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opinion
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You don't know what you've got till it's gone -- my feelings about my broken computer.
Is it graduation yet?
- watches baseball instead of doing homework *
at this point in the semester, my brain is essentially a herd of kittens that keep getting distracted and wandering off to play with yarn for an hour.
I realized my crushing headache is probably because I haven't eaten an actual meal since Sunday. I need to get my life together.
Job interview person just asked me to meet for wine and I'm not 21 is this a trap help.
LinkedIn makes me feel so special with this message: "you're getting noticed." k, so can I have a job?
Hyperboles are my favorite literary device. I use them like 5,000 times a day.
Just did a Harry Potter house sorting quiz on JK Rowling's website. I can't let go.
the highlight of my week was the offbrand box of triscuts I splurged on.
This one goes out to the squirrell who had diahrrea on my roommates head.
Another day, another parking ticket
i think i'll just crawl under a blanket and eat ice cream 2day bc summer is too far away
Pokemon > real life
Who am I?
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Nasseri: Surveillance should be done by citizens, not an overbearing government
▶ BROOK NASSERI
@enasseri32
George Orwell's chilling classic "1984" begins with a reminder that "Big Brother is Watching You." Some believe that security surveillance is bringing us closer to Orwell's dystopian vision.
Many riders on New Jersey trains are unhappy about new signs proclaiming that "video and audio systems in use" on their commutes. This audio and visual recording of passengers, however, is nothing new.
Many buses and trains in the U.S. utilize audio and video surveillance on their commuters in order "to deter criminal activity," said acting executive director of NJ Transit Dennis Martin, in an interview with NPR. NJ Transit installed the additional monitoring system earlier this month. Although most recordings are erased after 30 days, most transit agencies refuse to explain any details about the retention or use of these recordings.
While surveillance intends to protect the general public, newer technologies can hurt more people than they help.
In early 2013, the Los Angeles Police Department installed 16 cameras with facial recognition capability. While in theory, these cameras could provide an objective lens with which to catch criminals on the street, the technologies themselves actually enforce racial bias.
A 2011 study examining facial recognition algorithms made in East Asian versus Western counties demonstrates that the software is more accurate at recognizing East Asian or Caucasian faces, respectively. In spite of the theoretical lack of prejudice from a camera, the accuracy of the algorithms represents the biases of the engineers that develop them, people who design the software to focus on various facial features that vary to different degrees between different groups of people.
While the bias of some surveillance methods is subtle, at other times prejudice can manifest more overly.
The information-gathering procedure of the Los Angeles Police Department was widely criticized in 2012 for spying on local Muslim groups. Its revised policy allowed the LAPD to continue gathering information
on "suspicious activities," but surveillance collected on behavior that is not actually criminal will no longer be retained in counter-terrorism databases.
Still, this disproportionate surveillance of Muslim groups only creates a divide between these groups and law enforcement, mongering fear and distrust. This type of monitoring is quickly becoming outdated, as in 2011 the White House unveiled new U.S. government policy to focus on countering terrorism by forming relationships between local officials and communities.
The widespread utilization of advanced surveillance methods, including facial recognition software and audio recording devices, are opaque and frightening to many ordinary citizens, and the efficacy of these technologies in fighting crime is not transparent to the public. If U.S. policy
truly values community involvement in countering domestic crime and terrorism, then these invasive and unreliable methods that withhold information from the people should not be prioritized.
Instead, more attention should be given to what ordinary citizens often already do to help: use their smartphones.
Rather than creating further divides between government and the people, creating mass fear and panic, law enforcement agencies would be wise to prioritize eyewitnesses and their ready ability to help gather evidence, without holding information in mysterious databases or practicing algorithmic discrimination.
Brook Nasseri is a sophomore from Topeka studying microbiology and English.
Letter to editor: Ahead of concealed carry implementation, University policy needs to focus on making campus safe for all
THE COUNCIL OF DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS
Sixty-four members of the Council of Distinguished Professors at the University of Kansas have sent a letter to Chancellor Gray-Little expressing concerns about the July 1, 2017 implementation of the Family and Personal Protection Act permitting the concealed carry of handguns on campus.
guns should be banned from campuses. We adhere to those positions and urge the state legislature to repeal the concealed carry law or to exempt colleges and universities from this law.
In a previous public statement, we, members of the Council of Distinguished Professors at the University of Kansas, have expressed our views that (A) campuses should be able to make their own policies on guns, and (B)
If the law is not changed, we urge the University of Kansas to reframe the discussion from a focus on guns to a focus on safety. Our understanding is that the purpose of the concealed carry law is to make Kansans feel safe. We embrace that goal. The purpose of the new policy at KU, then, should be making all students, faculty and staff feel safe. We recommend the new policy be a campus safety policy, not a policy on concealed
Although concealed carry may make a minority of KU employees and students feel safer, it will make a majority feel endangered. The majority has the same right to a sense of safety as the minority. We urge the development of a comprehensive policy on campus safety that would not only address compliance with the Personal and Family Protection Act but also address broader concerns affecting campus safety:
carry of guns. A campus safety policy should make safety of the whole community its top priority.
Enhance resources for training students, faculty and staff in gun safety, peaceful conflict resolution, and anger and crises management;
Expand training for how to identify and respond to potentially dangerous or troublesome behaviors. Current procedures are limited to student behaviors and the "Student of Concern" review. This approach, including bystander education and other efforts directed at prevention, education, consultation, and assessment, should be extended to address faculty and staff behaviors as well as those of campus visitors.
We must address gun safety through education and training; we must reduce the risk of suicide and accidental shootings through a focus on mental health, anger management, and peaceful ways to protest; we must restore a climate of trust, respect, tolerance, and openness to diversity, inquiry and free speech. Without addressing these concerns, there is little here to defend either with words or with guns.
Sincerely,
Susan Kemper, Psychology Ed Russell, History
On Behalf of the Council of Distinguished Professors:
Edited by Mackenzie Walker
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