for a while for some activist groups and then got involved in the law school after some people put me in touch with the Information Society Project. They were very enthusiastic. We did some things like Software Freedom Day with the Free Software Foundation, and we hooked up with a local makerspace here, MakeHaven, which gives us a nice, fun, technical setting to be doing those kinds of events. As Yale Privacy Lab continues to evolve and expand, what are some of your latest endeavors? SO: We do digital self-defense workshops, and we also do some fun things like taking photos of surveillance devices and mapping those around New Haven. Our role internally is to help give advice and be a resource for law students, faculty, scholars, and anyone who is involved in the legal clinics. Our legal clinics at Yale Law School do a lot of high-profile work, so there’s substantial interest in private and secure communications and a real need for them. Our digital self-defense workshops are similar to the kind of information EFF has in the Surveillance Self-Defense guide, but a little different. Our take on it is very much shaped by the individuals who come in. We try not to do the standard cryptoparty thing, which is to make sure you cover a certain five tools. We’ll cover whatever needs to be covered based on who’s actually at the workshop. [Editor’s note: This approach fits the guidance included in EFF’s Security Education Companion guide.] Laurin Weissinger: We’re doing this cyber security class here at Yale Law School for JD candidates and LL.M. candidates. In the class, everyone gets a micro computer, and we run a hacking-friendly Kali Linux. It’s all about students actually understanding how computers work, and how software works—for example, how privileges and rights are being used in a Linux or Unix system. We did things like show them how network traffic can be intercepted easily and how unencrypted traffic can be read by third parties. All of this comes down to empowering students. What’s good about a lot of these technologies—FreedomBox, for example—is that they are free or relatively cheap and also enable privacy-enabled learning. If something breaks, it’s not the end of the world. At the same time, it is state-of-the-art privacy-enabling technology. Another example is the running of Tor nodes, which is very interesting for instruction, because we can show, for example, that all Tor traffic is encrypted. We can sniff it here in the network to demonstrate how it works; and at the same time, we are running relatively cheap hardware the students are familiar with. How much institutional support does the group receive to run these projects? SO: We are currently a volunteer-driven initiative, and have been since the start. That means we don’t get any direct funding from the school or any grants, at least at the moment. We do get support for infrastructure—things like printing and event hosting—and those things are obviously not cheap. All of that is coming from the Information Society Project, inside the law school. We also have had the benefit of the connections through the Electronic Frontier Alliance. That’s allowed us to reach out to other Internet freedom, anti-censorship, privacy groups here on the east coast and elsewhere to get some ideas and collaborate on thinking about these sorts of things. The free and open-source software movement has been huge in that direction as well. The Software Freedom Law Center has sent folks down to do presentations for us; and they have a close connection to the FreedomBox Foundation, which is where we get the real life support for the devices we’re setting up. Beyond that, we have the great help of the librarians at Yale and Yale Law School, specifically. Early on, we did a bunch of presentations for the law librarians and they were very concerned, as librarians tend to be, about the privacy of their patrons. So they set up a Tor browser on every single computer they have there, and they encourage patrons to use it. They came up with a training for that and all the documentation they would need for their use cases. How did you get Yale to agree to the Tor nodes? Do you have advice for other groups on that process? SO: In my perspective, the first thing that needs to be done is getting people to use the Tor browser. That removes some of the stigma behind Tor use in general. From a technical standpoint, the reason we latched onto FreedomBox is because it’s the easiest way we’ve found to graphically set up a Tor relay that is also a bridge which has a Tor hidden service where they set up an onion service for you. It’s basically a five minute installation once you get the hang of it. We’ve done workshops just recently where we’ll have a bunch of people in the room install this on virtual machines. So if you’re going to have a problem at an institution because they don’t want you to set up physical devices on their network, you can get people at a workshop to do this. LW: In the cybersecurity class I did speak about the criminal aspects: why would criminals move to the Tor network, and so on. We underline the fact that this is just a rational move by criminals. If you want to, for example, host a forum where illegal stuff can be bought and sold, you would use the most privacy-enhancing technology available, which is Tor. At the same time, there are also a ton of illegitimate websites on what I’ll call the clear web. We know that any technology that exists will be used for illegitimate, criminal, morally problematic reasons. If criminals are using things like the Tor network, email encryption, secure messaging, etc, it means that these technologies appear to be offering some level of protection. Do you have any resources that could help others who are interested in leading these kinds of projects? SO: The main resource that we’ve been using for our workshops is called Citizen FOSS (free and open-source software). It’s a play on Citizen 4 which was the handle Edward Snowden used when he was in his operational phase. What we try to do is take the actual software—but sometimes it‘s the operational concepts Ed Snowden used—and apply them as often as possible. The guide is very long and we remix it for workshops on an ad-hoc basis based on what the actual participants are interested in. What do you see as Yale Privacy Lab’s role in the wider community? SO: From the start, we’ve been very adamant about engaging with the New Haven community. Obviously if you want to be serious about this kind of anti-surveillance, anti-censorship work you have to engage in the world physically around you. So we always try to make sure the workshops are available to the community and that the resources are all Creative Commons licensed and available to as many people as possible. I think reaching out to locals in the area has been a big part of the success. It gives us a grounding outside of what can sometimes be a stuffy Ivy League setting. It’s great that the law school allows us to use their facilities, but we want to have environments as well that are welcoming and creative and have more of a community feel. Philosophically and politically, we aren’t trying to do things that concern Yale only, and we also understand that Yale itself has a role in things like local surveillance. What advice do you have for groups who want help their institutions migrate to new software? SO: We have a very strong dedication to free and open-source software, and also we have never suggested use of software that has a monetary cost associated with it. As everyone knows, the thing about FOSS is that you’re not tying yourself to a technology that has some big licensing cost. In our case at Yale—as an institution that pays for a lot of software—you’re also not tying yourself to the institutional procurement process behind that. The thing about free software is not just that it gives you all the freedom to remix and modify code, but also it’s better from a privacy and security standpoint because it can be audited. We let people know that we care about this thing called licensing, but we care from a privacy and security standpoint. It’s a basic truism that the availability of the source code—the ability for security experts to read it—means it’s hard to hide malware in there. I would say, if you’re interested in growing quickly, getting your stuff out there, being able to do it without a ton of people over your shoulder, use FOSS tools. Focusing on communication needs is really important. In our case, the law school clinics are always talking to at-risk users, so convincing people at the law school and at these clinics that they need this stuff is not very hard. In some other areas, it might be more basic. It might be, “Do you want to get away from your stalker ex-boyfriend? Do you want to not get all your banking information stolen when you’re working at a cafe?” Those might be bigger selling points. The other thing is just trying to have diplomacy. It’s important to understand that others’ concerns are based in the institutional norms that those workers are used to, rather than trying to just reflexively tell them to go screw themselves. LW: My first tip comes from my cybersecurity perspective which is: do not run just anything. Run what is the industry standard, particularly when it comes to crypto. In most cases, that will also be open-source. Rely on projects that you know are open-source that are being audited, that are being used by the industry; which means that errors and bugs will be found with a greater likelihood than they would be in random stuff. It is not just about privacy, it’s also about your security. Finally, get some support to run your infrastructure in a way that does not break the network of the institution you work with. Make sure you have as little impact on them as possible and you will be far more likely to get good institutional buy-in. The most effective digital rights advocacy is tailored to the skill sets of the organizers and responsive to the needs of the communities they serve. Yale Privacy Lab demonstrates how to build a campus community around digital rights activism, and offers an excellent example to emulate elsewhere. Are you organizing where you live? If so, we invite you to learn more about the Electronic Frontier Alliance and consider adding your group to the national network. To find grassroots groups in your area that you can collaborate with or assist, please peruse our allies page.

from Deeplinks https://ift.tt/2G5DRi5

[deniscollins]

In Newark, Police Cameras, and the Internet, Watch You

Many cities have surveillance cameras to detract crime. Newark, NJ just made the cameras’ live-stream available to the public on the Internet. Civil libertarians claim this violates privacy rights, fears that minorities will be disproportionately accused of crimes, and gives would-be stalkers or burglars a powerful tool for tracking their targets. Should the cameras live-streams be made available to the public on the Internet: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The camera perched above the bus stop sends back a continuous feed from the corner of 16th Avenue and South 18th Street in Newark’s West Ward. Regular customers come and go from Max’s, a convenience store, and a man without a shirt paces aimlessly on the same slice of pavement. Anyone with a fast internet connection and a desire to watch could also see Fernando Demarzino stepping out of his cousin’s barbershop.

“My girlfriend called and told me what I had in my hand,” Mr. Demarzino said on a recent evening as he stood within the camera’s line of sight. His girlfriend had heard about official camera feeds that had recently been made available online, and she was checking out the spot where she knew she was likely to find Mr. Demarzino. He had change in his hand, and she jokingly told him the image was sharp enough for her to count out three quarters. She also spotted his Jeep parked on the street.

Surveillance cameras are an inescapable fixture of the modern city. Law enforcement agencies have deployed vast networks to guard against terrorism and combat street crime. But in Newark, the police have taken an extraordinary step that few, if any, other departments in the country have pursued: They have opened up feeds from dozens of closed-circuit cameras to the public, asking viewers to assist the force by watching over the city and reporting anything suspicious.

The Citizen Virtual Patrol, as the program is called, has been hailed by officials as a move toward transparency in a city where a mistrust of the police runs deep, rooted in long-running claims of aggressive enforcement and racial animosity. The cameras, officials said, provide a way to recruit residents as Newark tries to shake a dogged reputation for violence and crime. “This is part of building a partnership,” said Anthony F. Ambrose, who, as public safety director, oversees the city’s police and fire operations. Since the program started about a month ago, he said, 1,600 users have signed into the website, and residents have been lobbying the department to add more cameras in their neighborhoods.

But the advent of the program has provoked alarm among civil liberties groups and privacy advocates. They argue that it opens a Pandora’s box of potentially devastating consequences for unsuspecting people and gives would-be stalkers or burglars a powerful tool for tracking their targets. They also argue that it pushes the police to rely heavily on the judgment of untrained civilians whose perception could be clouded by unconscious biases.

The newly installed cameras look out over strips of storefronts (some bustling and others seemingly dead), public housing complexes and rows of family homes.

“It’s not just Big Brother,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. “There’s an infinite number of siblings here.”

‘Use It, Not Abuse It’

It is easy to spot the symptoms of Newark’s enduring struggle with poverty and blight — blocks with crumbling buildings, crater-pocked roads and storefronts whose metal grates are pulled down well before sunset. Yet also visible are signs of transformation, with mushrooming development downtown and many businesses moving in. Newark is even a finalist in Amazon’s prolonged municipal pageant to find a base for its second headquarters.

The city’s reputation has been clouded by years of ranking among the nation’s most violent communities. In 2013, Newark had the third-highest murder rate, with about 112 homicides, according to federal data, but last year, murders fell to a historic low, with about 70 homicides recorded.

The relationship between law enforcement and the city’s largely African-American and Latino population has been strained by long-running complaints of harsh policing tactics and racial profiling along with the memories of the deadly riots half a century ago. In 2016, the results of a lengthy federal investigation only confirmed those suspicions, finding that most of the police’s pedestrian stops were unjustified, use of force had been underreported and minorities were stopped more often than whites. The investigation led to the installation of a federal monitor and a consent decree.

Officials said the picture is improving with fewer people registering complaints about police misbehavior. Ras J. Baraka, Newark’s mayor, said that the citizen patrol program was a significant piece of a broader effort to mend ties with residents.

The program started in April with 62 cameras placed in areas where officers are called often or locations with heavy foot traffic. Under each camera is a sign advising “This Area Is Under Video Surveillance.” Over 100 additional cameras are expected in the coming months, and eventually, the police said, the video will be accessible from a smartphone app.

A police spokeswoman said the department had received several calls from residents watching the cameras, though none have led to arrests.

“We want to give residents the opportunity to look with us,” Mr. Baraka said in an interview. “It gives the community an opportunity to be engaged in police work and create a better relationship between the police and the community.”

Some critics say it could actually contribute to the problems and that the way to improve the bonds is to have more officers engage with the community and live in the city. “This is an invasive action,” said Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, a civil rights group in Newark.

Yet, so far, the program has been met with support in many corners of the city, with neighborhood watch groups petitioning for more cameras and some residents believing that it could be as effective at monitoring police officers on patrol as it could be for spotting criminal activity.

“The cops need to be watched, because we all make mistakes,” Quateisha Rivers, who does kitchen prep for a meal service company, said as she sat in a salon. She welcomed the cameras and brushed aside the concerns. “It’s designed for safety,” she said of the program. “We’re supposed to use it, not abuse it.”

Live-Stream ‘Wild Card’

Police agencies around the world have turned to video-monitoring technology to give them fly-on-the-wall views of their cities. In Chicago, the police have established surveillance centers where officers can watch incoming feeds from some 30,000 closed-circuit cameras.

Still, criminologists and surveillance experts say research has shown that cameras have had a limited influence in deterring crime. The devices can be hugely beneficial after a crime, however, helping investigators to understand what happened and to identify suspects. In New York, surveillance video was cited as an important aid in tracking down the man later convicted of setting off a bomb in 2016 in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Civil liberties groups have challenged the use of camera networks monitored by the authorities, citing threats to privacy rights and fears that minorities will be disproportionately accused of crimes. A system monitored by the public heightens their concerns.

“The wild card here is the live stream of all this stuff,” said Faiza Patel, the co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program at New York University School of Law. “It’s definitely a kind of flash point. Every individual and every community wants to be safe. The question is: How do we get safety? When you see measures like this, you have to wonder, whose safety is being protected and whose rights are being violated?”

Experts said bystanders could be unreliable, noting the lack of training and a significant chance they might not recognize the influence of their own biases. They cited as evidence recent highly publicized episodes, including one last month in which the police were called over a black graduate student napping in her dorm’s common room at Yale University, or in April when a white woman complained that two African-American men were grilling in an Oakland, Calif., park.

“Not only is the program not likely to reduce crime,” said Eric L. Piza, a former Newark police crime analyst and associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “it has the potential to lead police to respond to situations they should not be responding to.”

Researchers were aware of few other similar efforts in which a video surveillance network has been made so widely available. In New Jersey, the Camden County Police started a community watch program in 2014 in which residents could apply to have restricted access to the department’s “eye in the sky” cameras in their neighborhoods.

Mr. Sinha, of the civil liberties union, said the only comparable video feeds with such unlimited access were those showing traffic or beach conditions. “This is expansive,” he said of the Newark program, “and its stated purpose is to have people snitch on one another.”

Another Set of Eyes

Officials say the cameras do not have facial recognition technology or the ability to track specific individuals or vehicles. (The cameras were made by Panasonic, a major corporate presence in Newark.) Mr. Baraka also said that the program was still in its early stages, and it might take some time to figure out the pitfalls.

Still, he and other officials dismissed the privacy worries over the cameras, arguing that they are part of a modern climate in which the prying eyes of technology — whether from private security cameras, social media or cellphones — were difficult to evade. If anything, officials said, the police needed to embrace technology to help fight crime.

“It’s definitely an aid to the police and detectives,” Mr. Ambrose said. “It’s just another set of eyes that’s helping us.”

The debate over the cameras has also underscored the mood in some parts of Newark where residents see the increased surveillance as a trade-off they are willing to make to improve conditions.

Mr. Demarzino, 54, knows well the violence that has gripped the city: His brother, he said, was fatally shot in 1995, and he was shot during a carjacking.

“That camera’s going to save a lot of lives,” he said, nodding to the one overhead. “Trust me.”

He called out to Latoya Jackson, standing on the stoop of her salon across the street. The intersection has the corner store, the barbershop, a drugstore, an old sports bar with a door and windows that had been boarded up. Ms. Jackson, a native of Newark, opened the salon in March, its logo the wavy signature she had practiced since she was in third grade.

Like many residents, she was unaware of the public access to the video. She did not know she could see, any time of the day or night, a feed showing the front of her salon.

“That’s good and bad,” Ms. Jackson said. As a business owner, “it’s free security,” she said. “But it’s not good for me as a civilian person.”

[digital-strategy]

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I am going to assume you are aware of GDPR (who isn’t? And Facebook have successfully heightened the awareness in the US). You should also be aware that even though I work in the data industry, I have been a strong privacy advocate for many years now. I approach the subject as an end-user would. Let’s face it, for many years now the data/tracking industry has a bad reputation in general…

In this post I address a key question that is troubling many a website owner using Google Analytics (the “Controller” in GDPR terminology):

Is explicit consent required before I can track my visitors?

  Visitor Consent For GDPR Compliance

Q: Do I have to gain explicit visitor consent before I can track my website visitors?

A: It depends…

From two new official Google documents:

Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features: “If you’ve enabled any Google Analytics Advertising features, you are required to notify your visitors by disclosing the following information in your privacy policy”

EU user consent policy: “You must use commercially reasonable efforts to disclose clearly, and obtain consent to, any data collection, sharing and usage that takes place on any site, app, email publication or other property as a consequence of your use of Google products; and…”

What are the Google Analytics Advertising features? These include Demographics and Interest Reports, Remarketing with GA and DCM Integration. The reasoning is that these features require the use of 3rd-party cookies i.e. the sharing of data with organisations other than the website being visited itself. Hence the privacy implications.

Summary of Google’s Advice If you use these Advertising features in GA, you must request explicit consent. If you do not, then you don’t.

BIG BUT…

There is a very large caveat to this �� hence I don’t follow Google’s advice. The GDPR is specifically agnostic to the data tool and technology being used. That means gaining consent from your visitors must be based on what data your website collects and does with data – not what happens within Google Analytics.

So if a website has any other tracking technology embedded on its pages e.g. social share icons that also send tracking pixels to 3rd parties, consent would be required. That is the situation for the vast majority of websites – lots of embedded widgets and plugins with tracking pixels firing off to all sorts of places (3rd parties), where governance is potentially unknown.

Here is a classic example of the problem – a blog that uses the 3rd-party Disqus plugin for handling its comments and visitor engagement: The image is taken from the Chrome Developer Console, Network tab:

The image shows that when an article is loaded from the blog, data is sent to the 3rd-party Google Analytics account of Disqus. (Disqus could use any logging tool, even their own, it just happens to be Google Analytics in this case). Note the UA number: UA-1410476. If you view the source of discus.com, you will see the same UAID. Here is another example from a different US focused site.

What is The Implication of This?

If I as a visitor go to the blog site in question running Disqus, then visit other unrelated sites that also use Disqus, ALL my visit data from these sites goes into to the Disqus log/account i.e. they have the ability to stitch together sessions from different websites I visit. Hence the privacy implications for the owner of the original blog website. Therefore, if such a website owner wanted to avoid having to implement tracking consent from its visitors, they would need to verify ALL the 3rd-party tracking pixels on their site and ensure that these match the GDPR requirements for non-consent. That is certainly possible, but not easy by a long shot and a nightmare to manage over time…!

Note, this is not a dig at Disqus. I use them only as an example to illustrate the point – that is, the website owner’s responsibility for obtaining consent goes way beyond what Google specifies for its tools and products.

Best Practice Advice For GDPR Compliance

1. Avoid: The long drawn out and expensive process of auditing your entire site for tracking pixels, building a compliance matrix for each tool, making the necessary changes, and having to repeat/manage this over time.

2. Alternative:

Communicate to your organisation that only N tracking pixels are allowed, where N is a small manageable number e.g. 5. That is, all web tracking requirements for the organisation, must be provided by N tools/tracking pixels.

That means replacing tracking pixels with Google Analytics, and/or deleting others. This is not as drastic as it sounds – often times I see a tracking pixel deployed to track some specific user event, when actually the same information can be obtained within Google Analytics reports.

Keep N to as small as number as possible i.e. one that your organisation can manage (and justify) the resources required to ensure GDPR compliance. Remember GDPR is a continuous obligation, not a set and forget project.

Manage ALL tracking pixels (or the widgets/plugins that deploy them) using GTM or other tag manager solution. Tag managers are a huge time saving for managing your deployment(s).

3. The Simplest Route:

Dodge the headache of compliance for all your 3rd-party tracking pixels (pretty much all social platforms and 3rd-party widgets/plugins employ some kind of tracking – the infamous “Like” button is probably the most prolific), by requiring consent by default. That is, for all your visitors, European or otherwise, before any tracking takes place. That way, there are no grey areas and you minimise any risk of getting this wrong – a high risk considering website content is often constantly in flux…

Note, as I state at the beginning of this article, if Google Analytics is the only thing deploying tracking pixels AND you are not using Google Analytics Advertising features, then you do not require visitor consent.

Five Tips When Requesting Consent to Track

Essentially, the approach is that you need to create a compliance alert to your users on their first visit. You probably already have such a message already. However, often I find tracking is already taking place as soon as the visitor loads a page from your site – before they have accepted (or not) your offer to track their activity. That of course is wrong.

Instead, if your visitor accepts to be tracked, then you track their activity into Google Analytics and cookie them. This is so that when they return, you check for the cookie and if present, your compliance alert is not shown again. If your visitors do not accept being tracked and no cookie exists from a previous session, you cannot track them – by any method.

Five tips for compliance consent:

1. Keep your compliance alert in place until your visitor takes action to accept it. If accepted the alert is removed. If the visitor takes no action, then your compliance alert remains in place. That is, there is no available action for the visitor to reject the alert.

2. A site cannot stop or block content if no tracking consent is given. The trick is to make the alert “irritating” and “distracting” enough for the visitor to want to take action, but ultimately you cannot stop the user accessing your content if they do not.

I deliberately emphasize irritating and distracting as you must give a strong reason for the user to take action – accept to be tracked. Otherwise you risk large swathes of visitors simply ignoring your alert and continuing to browse your content regardless i.e. you lose a large amount of visitor data!

3. Do not track unless consent is given – this goes without saying! As long as the visitor does not clear their cookies, their subsequent visits will not trigger the alert.

4. Remember you are only storing if consent is given. Do not store the fact that a visitor did not give consent (i.e. via a cookie) – that would defeat the object.

5. Ensure the correct timing of your data hits. If you track the action of actually confirming consent i.e. the acceptance click, ensure you send this to Google Analytics after the pageview hit has fired. This sequence is important – a pageview hit should always come first, otherwise Google Analytics gets confused (for example, landing pages become “not set”, campaign attribution is lost).

This website take the above approach. If you do not see the compliance alert, simply remove your cookies from this domain and reload the page. The alert is meant to be irritating/distracting enough for visitor to click to accept, without killing the user experience completely! I would be interested to hear if you feel it works and any other comments on this article you have.

BTW, if you are interested in what I am building in this space – an automated GA data auditing tool – visit verified-data.com.

Useful GDPR Resources

Guidance: What Agencies Should Know About The GDPR – EACA

Data protection – Better rules for small business | European Commission

GDPR: 10 examples of best practice UX for obtaining marketing consent | Econsultancy

General Data Protection Regulation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How the new EU cookie law affects law firms | The Law Gazette

Key Changes with the General Data Protection Regulation | The Law Gazette

Network Advertising Initiative – privacy opt out

Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era | Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

The new EU ePrivacy Regulation: what you need to know | i-scoop

Third-Party Cookies Explained

Web-Analytics Firm KISSmetrics Reverses Course on Sneaky Tracking | WIRED

What does shake-up of EU data laws really mean? – BBC News

© Brian Clifton for Google Analytics Book & Insights, 2018. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: cookie, cookie law, cookies, eu, eu privacy law, gdpr, privacy

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via Measuring Success

[bestnewsmag-blog]

New Post has been published on Bestnewsmag

New Post has been published on https://bestnewsmag.com/us-to-seek-social-media-details-from-certain-visa-applicants/

US to Seek Social Media Details From Certain Visa Applicants

The State Department wants to review social media, email addresses and phone numbers from some foreigners seeking US visas Media , as part of the Trump Applicants administration’s enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors Seek 

  The department, in a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register, said it was seeking public comment on the requirement. But it also said it is requesting a temporary go-ahead from the White House budget office so the plan can take effect for 180 days, beginning May 18, regardless of those comments.

ALSO SEETrump Orders Review of H-1B Visa Programme to Encourage Hiring Americans

The proposed requirements would apply to visa applicants identified for extra scrutinies, such as those who have traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. The State Department said it estimates that the rules would affect about 0.5 percent of total US visa applicants or roughly 65,000 people.

Affected applicants would have to provide their social media handles and platforms used during the previous five years, and divulge all phone numbers and email addresses used during that period. US consular officials would not seek social media passwords, and would not try to breach any privacy controls on applicants’ accounts, according to the department’s notice.

Since last year, immigration officials have sought social media information from some foreigners arriving at US border checkpoints, but that information had not previously been required on visa applications. Homeland Security officials have said social media accounts for some asylum seekers and visa applicants would be checked. But those checks would be limited to public postings, raising questions about the effectiveness.

The new State Department rules also would require applicants to provide 15 years of travel and work history and the names and dates of birth of all siblings, children and current and former spouses or partners. Visa applicants are now generally asked for only five years of travel and work history and are not asked for information about their siblings.

The State Department said it wanted the additional information “in order to more rigorously evaluate applicants for terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.”

The proposal follows a March directive from the State Department for all US embassies and consulates to draw up criteria for “population sets” needing extra scrutiny before receiving US visas.

Thursday’s public notice is the first announcement linked to the so-called “extreme vetting” procedures Trump has advocated.

Applicant Tracking Systems for Recruiters: Pros and Cons

  Good applicant tracking systems can help recruiters tremendously. These systems can also be extremely effective for smaller business without a human resources manager. With these systems it is easier to bring the best candidates to the top of the pile.

The main idea of these systems is to provide a location and database for hiring and recruitment efforts all in one place. The tracking systems help manage resumes and all information from applicants. There are several methods to get the information into the software. For example, if the human resources manager or a recruiter is interviewing the information can be entered and notes made as the interview is going on. The applicants that apply online would have the option to enter the information right into the system. The third way data on prospective applicants could be entered is through resume boards.

Once an applicant tracking system has the information the system can sort this information in any number of ways. For example, if this position requires a college degree it can sort out any resume that may have come in that does not list that information. Most applicant tracking systems also offer employee referral rewards.

There are a number of other features that these systems can provide to help with the hiring process. When deciding if applicant-tracking systems will work for your business keep in mind the following pros and cons.

Pros

These systems can automatically post to online job boards

Tracks all applicant information

Allows specific screening questions

Keeps track of the flow in the application process

Will allow one email to go to multiple applicants

Has the ability to automate assessments for hiring

Tasks, notes and any other reports can be right there attached to the application.

As a recruiter for multiple companies, it is important to have vetted and qualified applicants that you can keep track of by their skill, experience, and education. Using an applicant tracking system may take a good deal of work out of the filing cabinets and put it at your fingertips. These systems are most useful when you have a large number of applicants for a multitude of jobs.

Cons:

Applicant tracking systems kill about 75% of resumes that are submitted

The tracking systems can be flawed if the resume is not formatted as expected.

PDF files are often misread and discarded

Tracking software cannot read graphics

The best candidate for a job may not have a resume that the software can pick up correctly

If your job is recruiting for your company or for many companies applicant tracking systems are certainly something to consider. The question is will the software make finding the best candidates for the opening you are trying to fill easier.

The Difference Between Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing

  It utilizes an assortment of digital channels like SEO (search engine optimization), social media and PPC (pay per click) to entice audiences towards a prospective brand. Digital marketing uses the internet as the core medium of promotion which can be accessed using electronic gadgets like computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Internet marketing techniques such as search engine marketing (SEM), e-mails form an integral part of digital marketing. Moreover, it also includes non-internet channels like short messaging service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS), callbacks, etc. All these different channels form an integrated part of digital marketing. Digital marketing is considered a BTL Below-The-Line marketing as it targets a smaller and more concentrated group and works on forming loyal customers and creating conversions.

SMO or (SMM), on the other hand, is a branch or subset of digital marketing that excels at promotion using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and so forth. It makes the use of social media for the purpose of marketing. Social media relies heavily on the interaction of the users, sharing information and forming a community of sorts and hence has a ‘social’ element to it. It utilizes the creation of artistic content which is presented accordingly to lure the audience towards your products or services and create a brand following.

According to Sephora Digital Marketing Consultants, there are over 1.71 billion monthly active Facebook users worldwide. This means that statistically, Facebook is too big to ignore and hence, should be a vital part of your social media marketing strategies. Online video consumption on such platforms has been on a steady rise and is the next big thing in terms of marketing strategies. SMM is also a BTL Below-The-Line marketing as it relates to segregated groups formed over common interests on social media platforms.

Companies looking to address their marketing needs need to choose between a digital marketing agency or a specialist agency. If you are looking for someone to plan out your entire marketing strategy, then a digital marketing agency would be a good choice. However, if you are looking for someone to only handle the social media aspect of your strategy, then you are better off working with a specialist agency.

With the extreme popularity of digital media, people are more willing to incorporate digital marketing into their everyday lifestyle. As per the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report, Internet ad revenues in the United States reached a staggering $27.5 billion in the first half of 2015.This has opened up several job opportunities world over. There is a high demand; however, we experience a death in the skilled workforce as people are still coming to terms with the rapid evolution of digital media.

To meet the increasing demands of talented individuals, there are several online courses in digital marketing available. A quick Google search on this topic will enlist a host of institutes that offer the mentioned lessons. The courses run for a number of days where all the related topics under the umbrella of digital marketing are addressed. Students gain valuable insights into the subject that enables them to carve a niche for themselves.

The digital marketing course includes the basic understanding of marketing and advertising concepts and fundamental knowledge of statistical and analytical tools. They are also given comprehensive information about email marketing, SEO/SEM, pay per click, mobile marketing, online video among others.

Social media marketing courses include an in-depth understanding of the principles of social media, major social media sites, social media strategy and measuring social media. It offers a look into the strengths and weaknesses of the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. and delves deeper into the newest trends surfacing on social media.Social media is an indispensable part of digital media strategy. SM platforms are leveraged for the purpose of the branding of a product or service as it provides a more interactive medium open for a two-way conversation.  is more relevant in terms of creating brand awareness, marketing or reputation management. Although they have different online applications, they serve the larger purpose of brand advancement and customer conversion into leads and sales. Consumers have become more brand conscious with active participation and most spoilt for choice with the plethora of options available online. Their share in the overall marketing strategy has grown manifold rendering traditional strategy techniques obsolete. The rate at which digital media is advancing, it won’t be far-fetched to imagine a future where virtual reality has transpired to every aspect of our existence.