茄子直播

Mozilla teaches 茄子直播 students about the potential and pitfalls of the digital world

Photo of students
茄子直播 students discussed how the internet can harm and help people around the world at a session at Mozilla headquarters in Toronto (photo by Romi Levine)

Between obsessively checking social media accounts and binge-watching Netflix, it鈥檚 easy to take the internet for granted.

But as the world becomes more connected, concerns about the safety, privacy and autonomy of internet users are becoming issues that are hard to ignore.

To help his students better understand the role they play in shaping the future of the internet, Paolo Granata, an assistant professor of book and media studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, took his Social Technology and Networks class to Toronto鈥檚 Mozilla headquarters.

Mozilla is an organization that creates free, open source software, including the Firefox internet browser, and advocates for responsible internet use and governance.

鈥淭he internet is not just a service, it鈥檚 not just a utility or a tool to communicate 鈥 it鈥檚 our world,鈥 says Granata. 鈥淲e can have a proactive approach to make the internet a healthy place.鈥

This year, Mozilla published the , an extensive look at how the internet is accessed around the world, zeroing in on issues like safety, who controls the internet, and who is being excluded from accessing it.

Students were given a chance to analyze some of the data Mozilla looked at when creating the report, and were encouraged to draw their own conclusions about its positive or negative effect on internet users.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to be able to use technology like it's a body part, but it鈥檚 quite another thing to understand its implications in society, politics, and the environment,鈥 said third-year student Margot Alais. 鈥淭here's a lot of things I hadn鈥檛 considered before taking courses like this.鈥


Mark Surman with Paolo Granata at Mozillas Toronto office (photo by Romi Levine)

Mark Surman, the executive director of the Mozilla Foundation and a 茄子直播 alumnus, reminded students that more and more devices are now connected to the internet 鈥 and even the cutest and cuddliest of products can be the subject of serious privacy threats.

He was referring to internet-connected stuffed animals called CloudPets, which allow parents to send voice messages to their kids through the toy using cloud computing. The plush toys were at the centre of a data breach earlier this year, where email addresses, passwords and millions of voice recordings were leaked.

鈥淚 think CloudPets may represent a threat almost as big to democracy and to society as Donald Trump,鈥 said Surman. 鈥淚t's scary, not in the specifics of the CloudPets but in the fact that we are basically moving into a completely pervasive computing environment.鈥

Despite the horror stories, student Mitchell Jaramillo says he鈥檚 still optimistic about technology鈥檚 ability for good.

鈥淏ut I think with how prominent social media and social technology is and all the potential it offers, we鈥檝e barely scraped the surface of what it can do,鈥 he said.

Now armed with a more critical understanding of how the digital world works, Mike Hoye, engineering community manager at Mozilla, encouraged students to think about how they can play a more active role in keeping app-makers, telecom companies and tech giants accountable.

 鈥淪o when the time comes and when you inherit the belief, the power 鈥 when you inherit the world 鈥 you'll have a clear sense of what's important to you, of what right and wrong is.鈥 

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