Digital Democracy
Do we have Right to Know about about things that going to run our lives ?
Google fired staff scientist Margaret Mitchell after she questioned an order not to publish a study saying AI that mimics language could hurt marginalized populations. Officially, her violations "included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees".
In December, AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru was fired for exposing bias in facial analysis systems.
the company was starting to censor papers critical of its products. https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/google-fires-second-ai-ethics-leader-as-dispute-over-research-diversity-grows/articleshow/81121707.cms
In India recently we have stopped "publicly funded" academic institutions from holding zoom webinars with foreigners without MEA permission, which means every college, university, school, laboratory which has received any kind of grant, loan from Government..
Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw
Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff . "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," how the biggest tech companies deal with our data. How do we regain control of our data? What is surveillance capitalism?
In this documentary, Zuboff takes the lid off Google and Facebook and reveals a merciless form of capitalism in which no natural resources, but the citizen itself, serves as a raw material. How can citizens regain control of their data?
It is 2000, and the dot.com crisis has caused deep wounds. How will startup Google survive the bursting of the internet bubble? Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin don't know anymore how to turn the tide. By chance, Google discovers that the "residual data" that people leave behind in their searches on the internet is very precious and tradable.
This residual data can be used to predict the behavior of the internet user. Internet advertisements can, therefore, be used in a very targeted and effective way. A completely new business model is born: "surveillance capitalism."
http://www.lnwr.in/lwrd/surveillance/surveillance3.html
Twitter owner Elon Musk, interviewed by the BBC early on April 12, said that he was likely to comply with the blocking orders issued by the Indian government instead of facing a situation where Twitter employees were being sent to jail.
https://thewire.in/tech/elon-musk-bbc-interview-india-it-rules
12/04/2023