There was a time when I didn’t regard privacy as a significant concern. I questioned what I had to hide and why “good” people needed privacy if they were doing nothing wrong. This view has changed over the years, and I now strive to help students, friends, and family understand privacy issues through my podcast and writing. Recently, I tuned into The Ezra Klein Show, which discussed the unintended consequences of the internet with experts in ethics. The episode, featuring Cory Doctorow and Tim Wu, explored how the internet’s early promise was derailed and what policies could improve our digital experiences.<\/p>\n
Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and activist, and Tim Wu, a law professor who worked on technology policy, presented different theories on the issues plaguing the modern internet. They discussed manipulation, political derangement, the struggles of small businesses, spam, surveillance, algorithmic pricing, and the dehumanization of work. They proposed policies to address these challenges. One claim from the episode caught my attention, prompting me to enhance my information literacy and share insights with those I teach.<\/p>\n
The claim revolved around contract nurses facing discrimination due to their desperation to accept lower pay. Indicators like credit scores may enable employers to exploit them, leading to a pay race to the bottom. While listening, I was multitasking and couldn’t take notes but later identified the researcher, Deborah Rhode, whose work was mentioned. Tim Wu shared examples of how nurses’ financial data is analyzed to determine how low a wage they might accept.<\/p>\n
To fact-check this claim, I decided to use two methods: the SIFT framework by Mike Caulfield and his experimental work on AI-assisted fact-checking. The SIFT method involves stopping to verify information, investigating sources, finding trusted coverage, and tracing back to the original source. These steps help assess the accuracy of claims like those made about nurse wage discrimination.<\/p>\n
For those interested, a video on my approach to fact-checking using SIFT is available on the Teaching in Higher Ed YouTube channel. Additionally, Mike Caulfield’s experimentation with AI in fact-checking shows that while standard AI responses are limited, custom tools and interactive methods can enhance our pursuit of accurate information. These approaches were explored in two videos, with the first using SIFT and the second examining AI’s role in fact-checking.<\/p>\n