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Classmates in grades 3, 4 and 5 are more likely to come from diverse economic backgrounds than their schoolmates in grades 6, 7 and 8. Paul Bersebach, MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Students are often segregated within the same schools, not just by being sent to different ones

In middle school classes, students from lower-income families tended to be concentrated in just a few classrooms, new research from North Carolina has found.
Cellular phones track and reveal owners’ movements, generating useful data for pandemic tracking. (Shutterstock)

Ottawa’s use of our location data raises big surveillance and privacy concerns

In order to track the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada has been using location data without explicit and informed consent. Transparency is key to building and maintaining trust.
While leaks and whistleblowers continue to be valuable tools in the fight for data privacy, we can’t rely on them solely to keep big tech companies in check. SHUTTERSTOCK

The ugly truth: tech companies are tracking and misusing our data, and there’s little we can do

Most of us are probably having our data tracked in some form. And while there are regulatory safeguards in place to protect user privacy, it’s hard to say whether these are enough.
Cities are growing vertically as well as horizontally, so infrastructure needs to ensure people can move up and down as well as across the city. Alpha/Flickr

Growing cities face challenges of keeping the masses moving up, down and across

Cities are expanding upwards and downwards, as well as outwards. With urban density also increasing, moving people efficiently around the city, often using ageing infrastructure, is quite a challenge.
Advertisers may track a customer’s shopping preferences within a shopping centre by using ultrasonic beacons emitted from their mobile phones. Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC

How silent signals from your phone could be recording and tracking you

Inaudible sounds are being used to transmit data from our devices. While not new technology, these ultrasonic beacons may be in breach of laws regarding surveillance devices.
Route mapping apps such as Strava are popular with cyclists, but you need to protect your privacy. Shutterstock/antb

Protecting your privacy if you use a route mapping app

If you use one of the many apps to map your walking, jogging or cycling route then you could be giving away information that could be abused by others.

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