23 January, 2014

Data and its Discontents – notes and reflections from a panel at Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium | ... My heart’s in Accra

Data and its Discontents – notes and reflections from a panel at Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium | ... My heart’s in Accra:

The smartest phrase I’ve heard about big data and ethics comes from my friend Sunil Abraham
of the Bangalore Center of Internet and Society, who was involved with
those conversations at OSF. He offers this formulation: “The more
powerful you are, the more surveillance you should be subject to. The
less powerful you are, the more surveillance you should be protected
from.” In other words, it’s reasonable to both demand transparency from
elected officials and financial institutions, while working to protect
ordinary consumers or, especially, the vulnerable poor. Kate Crawford
echoed this concern, tweeting a story by Virginia Eubanks
that makes the case that surveillance is currently separate and
unequal, more focused on welfare recipients and the working poor than on
more privileged Americans.