Julia Kalanik's Profile

This is really interesting Vikram! It seems like these solutions are geared more towards companies, but does Darktrace have an offering for individuals? My boyfriend and I have been increasingly worried about our online security (more so than online privacy) and have been trying to take steps to be more secure. However, I just had another friend who had his identity stolen the other day and how he is an extensive process to try to fix it. Given how much our lives reside online, we are definitely willing to pay to increase our personal online security.

Thanks for this blog post! So interesting. I am generally not very in tune with what the new music is and my friends always seem to know. I guess I have just not mastered the algorithm because it seems to me that my friends get pushed popular/ new music way more than I do. I just get a constant stream of the Dixie Chicks. I think I might have unrealistic expectations of how much is pushed to me because I don’t really want to put the work in to tell the algorithm what I like.

This is so interesting – thanks for writing! I have seen this type of thing before but have always been disappointed with the quality/ realistic-ness of it so I want to try this out. My boyfriend and I are hoping to buy a new place when we move this summer so this could be a really handy tool. However, I don’t think I’m interested in buying IKEA furniture, so I would probably use it just to space out rooms but then buy my furniture somewhere higher quality! Do you think that is a real risk IKEA faces or am I an outlier?

Thanks for this post Julia! Really interesting. I have found the use of ancestry cites like this in policing to be fascinating. I think that privacy standards have changed a lot since these sites like 23andMe and Ancestry.com first started, but it definitely makes you think you should read the fine print in what rights you are singing away by selecting the “I agree to these terms” box. Given that these sites are a triangulation of data from multiple sources, I wonder if there will be concerns of people’s privacy for those who never even used the site or consented to their data at all – like the Golden State Killer (who I obviously have no sympathy for to be clear!!).

This article on how ancestry data was used to catch the Golden State Killer was super fascinating: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-dna-genealogy/559070/

Really interesting article Omar! I have heard of Whoop before and always wondered how it worked without a screen on the device – do you see that as a limitation?

I notice you said that they don’t sell user data, which is great. But I definitely get concerned about user privacy/ security regardless when one app holds so much personal information about its users. Recently, there was a settlement with the company Flo, an app that tracks women’s periods, for selling user data. This was a pretty interesting read: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/us/period-apps-health-technology-women-privacy.html

Really interesting article Daniel! I imagine we are just scratching the surface in how data will continue to be used in politics. I think it is kind of interesting that political campaigns seem to be further ahead than the government in terms of digitization and data analytics – makes you wonder what these politicians are doing once they are in office!

Reading your post, I can’t help but think about how polling data and predictions was so tragically wrong in the 2016 election. How do you think these principles can be applied to polling, not just to campaign analytics? They seem very interrelated to me.

I had never heard of Zeel before, so a very interesting read! It sounds like Zeel is doing a lot to protect customers with the background checks/ interviews of the massage therapists. I wonder what Zeel does to protect therapists? Going into someone’s home that you do not know could be a very risky endeavor. Personally, I think I’d feel a little uncomfortable about this. I also wonder where in someone’s home these massages occur?

Interesting post! As a user of Poshmark, I’ve generally been frustrated with the platform which leads me to question the value that it provides to sellers. I think there is a huge market for this, but still not sure Poshmark has hit the mark. I’ve only been able to sell items that are so severely discounted that I question if it was worth my time to even post them (or maybe my clothes are just bad!). With classic supply and demand, as more sellers join the platform bringing more supply, prices are driven down and the opportunity to make any real money declines. Does that mean Poshmark will reach some equilibrium number of sellers which ultimately puts a cap on their growth prospects?

Really interesting Pranav! When I first heard of Clubhouse, I thought it was the same thing as that app Houseparty…but quickly realized the difference. My two major concerns with Clubhouse are 1) privacy, which you touch on and 2) moderation. While you highlight their claims to privacy, I am still very skeptical that this data won’t end up being used later down the line. I also think given the celeb user base, that fans won’t find other ways to record conversations outside of the app. Additionally, I read in the NYT yesterday that there have already been incidences of Clubhouse conversations being centered around white supremacy and conspiracies, which we know has been a huge issue for Facebook particularly for years. I wonder how they will be able to maintain the allure of the platform without giving way to being another Parler (or worse given the lack of recording).

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/technology/clubhouse-audio-app-experience.html

So interesting! I wonder how you think Drizly will hold up to more full service competitors like Instacart (that is what I wrote my blog post on 🙂 ). Without having exact pricing numbers to compare, I’ve found Drizly to be more expensive than alcohol orders on Instacart. I also wonder if the fact that you can get more than just alcohol in one order is more attractive for people with Instacart (though that depends on local liquor laws and most grocery stores do not have the expansive selection of a liquor store). I think this concept is totally here to stay and will be interesting to see who the winners are!

From my understanding, Udemy is more geared towards adult learners. I wonder how this platform could be adopted for K-12 learning which I think is where the real crisis is during COVID. Parents are struggling to manage jobs while also having to oversee remote learning that for many children requires almost 1:1 supervision (or risk kids falling behind in school). Do you think there is a future there?

From my understanding, regulations have been eased (or new guidance has been made) specifically for COVID. I totally agree that tele-health is here to stay – and I personally love it – but I wonder how the steady state might evolve to something that is more of an in between to where we are today vs where we were pre-COVID. For example, things like taking new patients via telehealth – I doubt that continues to be allowed when in person visits are safe again.