Presented at
Still Hacking Anyway (SHA2017),
Aug. 6, 2017, 6 p.m.
(60 minutes)
Today’s tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we—as users and citizens—have the ability to provide is minimal. Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to “vote with our feet” (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before. This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.
#Society #Privacy #SurveillanceState
Our networked public sphere—that is, the privately-owned online spaces in which a majority of contemporary discourse takes place—is both mediated by algorithms and centrally controlled. Unaccountable actors—corporations, sometimes working behind-the-scenes with governments—have the power to determine what kinds of speech are acceptable, as well as what content we see or don’t see.
Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few.
Today’s tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we—as users and citizens—have the ability to provide is minimal. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to “vote with our feet” (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before.
As the far right ascends, terror attacks threaten European cities, and governments and corporations alike impose their views of morality, ownership, and acceptability, we are at an impasse: We can walk away, decentralize our networks, or continue to fight the corporate giants that seek to take ownership not only of our data and online expression, but of our physical sphere as well.
This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.
Presenters:
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Jillian C. York
Jillian C. York is a writer and activist focused on the intersection of technology and policy. Based in Berlin, she serves of the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she works on issues of free expression, privacy, and digital security. Jillian frequently writes about these issues; her byline has recently appeared in Quartz, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.
In 2012, Jillian co-founded the project Onlinecensorship.org, which won the Knight News Challenge in 2014. Jillian is a fellow at the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina and a member of the Deep Lab collective.
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