"At TEDxPeachtree, bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe describes an astonishing series of recent bio-engineering experiments, from hybrid pets to mice that grow human ears. He asks: isn't it time to set some ground rules?"

Online behavioral advertising (OBA) refers to the practice of tracking users across web sites in order to infer user interests and preferences. These interests and preferences are then used for selecting ads to present to the user. There is great concern that behavioral advertising in its present form infringes on user privacy. The resulting public debate -- which includes consumer advocacy organizations, professional associations, and government agencies -- is premised on the notion that OBA and privacy are inherently in conflict.

Adnostic is a practical architecture that enables targeting without compromising user privacy. Behavioral profiling and targeting in Adnostic takes place in the user's browser. The ad network remains agnostic to the user's interests.

Image Retouching: A Critical Approach for Media Arts Educators
I developed the following course unit on image tampering, retouching and manipulation for my Introduction to the Electronic Media Studio (EMS1) class at Carnegie Mellon. The semester course is intended for first-year students with little or no computer experience, and serves the purpose of introducing students to basic media-editing tools. The emphasis in the course is not on technical mastery but on understanding digital media technologies as tools for creative cultural practice.

The loosely-organized materials I’ve cited below provide starting points for discussions about image manipulation from several perspectives, including: photojournalistic standards of truthtelling; the construction of idealized beauty in vernacular advertising; and the early history of 19th-century photocollages as an extension of narrative romantic painting.