tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/data-collection-1034/articlesData collection – The Conversation2024-01-12T13:29:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182322024-01-12T13:29:58Z2024-01-12T13:29:58ZData brokers know everything about you – what FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava reveals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568946/original/file-20240111-27-b72a5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4242%2C1997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The data collectors see all.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/privacy-and-information-technology-royalty-free-illustration/1398294814">DrAfter123/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.kochava.com/">Kochava</a>, the self-proclaimed industry leader in mobile app data analytics, is locked in a legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission in a case that could lead to big changes in the global data marketplace and in Congress’ approach to artificial intelligence and data privacy.</p>
<p>The stakes are high because Kochava’s secretive data acquisition and AI-aided analytics practices are <a href="https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/09/30/theres-a-multibillion-dollar-market-for-your-phones-location-data">commonplace in the global location data market</a>. In addition to numerous lesser-known data brokers, the mobile data market includes larger players like <a href="https://foursquare.com/">Foursquare</a> and data market exchanges like Amazon’s <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/data-exchange/">AWS Data Exchange</a>. The FTC’s <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/26AmendedComplaint%28unsealed%29.pdf">recently unsealed amended complaint</a> against Kochava makes clear that there’s truth to what <a href="https://www.kochava.com/">Kochava advertises</a>: it can provide data for “Any Channel, Any Device, Any Audience,” and buyers can “Measure Everything with Kochava.”</p>
<p>Separately, the FTC is touting a settlement it just reached with data broker <a href="https://outlogic.io/">Outlogic</a>, in what it calls the “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/01/ftc-order-prohibits-data-broker-x-mode-social-outlogic-selling-sensitive-location-data">first-ever ban on the use and sale of sensitive location data</a>.” Outlogic has to destroy the location data it has and is barred from collecting or using such information to determine who comes and goes from sensitive locations, like health care centers, homeless and domestic abuse shelters, and religious places. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/ftc-v-kochava-inc">According to the FTC</a> and proposed class-action lawsuits against Kochava on behalf of <a href="https://casetext.com/case/murphy-v-kochava-inc">adults</a> and <a href="https://www.classaction.org/blog/invasive-and-surreptitious-class-action-claims-kochava-secretly-collects-childrens-data-through-disney-mobile-apps">children</a>, the company secretly collects, without notice or consent, and otherwise obtains vast amounts of consumer location and personal data. It then analyzes that data using AI, which allows it to predict and influence consumer behavior in an impressively varied and alarmingly invasive number of ways, and serves it up for sale. </p>
<p>Kochava has <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/29/ftc-sues-data-broker-kochava-for-sale-of-peoples-sensitive-location-data-including-visits-to-reproductive-health-clinics/">denied the FTC’s allegations</a>. </p>
<p>The FTC says Kochava sells a “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/26AmendedComplaint%28unsealed%29.pdf">360-degree perspective</a>” on individuals and advertises it can “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/26AmendedComplaint%28unsealed%29.pdf">connect precise geolocation data</a> with email, demographics, devices, households, and channels.” In other words, Kochava takes location data, aggregates it with other data and links it to consumer identities. The data it sells reveals precise information about a person, such as <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/ftc-sues-kochava-selling-data-tracks-people-reproductive-health-clinics-places-worship-other">visits to</a> hospitals, “reproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities.” Moreover, by selling such detailed data about people, the FTC says “Kochava is <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/ftc-v-kochava-inc">enabling others to identify individuals</a> and exposing them to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss, and even physical violence.”</p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://www.annetoomeymckenna.com/">lawyer and law professor</a> practicing, teaching and researching about AI, data privacy and evidence. These complaints underscore for me that U.S. law has not kept pace with <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-agencies-buy-vast-quantities-of-personal-information-on-the-open-market-a-legal-scholar-explains-why-and-what-it-means-for-privacy-in-the-age-of-ai-207707">regulation of commercially available data</a> or governance of AI. </p>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/privacy-paradox-with-ai-2023-10-31/">data privacy regulations in the U.S. were conceived in the pre-generative AI era</a>, and there is no overarching federal law that addresses AI-driven data processing. There are <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118hr5628ih/pdf/BILLS-118hr5628ih.pdf">Congressional efforts</a> to regulate the use of AI in decision making, like hiring and sentencing. There are also efforts to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/6881/text">provide public transparency around AI’s use</a>. But Congress has yet to pass legislation. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Federal Trade Commission’s suit against Kochava is set against a backdrop of minimal regulation of data brokers.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What litigation documents reveal</h2>
<p>According to the FTC, Kochava secretly collects and then sells its “Kochava Collective” data, which includes precise geolocation data, comprehensive profiles of individual consumers, consumers’ mobile app use details and Kochava’s “audience segments.” </p>
<p>The FTC says Kochava’s audience segments can be based on “behaviors” and sensitive information such as gender identity, political and religious affiliation, race, visits to hospitals and abortion clinics, and people’s medical information, like menstruation and ovulation, and even cancer treatments. By selecting certain audience segments, Kochava customers can <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/26AmendedComplaint%28unsealed%29.pdf">identify and target extremely specific groups</a>. For example, this could include people who gender identify as “other,” or all the pregnant females who are African American and Muslim. The FTC says selected audience segments can be narrowed to a specific geographical area or, conceivably, even down to a specific building. </p>
<p>By identify, the FTC explains that Kochava customers are able to obtain the name, home address, email address, economic status and stability, and much more data about people within selected groups. This data is purchased by organizations like advertisers, insurers and political campaigns that seek to narrowly classify and target people. The FTC also says it can be purchased by people who want to harm others.</p>
<h2>How Kochava acquires such sensitive data</h2>
<p>The FTC says Kochava acquires consumer data in two ways: through Kochava’s software development kits that it provides to app developers, and directly from other data brokers. The FTC says those Kochava-supplied software development kits are installed in over 10,000 apps globally. Kochava’s kits, embedded with Kochava’s coding, collect hordes of data and send it back to Kochava without the consumer being told or consenting to the data collection. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.classaction.org/media/greenley-v-kochava-inc.pdf">Another lawsuit against Kochava in California</a> alleges similar charges of surreptitious data collection and analysis, and that Kochava sells customized data feeds based on extremely sensitive and private information precisely tailored to its clients’ needs.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The data broker marketplace has been tracking you for years, thanks to mobile phones and web browser cookies.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>AI pierces your privacy</h2>
<p>The FTC’s complaint also illustrates how <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/10/17/generative-ai-a-new-era-for-data-analysis-and-interpretation/">advancing AI tools are enabling a new phase</a> in data analysis. Generative AI’s ability to <a href="https://www.geospatialworld.net/prime/business-and-industry-trends/location-insights-generative-ai-llms-simplify-geospatial-intelligence/">process vast amounts of data is reshaping</a> what can be done with and learned from mobile data in <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47569">ways that invade privacy</a>. This includes <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/privacy-paradox-with-ai-2023-10-31/">inferring and disclosing sensitive or otherwise legally protected information</a>, like <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-personal-information-is-probably-being-used-to-train-generative-ai-models/">medical records and images</a>. </p>
<p>AI provides the ability both to know and predict just about anything about individuals and groups, even very sensitive behavior. It also makes it possible to manipulate <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2023/03/01/generative-ai-chatgpt-as-masterful-manipulator-of-humans-worrying-ai-ethics-and-ai-law/">individual</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/motivate/202307/the-hidden-mental-manipulation-of-generative-ai">group behavior</a>, inducing decisions in favor of the specific users of the AI tool. </p>
<p>This type of “AI coordinated manipulation” can <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/motivate/202307/the-hidden-mental-manipulation-of-generative-ai">supplant your decision-making ability</a> without your knowledge.</p>
<h2>Privacy in the balance</h2>
<p>The FTC enforces <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/federal-trade-commission-act">laws against unfair and deceptive business practices</a>, and it informed Kochava in 2022 that the company was in violation. Both sides have had some <a href="https://iapp.org/news/a/a-view-from-dc-ftc-v-kochava-never-say-never-again/">wins and losses</a> in the ongoing case. Senior U.S. District Judge <a href="https://www.id.uscourts.gov/district/judges/winmill/General_Information.cfm">B. Lynn Winmill</a>, who is overseeing the case, dismissed the FTC’s first complaint and required more facts from the FTC. The commission filed an amended complaint that <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-ftc-s-amended-kochava-complaint-and-the-harms-of-selling-geolocation-data">provided much more specific allegations</a>. </p>
<p>Winmill has not yet ruled on another Kochava motion to dismiss the FTC’s case, but as of a Jan. 3, 2024 filing in the case, the parties are proceeding with discovery. A 2025 trial date is expected, but the date has not yet been set. </p>
<p>For now, companies, privacy advocates and policymakers are likely keeping an eye on this case. Its outcome, combined with proposed legislation and the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/reports/generative-artificial-intelligence-creative-economy-staff-report-perspectives-takeaways">FTC’s focus on generative AI, data and privacy</a>, could spell big changes for how companies acquire data, the ways that AI tools can be used to analyze data, and what data can lawfully be used in machine- and human-based data analytics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Toomey McKenna is affiliated with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and she serves as Chair of IEEE-USA's Artificial Intelligence Policy Committee (AIPC); this AIPC chair position involves subject matter and education-related interaction with U.S. Senate and House congressional staffers and the Congressional AI Caucus. IEEE-USA supports the proposed Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2023. McKenna has received funding from the National Security Agency for the development of legal educational materials about Cyberlaw and funding from The National Police Foundation together with the U.S. Department of Justice-COPS division for legal analysis regarding the use of drones in domestic policing. </span></em></p>It’s no surprise that corporations harvest vast amounts of data about people, but documents in an FTC lawsuit detail the stunning amount that data brokers know about you and everyone else.Anne Toomey McKenna, Visiting Professor of Law, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2205502024-01-08T12:09:25Z2024-01-08T12:09:25ZWhy the UK census should not be replaced with alternative sources of data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567903/original/file-20240104-29-h79e1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/timelapse-photography-of-big-ben-the-clock-lPoEqodfh-o">Hert Niks|Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every ten years since 1801 – save for a wartime interruption in 1941 – the UK government has conducted a national census of England and Wales. This is a big event. The data collated in the last survey, <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2021-will-reveal-how-a-year-of-lockdowns-and-furlough-has-transformed-the-uk-157337">in 2021</a>, is still being published, with final reports only scheduled for 2025. Yet, doubts have emerged about whether the next one – in 2031 – will actually take place. </p>
<p>The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently preparing recommendations on the back of a public consultation about the future of population and migration statistics in England and Wales, conducted over four months in 2023. Scholars have <a href="https://nms.kcl.ac.uk/john.armstrong/openletters/letter.php?campaign=future_of_population_statistics">expressed concern</a> that the government intends to scrap the census altogether, in favour of using other, administrative sources of population data.</p>
<p>The issue is not whether administrative data can supplement census data – it undoubtedly can. However, the 85 scholars, signatories to an <a href="https://nms.kcl.ac.uk/john.armstrong/openletters/letter.php?campaign=future_of_population_statistics">open letter published</a> in October 2023, say that the government has not convincingly made the argument for administrative data being able to replace all the functions of the census. </p>
<p>They argue that using only alternative sources of information without the census to compare them against could ultimately lead to inaccuracies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three men, a woman and a dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568024/original/file-20240105-25-ilmaxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The census has long helped academics unpick the nation’s demographics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-people-standing-next-to-a-brick-wall-B74kk9bHKUE">Zach Rowlandson|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An unparalleled resource</h2>
<p>The ten-yearly census aims to collect information about everyone who is resident on census night, the last of which was <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2021-why-its-important-to-take-part-and-what-happens-to-your-information-156684">March 21, 2021</a>, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and a year later (March 20, 2022) in Scotland, where it had been delayed due to COVID-19. It is this ambition to collect data about the complete population that makes the census so unique, unparalleled by much smaller social surveys. </p>
<p>The data collected in this way is crucial to understanding the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-divorcees-to-fuller-classrooms-the-1921-census-of-england-and-wales-depicts-an-era-of-great-change-174993">changing social and demographic geographies</a> of the UK. It is used by organisations, businesses, local authorities and academics to inform business and service planning, to map who is living where and to allocate funds in response to changing demands and needs.</p>
<p>But collecting it, then processing, storing and publishing it, is expensive. The ONS puts the cost of the 2021 census at around <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/2021censuscostsdatasharingfinesdatasecurityandquestions">£900 million</a>. That may only work out at £1.50 per person, but it is still a large sum of money – one that has not escaped the notice of the governments that fund it. </p>
<p>As well as the finances, there are also questions around the survey’s efficacy, when multiple organisations already gather citizen data as a matter of routine. As National Statistician for England and Wales Ian Diamond <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/03/out-for-the-count-has-britain-already-conducted-its-last-census">has put it</a>, “We have reached a point where a serious question can be asked about the role the census plays in our statistical system.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Workers add red hearts on the Covid memorial wall in London." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568026/original/file-20240105-15-ds4sn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COVID saw the 2021 census delayed in Scotland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/man-in-black-and-white-jacket-standing-beside-woman-in-black-and-white-jacket-MWmFIFGARFQ">Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alternative sources</h2>
<p>The first question that arises is whether a form of data collection that originated in the 19th century might be radically modernised in the 21st. There have, of course, been changes to the census over the decades. Most of the data is now collected and disseminated electronically rather than on paper. There are also ever more ways to freely explore and visualise the data. </p>
<p>Further, the questions the census ask are updated over time. In 1991, an ethnicity question was included and, in 2001, a religious affiliation question was added. In 2021, changes were made to the gender identity variable. </p>
<p>The more important issue, however, is whether, in an era when other data about people and places is routinely collected by public (and private) organisations, we need the census at all. </p>
<p>The ONS’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-of-population-and-migration-statistics-in-england-and-wales">consultation document</a>, entitled “The future of population and migration statistics in England and Wales”, suggests that various sources of administrative data can be linked and collated to create what is, in effect, a pseudo-census. This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/scrapping-the-census-in-2014-would-be-a-disaster-21631">not a new idea</a>. </p>
<p>Usefully, there is no reason to restrict these linkages to a ten-yearly cycle of updates. We could have more timely data reflecting changes to society as they happen, instead of waiting a decade or more for the next census to collect the data and make it available for analysis. That would be extremely useful for studying, understanding and mapping social and demographic change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd on a lawn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568030/original/file-20240105-18-b3k3a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Organisations now routinely gather citizen data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-crowd-of-people-standing-in-front-of-a-castle-pzIMfSkzcRI">Benjamin Elliott|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Potential for inaccuracy</h2>
<p>A lot of effort has been made by the ONS to explore what it terms “census alternatives” and to understand their potential advantages and disadvantages. </p>
<p>However, assuming that the census is the gold standard of population statistics – not perfect, but with data that provides information on all neighbourhoods in the UK and their populations – then, without that standard, it becomes harder to calibrate other sources of data and ensure that what they measure is an accurate reflection of social patterns and trends. </p>
<p>Imagine, for example, that we used the <a href="https://www.find-npd-data.education.gov.uk/">national pupil database</a> to estimate the ethnic composition of neighbourhoods. As it records which schools pupils attend and which ethnic group they belong to, this very rich source of data has been used to show that ethnic segregation – the possibility that different ethnic groups choose different schools from one another – <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/ethnic-segregation-between-schools">is falling is England</a>.</p>
<p>It also records where these pupils live, so has been used to calculate the percentages of pupils by ethnic group in any given neighbourhood. The obvious problem is this calculation applies only to those who are of school age. The less obvious problem is that the national pupil database does not include information on fee-charging schools. In other words, the data is contains is incomplete. </p>
<p>There are ways, of course, to weight (aka modify) data, and link it to other data, to improve the accuracy. And the ONS is unlikely to release anything it knows to be misleading. Generally, however, the more we zoom into such smaller data-sets, to explore neighbourhood-level patterns and differences, the more the possibility for inaccuracy increases. </p>
<p>The great strength of the census is that it provides geographically granular data that is hard to replicate through other sources (and, of course, doing so also encounters issues of personal data protection). </p>
<p>Conversely, the census’s weakness is that it is not temporally granular. It provides a lot of geographically detailed data about people and places, but that information is updated infrequently.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Photomosaics of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in an airport corridor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568025/original/file-20240105-15-3385e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Census data is able to depict the nation at a granular level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-large-portrait-of-a-woman-on-a-wall-83PoVVkXa_s">Tomas Martinez|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We could, of course, have both: a traditional census and a range of administrative and survey data to draw upon too. As a geographer, interested in detailed understandings of where people live, that is my preference. </p>
<p>This would not reduce the cost of the census, however. But there are social and economic costs in using data that lacks the geographical coverage that the census provides. Administrative data is good for measuring parts of the population, but it remains unclear whether those various parts come together well enough to sufficiently measure the whole. </p>
<p>Even if they do, data that is reliable for use at a national, regional or sub-regional scale does not automatically offer accurate portrayals of specific local and community conditions. I agree with the signatories of the open letter that the government has not convincingly argued for scrapping the census.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Harris had received funding from various organisations, including ESRC-UKRI, to develop research that uses census data.</span></em></p>Citizen data that is reliable for use at a national, regional or sub-regional scale does not automatically offer accurate portrayals of specific local and community conditions.Richard Harris, Professor of Quantitative Social Geography, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2141442023-09-25T20:07:19Z2023-09-25T20:07:19ZA national digital ID scheme is being proposed. An expert weighs the pros and (many more) cons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549952/original/file-20230925-23-z55xpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C4040%2C2152&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2018-19, identity crime directly and indirectly cost Australia <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-08/sr29_identity_crime_and_misuse_in_australia_2019.pdf">an estimated</a> A$3.1 billion.</p>
<p>To address such costs, the federal government is proposing a national digital identity scheme that will let people <a href="https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/digital-identity-for-you/digital-id-for-everyday-life-0">prove their identity</a> without having to share documents such as their passport, drivers licence or Medicare card.</p>
<p>Finance Minister Katy Gallagher <a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/gallagher/2023/digital-id-and-ai-insights-how-albanese-government-leading-digital-evolution">opened consultations</a> for the <a href="https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-09/Exposure%20draft%20of%20the%20Digital%20ID%20Bill%202023.pdf">draft bill</a> last week, with plans to introduce the legislation to parliament by the end of the year. </p>
<p>Let’s look at what it proposes, and what it could mean for you.</p>
<h2>What would change?</h2>
<p>The digital ID scheme would initially be regulated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Information Commissioner, with a view to eventually establish a new governing body. </p>
<p>The draft bill package includes strong updates to security requirements for how organisations store people’s IDs, as well as the reporting of data breaches and suspected identity fraud. </p>
<p>In her <a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/gallagher/2023/digital-id-and-ai-insights-how-albanese-government-leading-digital-evolution">speech to</a> the Australian Information Industry Association, Gallagher outlined a four-phase rollout.</p>
<ul>
<li>Phase one: establishing the legislation and accreditation of private and public providers.</li>
<li>Phase two: adding state- and territory-issued IDs to the scheme for use with federal government services. </li>
<li>Phase three: bringing recognition of the digital ID into the private sector. This would, for instance, allow you to use your digital ID to apply for a bank loan without having to provide your identity documents or copies.</li>
<li>Phase four: allowing accredited private sector digital IDs to help verify you when accessing certain government services. </li>
</ul>
<h2>How would it work?</h2>
<p>For the general public, the voluntary scheme would come in the form of a <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/national-digital-identity-scheme-explained-australia/c203a38a-8697-4d35-80dd-e36ec1959c30">smartphone app</a>, requiring biometric information (such as a face print) to be unlocked.</p>
<p>To prove your identity to a participating organisation, you would log into the organisation’s website and select <a href="https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/how-digital-id-works">MyGovID</a> as your verification method. </p>
<p>You would then log into your MyGovID app and give consent for your identity to be verified with that organisation. In this way, you could verify your identity to the organisation without needing to share your drivers licence, passport or similar. </p>
<p>Gone will be the days of 100 points of ID and copies of documents stored all over the internet. </p>
<h2>The upside of the proposal</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.afr.com/technology/millions-caught-in-data-breaches-before-optus-or-medibank-20221109-p5bwsc">Medibank, Optus</a> and <a href="https://www.latitudefinancial.com.au/latitude-cyber-incident/">Latitude</a> data breaches of 2022–23 have demonstrated the lack of regulation and enforcement of identity protection legislation in Australia. </p>
<p>A welcome part of the draft bill is the increased power given to the Australian Information Commissioner, as well as restrictions on how organisations request, store and disclose people’s <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/your-privacy-rights/your-personal-information/what-is-personal-information">personal identifying information</a>.</p>
<p>The bill also outlines minimum cybersecurity standards, and requires regular review of organisations dealing with identity data. </p>
<h2>Unresolved MyGovID security flaws</h2>
<p>In releasing the draft bill, the government has highlighted a voluntary national digital identity – the MyGovID – which is already <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/robert/6-million-australians-using-digital-identity-access-online-services">being used by</a> more than 6 million Australians and 1.3 million businesses.</p>
<p>MyGovID is a government-issued authenticator app which verifies your identity using one of three factors: something you know (such as a password), something you are (such as a biometric scan), or something you have (such as a verified phone number, where you can receive one-time codes). Adding additional factors makes verification more secure.</p>
<p>In 2020, security researchers warned the public <a href="https://www.itnews.com.au/news/researchers-say-not-to-use-mygovid-until-login-flaw-is-fixed-553601">against using MyGovID</a> due to security flaws in its design. It’s unclear if these have been addressed. The Australian Tax Office <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/ato-declines-to-fix-code-replay-flaw-within-mygovid/">declined to fix</a> the issue when raised.</p>
<p>Governments in Australia also have a <a href="https://www.governmentnews.com.au/government-agencies-report-34-data-breaches/">poor track record</a> of securing our information. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.webberinsurance.com.au/data-breaches-list#twentythree">Webber Insurance</a>, 14 of the 44 recorded data breaches between January to June this year were reported by government authorities. These included the Department of Home Affairs, and the Northern Territory, Tasmania, ACT and NSW governments. </p>
<p>This is on top of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-28/cyber-black-market-shows-medibank-optus-hack-just-the-surface/101700974">data breaches involving</a> the Australian Tax Office, National Disability Insurance Scheme and MyGov, as reported by the ABC last year.</p>
<p>More worryingly, the <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-legislation/the-privacy-act/rights-and-responsibilities">privacy act</a> has a loophole which allows some state and government authorities to remain exempt from compulsory data breach reporting. As such, we don’t know just how many government data breaches have occurred. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-wants-to-expand-the-digital-identity-system-that-lets-australians-access-services-there-are-many-potential-pitfalls-170550">The government wants to expand the 'digital identity' system that lets Australians access services. There are many potential pitfalls</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A honey trap for hackers</h2>
<p>Even if the government carries out its end of the bargain securely, the proposed scheme would still only be as secure as your phone. Having a weak password, losing your phone, or having your phone hacked could lead to data being compromised.</p>
<p>Also, streamlining distributed identification systems in this way will create an irresistible target for hackers. In cybersecurity this is called a <a href="https://au.norton.com/blog/iot/what-is-a-honeypot">honeypot</a>, or honey trap. </p>
<p>Just as honey is irresistible to bears, these data lures are irresistible to hackers. Failure to secure the data would make it a one-stop-shop for identity theft and extortion.</p>
<p>Perhaps most concerning is how closely the proposed scheme resembles government surveillance. By linking all our personal identification data across federal and state jurisdictions, as well as private entities, we would be giving the federal government complete oversight of our lives. </p>
<p>Small changes to the law, such as those <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/why-human-rights-groups-are-concerned-about-australias-online-surveillance-bill/wiagbhtah">quietly made in</a> the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Distrupt) Act in 2021, could mean our locations could be tracked, and all our interactions with public and private organisations recorded.</p>
<h2>What can you do?</h2>
<p>It’s clear the draft bill has a number of issues. That said, all hope is not lost. </p>
<p>The government has committed to genuine consultation on its proposal. However, you don’t have much time to <a href="https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/have-your-say">have your say</a>: public submissions are being sought until October 10. </p>
<p>This extremely short consultation period doesn’t provide much confidence a fit-for-purpose solution will be created. </p>
<p>While protecting our digital identities is a welcome and well-overdue part of this proposed bill, getting it wrong could lead to harm at an even larger scale. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-national-digital-id-is-here-but-the-governments-not-talking-about-it-130200">Australia's National Digital ID is here, but the government's not talking about it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: This article has been updated to clarify state and government authorities are not always exempt from data breach disclosure requirements under the Privacy Act. It also previously said the draft bill explicitly maintained a loophole that allowed these entities to remain exempt. This line has been removed, as it’s unclear from the draft exactly which government agencies and authorities are exempt.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Mealy is member of the Australian Computer Society, the Australian Information Security Association, and the International Association for Public participation (IAP2). Erica is not a member of nor affiliated with any political organisations.</span></em></p>The draft bill has a number of issues, ranging from an insecure mechanism that leaves people’s data vulnerable to attacks, to a lack of mandatory disclosure of data breaches.Erica Mealy, Lecturer in Computer Science, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050592023-07-28T12:52:44Z2023-07-28T12:52:44ZBreastfeeding: mothers taking prescription medicines faced with a lack of information – new review<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534299/original/file-20230627-15-svfyno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C0%2C9504%2C6260&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most medicines are safe for most breastfed babies, while serious harm to infants is rare.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-son-sitting-on-sofa-breastfeeding-2251534251">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Breastfeeding is a cornerstone of early childhood nutrition and development. However, taking prescription medicines can reduce breastfeeding rates because parents who take such medications often face a lack of information about their potential impact on babies or how medicines affect lactation. </p>
<p>To better understand the effects of medicines on breastfeeding, we conducted a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284128">systematic review</a> of the available information. We scoured electronic databases for research on the impact of prescription medicines on breastfeeding. These studies examined how medicines affected milk composition, milk production and the health of breastfed infants. </p>
<p>We found a limited number of high-quality studies, with only ten established databases reporting on breastfeeding, medicines and infant outcomes together. And, unfortunately, none of these studies covered educational outcomes, making it difficult to assess potential long-term risks, harms and benefits.</p>
<p>Our research shows that more data collection is needed. And our work and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225133">other research</a> highlights there is a need for additional support to help breastfeeding mothers overcome physical barriers, including delayed milk production and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28027444/">anxiety</a> about the use of prescription medicine.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/womens-health-matters-143335">Women’s Health Matters</a>, a series about the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world. From menopause to miscarriage, pleasure to pain the articles in this series will delve into the full spectrum of women’s health issues to provide valuable information, insights and resources for women of all ages.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/five-old-contraception-methods-that-show-why-the-pill-was-a-medical-breakthrough-207572">Five old contraception methods that show why the pill was a medical breakthrough
</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-orgasm-gap-and-why-women-climax-less-than-men-208614">The orgasm gap and why women climax less than men</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/science-experiments-traditionally-only-used-male-mice-heres-why-thats-a-problem-for-womens-health-205963">Science experiments traditionally only used male mice – here’s why that’s a problem for women’s health</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Safety</h2>
<p>Most medicines are safe for most breastfed babies, while serious harm to infants is rare. In most cases, the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of harms associated with medicine use. Still, this can be a complex issue and it’s essential to weigh the benefits and risks carefully.</p>
<p>There are some medicines that require extra checks on infants and their ability to breastfeed. For example, infants whose mothers use antibiotics such as amoxicillin and erythromycin (which are known to be safe to use during breastfeeding), should be checked for oral thrush and diarrhoea, as prompt treatment is important. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://bnf.nice.org.uk">British National Formulary</a> (BNF) offers advice on the prescribing and administration of medicines. Infants of mothers taking certain medicines, such as those for epilepsy, mental health conditions, sedatives, or opioids, should be monitored for signs of sedation, sleepiness, poor feeding, weight loss and irritability. </p>
<p>Health professionals should also assess how effectively the baby is feeding by observing suckling and attachment to the breast. This is important because these types of medicines can interfere with an infant’s ability to feed and receive adequate nutrition.</p>
<p>The BNF expresses reservations regarding prescribing some sedative medicines that pass into breastmilk, where there is a risk of infant sedation, as with benzodiazepines (such as diazepam), and some anti-seizure medicines such as phenobarbital or primidone. </p>
<p>It recommends avoiding certain medicines during breastfeeding altogether, including some antipsychotics, such as olanzapine and clozapine, and the antidepressants escitalopram and fluoxetine. But other antidepressants, such as citalopram, may be used with caution. Most antipsychotic injections should be avoided during breastfeeding too, as should fingolimod which is used to treat multiple sclerosis. </p>
<p>Breastfeeding while using many medicines for serious illness, such as cancer, should be discussed with medical professionals. There may be little or no information from human studies, and there may be too little information to guarantee safety. Examples include many monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancer, and the immunosuppressant, mycophenolate mofetil, which is used to prevent the rejection of kidney, heart or liver transplants.</p>
<h2>Advice</h2>
<p>Mothers taking medicines should not blame themselves for being hesitant towards breastfeeding. Medical advice should be sought before birth. And families should not feel compelled to choose between breastfeeding and continuing with prescription medicines.</p>
<p>It’s essential for doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals to consult reliable information sources, including <a href="https://wicworks.fns.usda.gov/resources/lactmed">LactMed</a> and <a href="https://www.e-lactancia.org/">E-lactancia</a>, or contact the <a href="https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/detailed-information/drugs-in-breastmilk/">Drugs in Breastmilk helpline</a>.</p>
<p>To help families who need prescription medicines, it is crucial for public health teams controlling the collection of routine healthcare data to treat data collection on medicine use during and after pregnancy and during labour as a priority. This would allow research into the benefits and harms of medicine use before and during breastfeeding. </p>
<p>Such information would help parents make informed decisions regarding their medical treatment, breastfeeding and monitoring infants. It would also help minimise parental anxiety and potentially harmful false dilemmas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Jordan receives funding from the ConcePTION project. The ConcePTION project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 821520. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. Funding was awarded to SJ, SLL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophia Komninou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not enough data is being collected about the impact taking prescription medication has on breastfeeding.Sophia Komninou, Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition, Swansea UniversitySue Jordan, Professor of Medicines Management and Health Services Research, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2037302023-06-09T09:07:39Z2023-06-09T09:07:39ZMae’n bryd i ni ailfeddwl beth yw gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531082/original/file-20230609-27-o8jhd0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C7951%2C5261&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mae gwerthuso beth yw gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn golygu edrych ar y cysyniad o wyddoniaeth ei hun. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles F. Kaye/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mae gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn ddull poblogaidd o gasglu data ar gyfer gwyddonwyr naturiol a chymdeithasol, ac mae nifer y prosiectau a'r cyhoeddiadau a gynhyrchir yn <a href="https://sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/article/view/60425">tyfu o flwyddyn i flwyddyn</a>. Mae prosiect gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion nodweddiadol yn defnyddio gwirfoddolwyr i gasglu data a fyddai, fel arall, yn anfforddiadwy neu'n anhygyrch.</p>
<p>Ond, yn seiliedig ar y dystiolaeth a gasglwyd gennym yn ystod <a href="https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/article/10.5334/cstp.503/">ein hastudiaeth</a> o anghydfod cynllunio hirsefydlog ym Mro Morgannwg, credwn ei bod yn bryd ehangu ein dealltwriaeth o wyddoniaeth dinasyddion i gynnwys ystod lawer ehangach o weithgareddau. Mae'r rhain yn cynnwys astudio cyfraith cynllunio ac amgylcheddol, yn ogystal â chadw’n gyfredol â'r wyddoniaeth sy'n dylanwadu ar benderfyniadau'r llywodraeth.</p>
<h2>Beth yw gwyddoniaeth?</h2>
<p>I’r rhai sy’n arddel safbwynt traddodiadol, mae gwyddoniaeth yn weithgaredd gwrthrychol sy'n cynhyrchu gwybodaeth, a lle bo trylwyredd yn arwain at ganfod gwirioneddau. Mewn cyferbyniad â hynny, ystyrir gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn aml mewn <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/59/11/977/251421?login=true">termau eithaf cul</a>. Ac er bod cydweithrediad rhwng gwyddonwyr amatur a phroffesiynol yn seiliedig ar ddiddordebau a rennir, mae cynllunio prosiectau a dadansoddi data yn nwylo gwyddonwyr proffesiynol o hyd. Mae hynny'n golygu bod yna hierarchaeth glir.</p>
<p>Mae'r hyn y mae cymdeithas yn ei elwa o brosiectau o'r fath yn aml yn cael ei feincnodi yn erbyn pa un a oes gwelliant wedi bod yn nealltwriaeth y cyhoedd o'r pwnc ai peidio. Fodd bynnag, nid oes yna unrhyw synnwyr amlwg y gallai gwyddoniaeth ddysgu gan wyddonwyr ddinasyddion neu gael ei herio ganddynt.</p>
<p>Rydym yn gweithio o fewn astudiaethau gwyddoniaeth a thechnoleg (STS) sy'n edrych ar y modd y cawsant eu creu a'u datblygu. Rydym yn astudio’r modd y mae gwyddoniaeth a thechnoleg yn eistedd o fewn eu cyd-destunau hanesyddol, diwylliannol a chymdeithasol. Felly, ar y sail honno, credwn fod yna rôl wahanol iawn i wyddoniaeth dinasyddion.</p>
<p>Mae llenyddiaeth STS yn awgrymu bod gwyddoniaeth yn <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262035682/the-handbook-of-science-and-technology-studies/">gymdeithasol luniedig</a>. Hynny yw, mae'r modd yr ydym yn gweld ac yn dehongli'r byd o'n cwmpas yn dibynnu ar argaeledd offer gwyddonol megis microsgopau, synwyryddion amgylcheddol, ac ati. Mae angen cyllid digonol ar gyfer hynny, yn ogystal â dull dadansoddi a dderbynnir yn gyffredinol. Ac mae angen cytundeb a chyfaddawd rhwng blaenoriaethau a buddiannau grwpiau gwahanol o bobl yn achos y ddwy elfen hyn.</p>
<p>Felly, os yw gwyddoniaeth yn tueddu i atgynhyrchu braint a phersbectif grwpiau elitaidd, yna mae gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn cynnig y posibilrwydd o <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203202395/citizen-science-alan-irwin">wyddoniaeth i'r bobl, gan y bobl</a>. Byddai hyn yn gwneud gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn weithgarwch lle mae gwybodaeth yn cael ei chynhyrchu o fewn cymunedau.</p>
<p>Gallai herio'r math o wyddoniaeth a ddefnyddir yn y penderfyniadau sy'n effeithio ar ein bywydau a'n llesiant, megis pennu lefelau diogel o allyriadau, neu benderfyniadau ar seilwaith.</p>
<h2>Y Barri</h2>
<p>Aethom ati i astudio gwrthdaro cynllunio hirsefydlog yn y Barri, sydd wedi bod yndigwydd ers 2008. Mae'n ymwneud â gwaith bio-màs yng nghanol y dref, y mae ymgyrchwyr amgylcheddol lleol yn dadlau y dylid ei ddymchwel.</p>
<p>Mae'r gwaith, sy'n eiddo i Aviva Investors ar hyn o bryd, yn <a href="https://www.endswasteandbioenergy.com/article/1814105/avivas-barry-biomass-plant-appeal-heard-may">aros am benderfyniad</a> gan Penderfyniadau Cynllunio ac Amgylchedd Cymru ynghylch a all ddechrau gweithredu ai peidio. Saif 100 metr yn unig o ystad dai newydd sbon yn ardal dociau'r dref. Mae rhai rhannau o'r Barri yn parhau i fod yn uchel ar <a href="https://statscymru.llyw.cymru/Catalogue/Community-Safety-and-Social-Inclusion/Welsh-Index-of-Multiple-Deprivation">fynegai amddifadedd lluosog Cymru</a>, sef mesur tlodi swyddogol llywodraeth Cymru.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Golygfa o'r awyr o ddŵr. Tu ôl y dŵr, mae yna safle ddiwydianol a thref gyda nifer o dai a strydoedd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Golygfa o'r awyr o dref y Barri, gyda'r gwaith bio-màs anweithredol yn y canol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ade Pitman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Edrychon ar y modd y mae aelodau Grŵp Gwyddoniaeth Dinasyddion y Barri (BCSG) wedi ceisio <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58413660">atal</a> y gwaith bio-màs rhag gweithredu. Maent wedi treulio 15 mlynedd yn craffu ar y cyfreithiau a'r rheoliadau sydd wedi arwain at y penderfyniadau cynllunio a thrwyddedu hyd yn hyn.</p>
<p>Ond i ba raddau y gellir ystyried hyn yn fath o wyddoniaeth dinasyddion? Wedi'r cyfan, mae'r safle yn segur, sy'n golygu na ellir cymryd unrhyw samplau o allyriadau. Ein dadl yw bod y gwaith y maent wedi'i wneud hyd yn hyn yn rhagflaenydd hanfodol i waith casglu data mwy ffurfiol dan arweiniad y gymuned.</p>
<p>Yn achos y BCSG, monitro ansawdd yr aer oedd y pryder mwyaf taer. Am ddwy flynedd, mae'r grŵp wedi mesur ansawdd “sylfaenol” yr aer yn y dref gan ddefnyddio synwyryddion digidol. Pe byddai'r gwaith yn dechrau gweithredu, bydd aelodau’r grŵp yn gallu cymharu unrhyw lygredd y mae'n ei gynhyrchu â’u data cyfredol.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Dyn mewn siaced llachar yn sefyll o flaen cerbyd codi. Mae dyn arall yn sefyll yn y cerbyd codi drws nesaf i bolyn lamp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Synwyryddion yn cael eu gosod yn y Barri i fesur ansawdd sylfaenol yr aer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ESRC/Nick Hacking</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fodd bynnag, y tu hwnt i hynny, mae yna sawl llinyn arall ymhlith gweithgareddau'r grŵp y byddem yn dadlau sy’n cyfrif fel gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion. Mae’r aelodau wedi chwarae rhan mewn sawl agwedd ar graffu gwyddonol, yn union fel pe baent wedi gwneud hynny ar ran y datblygwr neu'r awdurdodau rheoleiddio.</p>
<p>Maent wedi gwerthuso, beirniadu ac ymateb yn ffurfiol i asesiadau risg technegol y datblygwr ac wedi herio penderfyniadau a wnaed gan yr awdurdodau dro ar ôl tro. Mae eu holl weithgareddau wedi cael eu hategu gan wybodaeth am ddatblygiadau diweddar yn y gwyddorau naturiol, gwyddoniaeth reoleiddio, a chyfraith cynllunio a thrwyddedu.</p>
<p>Ers 2008, mae'r BCSG wedi meithrin amrywiaeth aruthrol o arbenigedd technegol, a dylid cydnabod bod hyn yn fater o “roi gwyddoniaeth ar waith”, yng ngwir ystyr y dywediad. Byddai awgrymu fel arall yn cynnig golwg dlawd a chyfyngedig o'r gwaith.</p>
<p>Ein gobaith yw bod yr astudiaeth achos hon yn estyn y drafodaeth am wyddoniaeth dinasyddion fel y gallwn gydnabod ei llawn botensial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mae Nick Hacking yn derbyn cyllid gan y Cyngor Ymchwil Economaidd a Chymdeithasol (ESRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mae Jamie Lewis yn derbyn cyllid gan y Cyngor Ymchwil Economaidd a Chymdeithasol (ESRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mae Rob Evans yn derbyn cyllid gan y Cyngor Ymchwil Economaidd a Chymdeithasol (ESRC).</span></em></p>Mae gwyddoniaeth dinasyddion yn cynnig y posibilrwydd o wyddoniaeth i'r bobl, gan y bobl.Nick Hacking, Research associate in environmental governance, Cardiff UniversityJamie Lewis, Lecturer in sociology, Cardiff UniversityRob Evans, Professor in science and technology studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026592023-04-17T21:13:06Z2023-04-17T21:13:06ZIt’s not the end of privacy yet in Canada, but the threat remains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519069/original/file-20230403-14-3sw89y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5615%2C3159&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Changes to Canadian law will affect how data can be collected and distributed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite early predictions that the internet would spell the end of privacy, it continues to be vital to who we are. Without privacy, we couldn’t sustain <a href="https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-ethics/resources/why-we-care-about-privacy/">relationships</a> or maintain our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0220-8">dignity</a> or <a href="https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1416&context=law-review">sense of self</a>.</p>
<p>Yet our privacy is constantly threatened by ubiquitous surveillance and data collection by tech platforms, retailers, the police and other <a href="https://technologyandsociety.org/ubiquitous-surveillance-and-security/">state agencies</a>, as well as hackers and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-conviction-photos-coach-1.6774410">criminals</a>.</p>
<p>Does privacy law in Canada do enough to protect us from these threats?</p>
<p>To help you decide, it may help to clarify the main features of the legal landscape — when public and private entities can infringe your privacy and what happens when they do.</p>
<h2>A constitutional right to privacy</h2>
<p>Canadians receive protection from police and other government institutions under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And while the word “privacy” appears nowhere in the document, <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art8.html">Section 8</a> still gives Canadians the right to be “secure against unreasonable search or seizure.”</p>
<p>Our highest court drew upon the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/389/347/#350">Fourth Amendment case law</a> in the United States to hold that <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/5274/index.do">police engage Section 8 when they search or seize something</a> over which we have “a reasonable expectation of privacy.”</p>
<p>Courts have held that we have a privacy interest in anything that reveals intimate information about us, our lifestyle choices or our “<a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1049/index.do">biographical core</a>.” This includes obvious things, like the content of our pockets, homes and digital devices – but it also includes less obvious things like our DNA, breath samples or <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14233/index.do">subscriber information</a> attached to our internet service provider accounts.</p>
<p>Where we do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a place or thing, police generally need a warrant to search or seize it. In many cases, however, they don’t. They need only be authorized by law to carry out the search. The law, in turn, must be reasonable in striking an appropriate balance between law enforcement interests and personal privacy. </p>
<p>When police obtain evidence without a warrant, or act without authority, a court can exclude the evidence at that person’s criminal trial — though, in some cases, it may <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/7799/index.do">decline to do so</a>. </p>
<h2>Privacy in the private sphere</h2>
<p>The <em>Charter</em> sets limits on what government officials and agencies can do to infringe on our privacy, but more often our privacy is threatened by private entities that gather data or information from us. What are the guardrails in place here and what are the consequences for violating them?</p>
<p>We have federal and provincial statutes to deal with privacy incursions by commercial entities. In some cases, we can sue civilians or businesses in court for <a href="https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_96373_01">breach of privacy</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-surveillance-capitalism-and-how-does-it-shape-our-economy-119158">Explainer: what is surveillance capitalism and how does it shape our economy?</a>
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<p>The most important of these tools is the federal <a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/">Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act</a> (PIPEDA), which contains rules about collecting, using and disclosing personal information by private sector entities in Canada. </p>
<p>PIPEDA applies to a wide range of commercial activity across all provinces, from large retailers to online platforms. <a href="https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96165_00">British Columbia</a>, <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/personal-information-protection-act-overview.aspx">Alberta</a> and <a href="https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/p-39.1">Québec</a> have their own privacy laws that cover matters to which PIPEDA does not apply. </p>
<p>The main obligation in PIPEDA is that a company may not collect, use or disclose information about us unless they have our informed consent and use, or share it, for an identified purpose. The act empowers individuals to access information about themselves and to correct inaccuracies. </p>
<p>The Privacy Commissioner of Canada enforces the act, but has often complained of the <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2018/enforcement-powers-key-pipeda-reform/">weak tools at their disposal</a> for doing so.</p>
<h2>A better future for personal privacy?</h2>
<p>Currently, parliament is debating the passage of <a href="https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-27">Bill C-27</a>, which would largely replace PIPEDA with the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eza08jeM64E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Canada’s Cable Public Affairs Channel broadcast of Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s press meeting about Bill C-27, proposed privacy legislation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The new act will impose more stringent penalties for breaches and give authorities more enforcement tools. But it may also expand the scope of what private entities can do with our data by permitting with benefits “proportionate to” the impact on, or loss of, privacy.</p>
<p>At least <a href="https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/how-will-bill-c-27-affect-the-governance-of-online-platforms">one commentator</a> believes the Privacy Commissioner of Canada will continue to permit data collection by social media companies and search engines for advertising purposes under the CPPA. But the act will require companies to be more explicit with us about how they intend to use our data.</p>
<p>The CPPA also includes a novel “<a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/gdpr-like-privacy-rights-may-get-a-15052/">right of deletion</a>” for information obtained in violation of the act or where consent is withdrawn. Yet this would not amount to a “<a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e0dc65db-85eb-4a93-afa0-30597fb2a037">right to be forgotten</a>,” given an exception in the act for search engines acting with a legitimate interest.</p>
<p>This covers only some of the many tools in Canadian law for protecting personal privacy. But if this survey makes one thing clear, it’s that for Canadians, privacy is far from dead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202659/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Diab does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Does privacy law in Canada do enough to protect us from entities like tech platforms, retailers, the police, hackers and criminals?Robert Diab, Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2023972023-03-28T12:21:11Z2023-03-28T12:21:11ZIt’s time to rethink what citizen science really is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517402/original/file-20230324-24-iuklja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C7928%2C5285&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Evaluating what citizen science is involves looking at the concept of science itself. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-nyapril-22-2017-101year-1711158889">Charles F. Kaye/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>You can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/maen-bryd-i-ni-ailfeddwl-beth-yw-gwyddoniaeth-dinasyddion-203730">read this article</a> in Welsh.</em></p>
<p>Citizen science is a popular method of gathering data for natural and social scientists, with the number of projects and publications produced <a href="https://sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/article/view/60425">growing year by year</a>. A typical citizen science project uses volunteers to gather data that would otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible. </p>
<p>But, based on the evidence we gathered during <a href="https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/article/10.5334/cstp.503/">our study</a> of a long-running planning dispute in south Wales, we think it’s time to broaden our understanding of citizen science to include a much wider range of activities. These include studying planning and environmental law, as well as being up to date with the science that influences government decisions.</p>
<h2>What is science?</h2>
<p>Science is an objective, knowledge-producing activity in which rigour leads to the discovery of truths, for those who take a traditional view. In contrast with that, citizen science is often seen <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/59/11/977/251421?login=true">in fairly narrow terms</a>. And while cooperation between amateur and professional scientists is based on shared interests, the project design and data analysis remain in the hands of professional scientists. That means there’s a clear hierarchy. </p>
<p>What we gain as a society from such projects is often benchmarked against whether there’s an improvement in the public’s understanding of the topic. There is, however, no obvious sense that science may learn from or be challenged by citizen scientists.</p>
<p>We work within science and technology studies (STS) which looks at how they were created and developed. We study how science and technology sit within their historical, cultural and social contexts. So, on that basis, we think there is a very different role for citizen science.</p>
<p>STS literature suggests that science is <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262035682/the-handbook-of-science-and-technology-studies/">socially constructed</a>. In other words, the ways we see and interpret the world around us depends on the availability of scientific instruments such as microscopes, environmental sensors and so forth. That needs sufficient funding as well as a generally accepted means of analysis. And both of those need agreement and compromise between the priorities and interests of different groups of people. </p>
<p>So if science tends to reproduce the privilege and perspective of elite groups, then citizen science offers the possibility of a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203202395/citizen-science-alan-irwin">science for the people, by the people</a>. This would make citizen science an activity in which knowledge is generated from within communities. </p>
<p>It could challenge the type of science used in the decisions that affect our lives and wellbeing, such as determining safe levels of emissions or decisions on infrastructure.</p>
<h2>Barry</h2>
<p>We studied a long-running planning conflict in Barry, near Cardiff, which has been ongoing since 2008. It involves a biomass plant in the centre of the town, which local environmental campaigners argue should be torn down. </p>
<p>The plant, currently owned by Aviva Investors, is <a href="https://www.endswasteandbioenergy.com/article/1814105/avivas-barry-biomass-plant-appeal-heard-may">awaiting a decision</a> from Wales’ planning inspectorate over whether it can start operating. It sits just 100 metres from a brand new housing estate in the town’s docklands area. Some parts of Barry remain high on the <a href="https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Community-Safety-and-Social-Inclusion/Welsh-Index-of-Multiple-Deprivation">Welsh index of multiple deprivation</a>, the Welsh government’s official measure of poverty. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a body of water. Behind it is an industrial plant and a large town with many houses and streets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517404/original/file-20230324-17-mytbs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of the town of Barry with the non-operational biomass plant in the centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ade Pitman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We looked at how members of the Barry Citizen Science Group (BCSG) have attempted to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58413660">prevent</a> the biomass plant from operating. They have spent 15 years scrutinising the laws and regulations which have led to planning and licensing decisions so far. </p>
<p>But to what extent can this be seen as a kind of citizen science? After all, the plant is dormant, meaning no emissions samples can be taken. Our argument is that the work they have done up until now is a vital precursor to more formal community-led data gathering work. </p>
<p>In the BCSG’s case, air quality monitoring was the most pressing concern. For two years, the group has measured the “baseline” air quality in the town using digital sensors. Should the plant begin operating, the group will be able to compare any pollution it produces with their own existing data.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man in a high vis jacket with a clipboard stands in front of a cherry picker. Another man stands in the cab next to a street light." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517406/original/file-20230324-16-o624k1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sensors being placed in Barry to measure the baseline air quality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ESRC/Nick Hacking</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, beyond that, there are several other strands of the group’s activities which, we argue, count as citizen science. They have been involved in many aspects of scientific scrutiny just as though they had been done on behalf of the developer or the regulatory authorities. </p>
<p>They have evaluated, critiqued and formally responded to the developer’s highly technical risk assessments and repeatedly challenged decisions taken by the authorities. All their activities have been underpinned by the knowledge of recent advances in the natural sciences, regulatory science, planning and licensing law. </p>
<p>Since 2008, the BCSG has developed an impressive array of technical expertise, which should be recognised in its truest sense as “doing science”. To suggest otherwise would be to offer an impoverished and restricted view of the work.</p>
<p>Our hope is that this case study extends the discussion of citizen science so that we can recognise its full potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Hacking receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Lewis receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Evans receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p>Citizen science offers the possibility of a science for the people, by the people. And it could be used to challenge the status quo.Nick Hacking, Research associate in environmental governance, Cardiff UniversityJamie Lewis, Lecturer in sociology, Cardiff UniversityRob Evans, Professor in science and technology studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989832023-02-08T01:36:15Z2023-02-08T01:36:15ZIt’s near impossible to get good data on water use in New Zealand. This raises questions about public accountability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508715/original/file-20230207-24-xqrvlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C61%2C3117%2C1272&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sprinkler-spraying-water-over-green-grass-140861632">Shutterstock/Dr Ajay Kumar Singh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins embarks on reprioritising policies to focus on “bread and butter issues”, the details of the contentious <a href="https://www.dia.govt.nz/three-waters-reform-programme-about-the-reform-programme">Three Waters reforms</a> remain unclear. </p>
<p>The reforms represent a radical reshaping of water, wastewater and stormwater management, with the aim of building a new integrated system across New Zealand. The legislation passed in December last year, but the PM has promised a “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/video/chris-hipkins-on-a-reset-on-some-government-policies/ZHXAIYYXSR3YVNQBZDNYLO7F4I/">reset</a>”. </p>
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<p>Whatever the final details, a study conducted by <a href="https://www.motu.nz/">Motu Economic and Public Policy Research</a> highlights the need for improved environmental reporting to help deliver urban water supply security. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.motu.nz/our-research/environment-and-resources/nutrient-trading-and-water-quality/">research</a> aims to answer the question of whether water metering and pricing have any impact on water consumption in Aotearoa New Zealand. This should be a straightforward question to answer. But our data collection process has exposed gaps that obscure public accountability and limit the potential for evidence-based policy. </p>
<h2>No central database to collate data</h2>
<p>Data on urban freshwater use is not easily accessible in Aotearoa New Zealand. There is no central database or governing authority that collates information about demand and supply. </p>
<p>Instead, freshwater is managed by local authorities which have a range of processes and frameworks for collecting information on water consumption within their jurisdiction. </p>
<p>Data can be obtained (by researchers or the public) through requests under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (<a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/OIA/Guide-to-making-OIA-requests-Ombudsman.pdf">LGOIMA</a>). This process involves asking councils for information they may have on file, but that isn’t accessible to the public. </p>
<p>Councils have 20 working days to respond and can either provide the information, request an amendment or extension, or refuse the request if it is perceived as beyond their capacity. Councils can also demand a fee be paid to collate the information if it is poorly organised and difficult to gather.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/auckland-floods-even-stormwater-reform-wont-be-enough-we-need-a-sponge-city-to-avoid-future-disasters-198736">Auckland floods: even stormwater reform won’t be enough – we need a ‘sponge city’ to avoid future disasters</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Disappointing dearth of water information</h2>
<p>Our data collection process involved issuing LGOIMA requests to 67 local and district councils across the country. The information requested included monthly consumption and production data that could then be adjusted for seasonal variation, particularly droughts or floods. </p>
<p>We asked councils to provide records that went as far back as possible. We also asked for any records of leaks and institutional information such as whether meters were used or what pricing models (<a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/36/1/86/5696684">flat pricing or volumetric pricing</a>) were in place and when these mechanisms were introduced.</p>
<p>The information we received was disappointing and points to a lack of public accountability.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-three-waters-reforms-under-fire-lets-not-forget-that-safe-and-affordable-water-is-a-human-right-192933">With the Three Waters reforms under fire, let’s not forget that safe and affordable water is a human right</a>
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<hr>
<p>Of the 67 local and district councils approached, 88% were unable to provide us with data that met our request. Most provided information that was spotty, inconsistent, aggregated and only went back two years. </p>
<p>Seven councils refused to fill our request, citing limited capacity. Nine said they could provide the information at a fee, with some charging several thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>There were only eight councils which did provide us with full records, some tracing back to the 1980s. This shows comprehensive data collection by local authorities is possible, whether meters are in place or not. But if high-quality data is largely absent, this raises questions about how we can design policy to ensure it delivers benefits for communities and the environment.</p>
<h2>How to close the data gap</h2>
<p>Evidence-based or evidence-informed policy is the <a href="https://dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2021-10/pmcsa-17-07-07-Enhancing-evidence-informed-policy-making.pdf">gold standard of policy making</a>. If decision makers are unable to access data, it reduces their capacity to make policy recommendations likely to deliver welfare improvements for the communities they serve.</p>
<p>Despite its clean and green image, Aotearoa New Zealand has a poor history of <a href="https://pce.parliament.nz/publications/environmental-reporting-research-and-investment/">environmental reporting</a>, monitoring and <a href="https://eds.org.nz/resources/documents/reports/last-line-of-defence/">enforcement</a>. If decision makers don’t have an up-to-date understanding of what is happening in the environment, any management systems they design are unlikely to be very successful.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1354674954961252353"}"></div></p>
<p>With the ongoing reform of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services, we need to think critically about ways to improve <a href="https://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal-articles/beyond-muddy-waters-three-waters-reforms-required-to-future-proof-water-service-delivery-and-protect-public-health-in-aotearoa-new-zealand">institutional design</a> to help address some of the data gaps that pervade Aotearoa New Zealand’s freshwater records.</p>
<p>We suggest local authorities should be provided with a data-collection template that is comparable across regions and over time. If the management of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater is centralised as part of the Three Waters reforms, developing consistent approaches to data gathering, storage and dissemination across the four proposed government entities should be a priority.</p>
<p>Data – facts, records or measures – are fundamental to initiating any research, validating models, estimating trends and monitoring changes over time. There should be no mismanagement or financial barriers to consistent collection and access. </p>
<p>As pressures on freshwater resources increase, access to basic data is critical to ensure Aotearoa New Zealand can deliver urban water security for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Talbot-Jones is an Affiliate of Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. The research referred to in this article is funded by the Aotearoa Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Benison is a Research Analyst at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. The research referred to in this article is funded by the Aotearoa Foundation.</span></em></p>If decision makers don’t have up-to-date information about urban water use and demand, any policies they design are unlikely to deliver for communities or the environment.Julia Talbot-Jones, Senior lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonThomas Benison, Research Analyst, Motu Economic and Public Policy ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975032023-01-26T13:25:17Z2023-01-26T13:25:17ZUkraine has a mixed record of treating its citizens fairly – that could make it harder for it to maintain peace, once the war ends<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506191/original/file-20230124-13-qmopx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukraine has a mixed human rights record over the past several decades, new data shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1240050560/photo/topshot-ukraine-russia-conflict.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=HmYiHMmU5wIyNzfo1m2PQ-_53IyaA_eZQGDZLuahxTw=">Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the dominant Western media narrative has been clear – Russia is the “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cold-war-echoes-russia-us-ukraine-0050dd806e5f8748bf59b5e84d15b959">global villain</a>,” and Ukraine a model country victimized by an unjust war. But while the war may be unjust, Ukraine had its share of problems before the conflict with Russia intensified in 2022. </p>
<p>Expert analysis shows that Russia launched <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/russia-crime-and-punishment-illegal-war-in-ukraine">an illegal war</a> and has committed the vast majority of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-russia-committing-genocide-in-ukraine-a-human-rights-expert-looks-at-the-warning-signs-180017">human rights violations </a> in the conflict – <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3190982/russia-trying-terror-attacks-on-ukrainian-civilians/">such as targeting</a> Ukraine’s civilians.</p>
<p>Ukraine has also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/world/europe/russian-soldiers-shot-ukraine.html">allegedly committed </a> war crimes against Russian soldiers during the conflict. Much like Russia, the country has had a mixed record over the past two decades regarding treatment of its citizens. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oyR7hesAAAAJ&hl=en">We are</a> human rights <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1WM6bk8AAAAJ&hl=en">scholars who</a> helped launch the world’s largest quantitative data set – <a href="https://cirights.com">known as CIRIGHTS</a> – to track global human rights in December 2022.</p>
<p>Our analysis shows that while Ukraine’s prewar human rights record is better than Russia’s, it is far below the global average. Along with an ongoing problem of <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/ukraine">government corruption</a>, Ukraine has been cited by Western <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/ukraine#d91ede">human rights groups</a> for not prosecuting hate crimes and failing to properly address and respond to gender-based violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blond middle-aged woman holds a child in a blue snowsuit up against her, next to two other older children, as seen through a window of a train and a large fence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506163/original/file-20230124-27-zyzszh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ukrainian women and children pass through the Przemysl train station in Poland after fleeing the war in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1390462714/photo/poland-welcomes-more-than-2-million-ukrainian-refugees.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=6kSRqGXuFUCuf-s62QUfx1xyMMzq0Wi1kdsp-zam678=">Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ukraine’s human rights record</h2>
<p>Ukraine scores in the bottom third of all countries in terms of its human rights record, according to our data. Its score of 42 out of 100 is the same as that of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/07/central-african-republic-un-reports-detail-serious-violations-some-possibly">Central African Republic</a> – a country rife with violence against civilians and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-central-african-republic">political instability</a>. </p>
<p>Several factors contributed to this ranking. Ukraine’s military, for example, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/world/ukraine-used-cluster-bombs-report-charges.html">known to have</a> indiscriminately used <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ukraine-widespread-use-cluster-munitions">cluster munitions</a> in highly populated areas of Donetsk – in the eastern part of Ukraine that is occupied by a rebel government – in 2014, killing civilians. Ukraine’s police also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26280710">killed numerous protesters in Kyiv during the 2014 protests</a>, which led to EU sanctions. </p>
<p>Other human rights and freedom monitors like the U.S. nonprofit Freedom House have reported more recently that Ukraine was “<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/ukraine/freedom-net/2022">partly free</a>” when it came to issues like expression, access to information and the press. The country ranked just below the global average, with a score of 59 out of 100. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.refworld.org/publisher,OHCHR,,UKR,,,0.html">human rights analyses</a> show that the extent to which people in Ukraine are free from government torture and forced labor and enjoy such privileges as freedom of religion and expression has improved since 1991, when the Soviet Union broke up – and Ukraine gained its independence – <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/human-rights">the country’s ranking</a> still stands below that of Ukraine’s Western European neighbors, like Poland and Hungary.</p>
<p>Unless Ukraine addresses its human rights shortfalls, it could risk not achieving or maintaining lasting peace, no matter when or how the war eventually ends. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/2/41">Research shows</a> that human rights violations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00442.x">create social and political problems</a> that can lead to conflict both within a country and internationally. </p>
<p><iframe id="Tfv8U" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Tfv8U/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>While many human rights measurement projects tend to focus on if and how a government <a href="https://rightstracker.org/en/metrics">uses physical violence</a> against its people, <a href="https://cirights.com/">our project</a> aims to measure <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/">all 30</a> internationally <a href="https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights">recognized human rights</a>, including women’s rights and workers’ rights.</p>
<p>We believe that this kind of comprehensive data helps all people have an easy, transparent and reliable way to understand a country’s human rights record.</p>
<p>Hundreds of undergraduate and graduate research assistants, as well as 10 faculty members across different schools, scored each human right for all countries of the world for each year since 1981, based on publicly available research and human rights reports. Each country’s scores in the 2022 report card are based on the most recent year for which scores were available for all human rights scored by the CIRIGHTS data project. </p>
<p>The scorers work independently with a rigorous set of scoring guidelines to consider 25 human rights measures and then work together to resolve differences to agree upon a numerical score. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://cirights.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/crights-2022-report.pdf?force_download=true">December 2022 annual report</a> placed Canada and Sweden at the head of the class, with a 96 each, followed by New Zealand, Norway and Portugal at 94. At the bottom were Iraq, with a score of 12, China at 10, and North Korea and Syria with 6, and Iran at 2. The U.S. was not measured in this report card, since the U.S. government does not report on its own human rights. Subsequent reports will include analysis of the U.S. drawn from other sources. </p>
<h2>Ukraine’s recent history of protests</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/403000">Research has shown</a> that violations of human rights increase the likelihood of violent protests, terrorism and rebellion. </p>
<p>Ukraine, like Russia, has a history of citizens’ fighting corruption through public grievances, which turn into mass protests. Its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orange-Revolution">Orange Revolution</a> in 2004 and 2005, for example, resulted <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/orange-revolution-ukraine-votes-for-change">in widespread marches</a> in protest of the alleged fraudulent election of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a candidate backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. </p>
<p>Following a run-off election, Yanukovych’s anti-corruption opponent Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko was elected in January 2005. </p>
<p>But five years later, Ukranians voted Yanukovych right back into office.</p>
<p>In 2014, mass protests once again emerged in Ukraine after the government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/ukraine-suspends-preparations-eu-trade-pact">abruptly canceled</a> an economic trade and political agreement with the European Union, following Russian pressure. People protested the decision, and Yanukovych’s government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/ukrainian-president-anti-protest-laws">passed new laws</a> to limit protests. Emboldened, police violently repressed the demonstrators – leading to more <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/understanding-ukraines-euromaidan-protests">violent and deadly riots</a>. </p>
<p>The 2014 and 2015 clashes culminated in the ouster of Yanukovych and the overthrow of the pro-Russian Ukrainian government. The protests also coincided with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-crisis-in-Crimea-and-eastern-Ukraine">Russia’s invasion and annexation</a> of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula. </p>
<p>Conflict between Russia and Ukraine has since dramatically intensified, spreading across much of Ukraine in 2022. This conflict has only made domestic human rights conditions more important. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person raises a blue and yellow striped flag above a large crowd of people, who are mostly covered in smoke." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506170/original/file-20230124-13-t04tuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainians take to the streets during the 2004 Orange Revolution to protest an alleged fraudulent election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/488564807/photo/ukraine-opposition-rally.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=3IGKn3tYZ2PwP4gOGGrY01e8oyn9Q48V30DE5CZc1Y4=">Sergey Supinski/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Our data shows that Russia ranked as the 12th-worst human rights violator in the world over the past two decades, placing it far below Ukraine. Russia is known to be responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in the eastern <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/conflict-ukraines-donbas-visual-explainer">Donbas region</a> of Ukraine, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/23/ukraine-war-un-report-details-abuse-and-torture-in-russian-prisons.html">as well as the torture</a> and imprisonment of Ukrainian citizens living in Russia.</p>
<p>And our analysis showed that Ukraine’s record for protecting civil and political rights, as well as other kinds of rights, were substantially better than Russia’s in recent years. Our scores are consistent with scores provided by other groups that track <a href="https://www.politicalterrorscale.org">human rights</a>. </p>
<p>The statistical evidence from all sources shows that both Russia and Ukraine have poor human rights records and are a long way from achieving a passing grade. This means for both countries it will be hard to achieve internal peace after the war ends.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New data from 2000 through 2019 shows that Ukraine’s human rights record is better than Russia’s – but worse than that of its Western European neighbors.David Cingranelli, Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Human Rights Institute, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkBrendan Skip Mark, Professor of political science, University of Rhode IslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1860462022-06-30T07:20:56Z2022-06-30T07:20:56ZAfter Roe v Wade, here’s how women could adopt ‘spycraft’ to avoid tracking and prosecution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471799/original/file-20220630-16-yytsyn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=90%2C40%2C5373%2C3596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The art of concealing or misrepresenting one’s identity in the physical world has long been practised by spies engaged in espionage. In response, intelligence agencies designed techniques and technologies to identify people attempting to hide behind aliases.</p>
<p>Now, following the US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, women in the United States seeking assistance with unwanted pregnancies have joined the ranks of spies. </p>
<p>The ruling has resulted in several trigger laws coming into effect in conservative states to outlaw abortions in those states. These laws, coupled with groups targeting women’s reproductive rights protests, have raised fear among women of all ages about their data being used against them.</p>
<p>Thousands have engaged with online posts calling on women to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/28/why-us-woman-are-deleting-their-period-tracking-apps">delete their period tracking apps</a>, on the premise that data fed to these apps could be used to prosecute them in states where abortion is illegal. At the same time, abortion clinics in New Mexico (where abortion remains legal) are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-mexico-shields-abortion-providers-ahead-expected-patient-surge-2022-06-27/">reportedly</a> bracing for an influx of women from US states.</p>
<p>As someone who has served as a special agent for the United States Army and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as a Senior Intelligence Officer with the US Defense Intelligence Agency, I can tell you deleting period tracking apps may not be enough for vulnerable women now. </p>
<p>But there are some tools women can use to conceal their identities, should this be necessary – the same tools once reserved for professional spies.</p>
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<h2>The privacy myth</h2>
<p>Apart from espionage, the emergence of the internet created a new impetus for widespread data collection by data aggregators and marketers. The modern surveillance economy grew out of a desire to target products and services to us as effectively as possible. </p>
<p>Today, massive swathes of personal information are extracted from users, 24/7 – making it increasingly difficult to remain unmasked.</p>
<p>Data aggregation is used to assess our purchasing habits, track our movements, find our favourite locations and obtain detailed demographic information about us, our families, our co-workers and friends. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/post-roe-women-in-america-are-right-to-be-concerned-about-digital-surveillance-and-its-not-just-period-tracking-apps-185865">Post Roe, women in America are right to be concerned about digital surveillance – and it’s not just period-tracking apps</a>
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<p>Recent events have demonstrated how tenuous our privacy is. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/22/20926585/hong-kong-china-protest-mask-umbrella-anonymous-surveillance">Protests in Hong Kong</a> have seen Chinese authorities use cameras to identify and arrest protesters, while police in the US deployed various technologies to identify <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-surveillance-of-black-lives-matter-shows-the-danger-technology-poses-to-democracy-142194">Black Lives Matter</a> protesters. </p>
<p>Articles appeared in Australian <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/06/29/protests-police-government-surveillance-how-to-avoid/">media outlets</a> with advice on how to avoid being surveilled. And people were directed to websites, such as the <a href="https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, dedicated to informing readers about how to avoid surveillance and personal data collection.</p>
<p>What we’ve learned from both spy history and more recent events is that data collection is not always overt and obvious; it’s often unseen and opaque. Surveillance may come in the form of <a href="https://theconversation.com/surveillance-cameras-will-soon-be-unrecognisable-time-for-an-urgent-public-conversation-118931">cameras</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-hide-from-a-drone-the-subtle-art-of-ghosting-in-the-age-of-surveillance-143078">drones</a>, automated number plate readers (<a href="https://theconversation.com/number-plate-recognition-the-technology-behind-the-rhetoric-17572">ANPR/ALPR</a>), <a href="https://www.q-free.com/reference/australia/">toll payment devices</a>, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/publication/acoustic-surveillance-devices">acoustic collectors</a> and of course any internet-connected <a href="https://theconversation.com/smartphone-data-tracking-is-more-than-creepy-heres-why-you-should-be-worried-91110">device</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases when your fellow protesters upload images or videos, crowd-sourced intelligence becomes your enemy. </p>
<h2>Data deleted, not destroyed</h2>
<p>Recently, a lot of the focus has been on phones and apps. But deleting mobile apps will not prevent the identification of an individual, nor will turning off location services. </p>
<p>Law enforcement and even commercial companies have the ability to access or track certain metrics including:</p>
<ul>
<li>international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), which is related to a user’s mobile number and connected to their SIM card</li>
<li>international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), which is directly related to their device itself.</li>
</ul>
<p>Ad servers may also exploit device locations. Private companies can create advertisements targeting devices that are specific to a location, such as a women’s health clinic. And such “geofenced” ad servers can identify a user’s location regardless of whether their location settings are disabled. </p>
<p>Further, anonymised phone track data (like call signals pinging off nearby towers) can be purchased from telecommunications providers and de-anonymised. </p>
<p>Law enforcement can use this data to trace paths from, say, a fertility clinic to a person’s home or “bed down” location (the spy term for someone’s residence). </p>
<p>The bottom line is your phone is a marker for you. A temporary cell phone with an overseas SIM card has been the choice for some people wishing to avoid such tracking.</p>
<p>Adding to that, we recently saw headlines about <a href="https://theconversation.com/bunnings-kmart-and-the-good-guys-say-they-use-facial-recognition-for-loss-prevention-an-expert-explains-what-it-might-mean-for-you-185126">facial recognition technology</a> being used in Australian retail stores – and America is no different. For anyone trying to evade detection, it’s better to swap bank cards for cash, stored-value cards or gift cards when making purchases.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bunnings-kmart-and-the-good-guys-say-they-use-facial-recognition-for-loss-prevention-an-expert-explains-what-it-might-mean-for-you-185126">Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys say they use facial recognition for 'loss prevention'. An expert explains what it might mean for you</a>
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<p>And using public transport paid with cash or a ride-share service provides better anonymity than using a personal vehicle, or even a rental. </p>
<p>In the spy world, paying attention to one’s dress is critical. Spies change up their appearance, using what they call “polish”, with the help of reversible clothing, hats, different styles of glasses, scarves and even masks (which are ideally not conspicuous these days). In extreme cases, they may even use “appliances” to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cias-former-chief-of-disguise-drops-her-mask-11576168327">alter their facial characteristics</a>.</p>
<p>Then again, while these measures help in the physical world, they do little to stop online detection. </p>
<h2>Digital stealth</h2>
<p>Online, the use of a virtual private network (<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-virtual-private-network-vpn-12741">VPN</a>) and/or the onion browser, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-dark-web-46070">Tor</a>, will help improve anonymity, including from internet service providers.</p>
<p>Online you can create and use multiple personas, each with a different email address and “personal data” linked to it. Aliases can be further coupled with software that removes cookies and browser history, which will help conceal one’s online identity.</p>
<p>One example is <a href="https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download">CCleaner</a>. This program removes privacy-violating cookies and internet history from your device, while improving your device’s privacy.</p>
<p>There are also plenty of online applications that allow the use of <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-be-phish-food-tips-to-avoid-sharing-your-personal-information-online-138613">temporary email addresses</a> and phone numbers, and even temporary accommodation addresses for package deliveries.</p>
<p>To some, these may seem like extreme privacy measures. However, given the widespread collection of identity data by commercial companies and governments – and the resultant collaboration between the two – there’s reason to be concerned for anyone wanting to fly under the radar.</p>
<p>And for women seeking abortions in the US, these measures may be necessary to avoid prosecution. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1541527897273409536"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis B Desmond received funding from the US government and the Australian government</span></em></p>Women taking precautions to conceal their identities while seeking reproductive advice is akin to spies using tradecraft to avoid enemy agents.Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852952022-06-26T19:58:08Z2022-06-26T19:58:08ZShould the census ask about race? It’s not a simple question and may reinforce ‘racial’ thinking<p>Unlike census questionnaires in the US, New Zealand and Canada, the Australian Census doesn’t include questions about “race” or “ethnicity” and asks instead about “ancestry”.</p>
<p>That may be about to change, with new Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-16/federal-government-to-measure-ethnicity-data-multiculturalism/101158038">saying</a> he wants a new approach to “ethnicity” data in the next census in 2026.</p>
<p>Without this data, Giles <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-16/federal-government-to-measure-ethnicity-data-multiculturalism/101158038">said</a>, Australia faces a “fundamental barrier to understanding the issues that face multicultural Australians.”</p>
<p>But is it ethical to classify the population by what is effectively race?</p>
<p>A large body of research on Malaysia, for example – including by anthropologist <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/other-malays-nationalism-and-cosmopolitanism-in-the-modern-malay-world/">Joel Kahn</a> and historian <a href="https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/taming-the-wild">Sandra Manickam</a> – shows systems aimed at classifying populations this way do not reflect naturally existing categories, but rather, create them. </p>
<p>Over time, these categories harden, so such systems function as “race-making instruments,” as political scientist <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Schematic-State-Transnationalism-Politics-Census/dp/1107578787">Debra Thompson</a> has put it.</p>
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<h2>How does Australia currently handle this issue?</h2>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which runs the Australian Census, classifies answers on “ancestry” using a tool called the Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups. It’s essentially a spreadsheet of categories into which ancestry answers are aggregated. </p>
<p>This spreadsheet consists of 278 “cultural and ethnic groups”, like “Malay”. There are also 28 “narrow groups,” like “Maritime Southeast Asian” and nine “broad groups,” like “Southeast Asian.”</p>
<p>Used in conjunction with the person’s birthplace, language spoken at home, religion, and parents’ birthplace, the ABS uses this special spreadsheet to make its best guess about Australians’ ethnicity.</p>
<p>There’s some room for nuance. It includes two self-identified and unranked answers, allowing people to show that although they were born in Malaysia, for example, they might be a member of a minority group that is, say, “Southern Asian,” or “Chinese Asian,” as the spreadsheet terms them. </p>
<p>It also allows people to identify as members of groups spread across national borders, like Kurds or Bengalis. </p>
<p>Because the answers aren’t ranked or weighted, the question doesn’t squeeze respondents into a single box. It prompts them to decide which two sources of identity are most salient to them, instead of including every single “diverse” ancestor they can possibly think of. </p>
<p>In other words, as the process described above shows, Australians are already categorised by ethnicity and race by the state, albeit without direct public acknowledgement.</p>
<h2>So what’s the problem?</h2>
<p>So, what problem is this change trying to solve? Several, it seems.</p>
<p>One is that important national data sets, including for example, the National Notifiable Diseases database, don’t ask people their ethnicity or race.</p>
<p>Nor does this database employ other proxy indicators such as language/s spoken at home or elsewhere, or country of birth. </p>
<p>As sociologist <a href="https://andrewjakubowicz.com/2020/06/22/dark-data-hole-leaves-multicultural-australia-in-danger-in-second-wave-pandemic/">Andrew Jakubowicz</a> has argued, this omission leaves researchers unable to confirm their impression that recent migrants from South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, have been more susceptible to contracting COVID at work than other Australians.</p>
<p>So why not roll out the ABS’ existing methodology, which it already updates from time to time, across all government agencies and beyond? </p>
<p>Perhaps it is because Australians are less “legible” to the state and multicultural advocates than we used to be.</p>
<h2>Times have changed</h2>
<p>Australia’s multicultural system was created in the 1970s and 80s. Implicit within it was the assumption migrant minority groups would be few, discrete and distinct. Each would have a clear set of “representative” or advocacy associations and leaders for government to consult with. </p>
<p>Yet the volume and composition of migration flows has increased and diversified. The number of identity groups – ethnic, religious, cultural – has proliferated. </p>
<p>Layers of nested identities, and overlaps and intersections between categories, have also multiplied. Hybrid identities are common.</p>
<p>Australians are increasingly interacting and negotiating cultural differences without official intervention, assistance, or representation.</p>
<p>If a new generation of multicultural leaders can’t figure out how many of us are not white – because we might have been born in Australia or speak English at home, but our grandparents are Asian, for example – then how do they make claims on our behalf? How do they create constituencies out of us and compete for our loyalties?</p>
<p>If we have not arrived recently and do not require “settlement services” or visa assistance, are there other services or forms of advocacy we might need? </p>
<p>Are there new identity groups that could be built? For example “Asian Australian” – a loose category now under construction that might eventually hold Australia’s second and third generation East Asian “looking” migrants? </p>
<p>(Australians have trouble understanding South Asians as “Asians”).</p>
<p>Redesigning our approach to ethnicity data collection, however, will open up critical and complicated questions like:</p>
<ul>
<li>what is an ethnic group? </li>
<li>what is a culture? </li>
<li>what “races” should we group them into? </li>
<li>where are the boundaries between these concepts, and what identity labels belong in each of them? </li>
<li>where are the boundaries between one identity label and another? Should religious or political minorities like “Sikhs” or “Hong Kongers” be able to claim “ethnicity” status, or simply religious or no status at all? </li>
<li>should “Ahmadis” be grouped with “Muslims?” </li>
<li>which groups are European? Which are Asian? Which are white?</li>
<li>what benefits or disadvantages will flow from the answers to these questions? Who will adjudicate?</li>
</ul>
<p>Such questions have no fixed or universal answers because all the categories involved are fluid, dynamic, contested, and fundamentally political.</p>
<p>These are not questions of data science or demography, but of politics, ethics and context.</p>
<p>Universal schemes aimed at classifying populations by “race” or “ethnicity” can reinforce racial thinking and perpetuate racialising practices.</p>
<p>They can force us into a game of competing for better positions within a racial hierarchy, rather than creating broader solidarities that go beyond race. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/while-rich-countries-experience-a-post-covid-boom-the-poor-are-getting-poorer-heres-how-australia-can-help-160604">While rich countries experience a post-COVID boom, the poor are getting poorer. Here's how Australia can help</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amrita Malhi has received an Innovation Connections grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources to test the assumptions embedded within a tool designed for collecting data on ethnic and cultural diversity.</span></em></p>Universal schemes aimed at classifying populations by ‘race’ or ‘ethnicity’ can force us into a game of competing for better positions within a racial hierarchy.Amrita Malhi, Visiting Fellow, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1846832022-06-15T19:47:40Z2022-06-15T19:47:40ZPrivacy violations undermine the trustworthiness of the Tim Hortons brand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468485/original/file-20220613-18-1s5eth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Users don't expect that a more convenient way to get coffee will lead to privacy violations.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) of Canada, along with three provincial counterparts, released a scathing <a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-actions-and-decisions/investigations/investigations-into-businesses/2022/pipeda-2022-001/">report on the Tim Hortons’ app</a> on June 1. </p>
<p>The year after the seemingly benign app was updated in May 2019, a <a href="https://financialpost.com/technology/tim-hortons-app-tracking-customers-intimate-data">journalist’s investigation</a> found that the app was collecting vast amounts of user location data that could be used to infer their place of work and home, as well as their mobility patterns. </p>
<p>While the OPC’s report notes that “Tim Hortons’ actual use of the data was very limited,” it concluded that there was no “legitimate need to collect vast amounts of sensitive location information where it never used that information for its stated purpose.” This report follows on the heels of the OPC’s concerns over <a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-actions-and-decisions/advice-to-parliament/2022/parl_20220207/">the government’s use of mobile phone data during the pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>The joint report has met with both overtly negative and cynical responses on social media. Many are not surprised by the data collection practices themselves. Users have likely become numb to the collection of behavioural traces to create big data sets, a kind of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.105.1.3">learned helplessness</a>. What is jarring to many is the perceived violation of trust that has traditionally been given to this parbaked Canadian institution.</p>
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<h2>Everything, everywhere</h2>
<p>The Tim Hortons case illustrates our growing entanglement with artificial intelligence (AI) that reflects the backbone of seemingly benign apps. </p>
<p>AI has permeated every domain of human experience. Domestic technologies — mobile phones, smart TVs, robot vacuums — present an acute problem because we trust these systems without much reflection. Without trust, we would need to check and recheck the input, operations and output of these systems. But, when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2013.10">people are converted into data</a>, novel social and ethical issues emerge due to unqualified trust.</p>
<p>Technological evolution is continual. It can outpace our understanding of their operations. We cannot assume that users understand the implications of the agreements that reflect a single click or that companies fully understand the implications of data collection, storage and use. For many, AI is still the purview of science fiction. <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Ethical-Artificial-Intelligence-from-Popular-to-Cognitive-Science-Trust/Schoenherr/p/book/9780367697983">Popular science</a> frequently fixates on terrific and terrifying features of these systems. </p>
<p>At the cold heart of this technology are computer algorithms that vary in their simplicity and intelligibility. Complex algorithms are often described as “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674970847">black boxes</a>,” their content lacking transparency to users. When autonomy and privacy are at stake, this lack of transparency is particularly problematic. Compounding these issues, developers do not necessarily <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3364224">understand how or why privacy engineering is necessary</a>, leaving users to determine their own needs. </p>
<p>Data that is collected or used to train these virtual machines often reflects “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/CyberSecurity49315.2020.9138862">black data</a>” — data sets whose content is often opaque due to proprietary or privacy issues. How the data was collected, its accuracy and biases <em>must</em> be clearly established. This has led to calls for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.aay7120">explainable AI systems</a>, whose function can be understood by users and policymakers to scrutinize the extent to which their operations support social values. </p>
<h2>Paths to trust</h2>
<p>Our trust is not always grounded in facts. A basic sense of trust can be induced through repeated exposure to an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000085">object or entity</a>, rather than being hard-won through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2012.0332">direct exchange experiences</a> or <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Relational-Models-Theory-A-Contemporary-Overview/Haslam/p/book/9780805853568">knowledge of social norms of fairness</a>. The trouble with apps — Tim Hortons included — stems from these issues. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uvic.ca/gustavson/brandtrust/assets/docs/final--gbti-2021-main-report.pdf">Despite a brief and temporary decline in trust</a>, the brand remains a Canadian staple. Tim Hortons stores are a feature of Canada’s <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/think-you-know-what-the-top-tim-hortons-r-donut-across-canada-was-in-2020-or-how-most-canadians-take-their-coffee--874511922.html">physical and consumer landscapes</a>. Our familiarity with the brand makes the collection of products — real or digital — seem innocuous. It is therefore unreasonable to expect that consumers would suspect that their location data was collected <a href="https://priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2022/nr-c_220601/">every few minutes</a> throughout the day.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hand holds a mobile screen showing the Tim Hortons app. There's a Tim Hortons restaurant in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468491/original/file-20220613-26-gl6z4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">According to the Gustavson Brand Trust Index, Tim Hortons was voted the most trusted brand in Canada in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The dark patterns of design</h2>
<p>In design, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108">dark or deceptive patterns</a> reflect the active exploitation of design features to benefit the application developer or distributor. The most prominent case to date is that of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html">Cambridge Analytica scandal</a>, where Facebook user data was used in an attempt to affect how people voted. </p>
<p>Despite the decline in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trust-facebook-has-dropped-51-percent-cambridge-analytica-scandal-n867011">trust for Facebook</a>, users continued to use the platform with only <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/did-cambridge-analytica-actually-change-facebook-users-behavior/562154/">comparatively minor changes in their behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>Facebook’s initial response pointed out that: “<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2018/03/suspending-cambridge-analytica/">People knowingly provided their information … and no sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked</a>.” However, <a href="https://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/readingPolicyCost-authorDraft.pdf">users spend very little time reading privacy policies</a> and, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.038">when they are not presented with them, they don’t go out of their way to read them</a>.</p>
<p>Claims that anonymizing data — removing identifying personal information — can eliminate privacy issues are also overly simplistic. Merging multiple data sets provides <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html">a more complete picture of an individual</a>: what they prefer, how they behave, what they owe, who they date. With enough information, a detailed picture of a person can be created. </p>
<p>In some cases, AI can be as good as humans in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418680112">predicting personality traits</a>. In other cases, AI can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218772110">predict sensitive information that is not disclosed</a>. This could threaten our personal autonomy.</p>
<h2>Engaging with data ethics</h2>
<p>Given the growing capabilities of AI, coupled with a lack of transparency in how data is collected and used, <a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/collecting-personal-information/consent/gl_omc_201805/">the validity of users’ consent</a> must be questioned. The OPC’s judgement speaks to this point: users would not reasonably expect the kinds or amount of detail collected about their behaviour given the nature of the app. </p>
<p>While this information might not have been used by Tim Hortons, we must consider the unintended consequences of data collection. For instance, cybercriminals can steal and sell this information, making it available to others. By simply collecting this data, institutions, organizations and businesses are assuming responsibility for our information, how it is protected and used. They must be held accountable.</p>
<p>We don’t expect that a more convenient way to buy coffee and donuts will lead to privacy violations and the deepening of our digital footprint. The trade-off cannot be rationalized away.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Ethical-Artificial-Intelligence-from-Popular-to-Cognitive-Science-Trust/Schoenherr/p/book/9780367697983">no single solution to our privacy woes</a>, and many users are unlikely to disconnect. Users, developers, distributors and regulators need to be brought into more direct and transparent relationships with one another. New skills and competencies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS52410.2021.9629212">need to be developed in our education system to make sense of the social consequences of technology use</a>. And more agile public institutions need to be developed to address these issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Richard Schoenherr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Tim Hortons consumer app was found to have collected detailed user information, including location data. As a privacy violation, this challenges perception of Tim Hortons as a trusted brand.Jordan Richard Schoenherr, Assistant Professor, Concordia University, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813872022-04-28T14:42:10Z2022-04-28T14:42:10ZForests in the tropics are critical for tackling climate change – yet the people showing how are being exploited<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460359/original/file-20220428-9923-spo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3761%2C2505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-ancient-tropical-forest-mist-1197808021">Tanes Ngamsom/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nowhere is nature more vibrant than in Earth’s tropical forests. Thought to contain more than half of all <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abc6228">plant</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0301-1">animal</a> species, the forests around Earth’s equator have sustained foragers and farmers since the earliest days of humanity. Today, their bounty underpins much of our globalised diet and holds vast potential for <a href="https://theconversation.com/dwindling-tropical-rainforests-mean-lost-medicines-yet-to-be-discovered-in-their-plants-126578">new and existing medicine</a>. Those that remain lock up <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2035-0">billions of tonnes</a> of carbon dioxide each year, providing the best natural solution for climate change. There is no credible path to net zero emissions in which tropical lands are ignored.</p>
<p>Nations are clamouring for information on how much carbon tropical forests can keep out of a rapidly warming atmosphere to help limit global warming to well below 2°C. The best way to study these forests is through long-term measurements taken in carefully defined plots, one tree at a time, year-after-year. These plots tell us what species are present and need help, which forests store the most carbon and grow fastest and which trees excel at resisting heat and producing timber.</p>
<p>Far from the laboratories and capital cities where forests are studied and legislated upon, tropical people gather the data that forms the basis of our knowledge about these vital ecosystems. Conventional wisdom might suggest that making all their data freely accessible is egalitarian. But for the people measuring tropical forest species and carbon, offering the fruits of their labour without fair investment won’t reduce inequalities – it will increase them. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person in a harness ascends the trunk of a tropical tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Colombian colleague measures a giant Dipteryx tree in the Chocó rainforest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zorayda Restrepo Correa</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s because those gathering the data in tropical forests are extraordinarily disadvantaged compared to the researchers and policymakers who use it. Field workers can put their lives at risk to expand the world’s understanding of one of its best bulwarks against climate change and its biggest repository of biodiversity. For this, they receive scant protection and meagre compensation.</p>
<p>Valuing these workers is essential to make the most of what nature can offer to tackle biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. For example, tropical forests have an unparalleled ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. But without measuring this, the potentially massive contribution of tropical forests to slowing climate change will be overlooked, undervalued and inadequately paid for.</p>
<p>Now, 25 leading researchers in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01738-7">tropical forest science</a> from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America are demanding an end to the exploitation which undermines the sustainability of forests themselves.</p>
<h2>Precarious, dangerous and underfunded</h2>
<p>Measuring the biodiversity and carbon of a single hectare of Amazon forest requires collecting and identifying <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.85.1.156#:%7E:text=Contrary%20to%20accepted%20opinion%2C%20upper,soils%20on%20all%20three%20continents.">up to ten times</a> the number of tree species present in the UK’s entire 24 million hectares. The skill, risks and costs involved in gathering this information are ignored by those who expect it for free.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two world maps separately coloured to denote national GDP and tropical forest area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How (a) 2008–2018 national average GDP per capita compares with (b) tropical forest area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01738-7">Lima et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fieldworkers risk their lives to measure and identify remote tropical trees. Many face the threat of kidnapping and murder, not to mention natural hazards like snake bites, floods and fires. Most long-term workers have endured infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid, as well as dangerous transport and the risk of gender-based violence. But they may be out of work as soon as the data are collected. How many of those using their outputs to calibrate satellite instruments or write high-level reports, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-says-the-tools-to-stop-catastrophic-climate-change-are-in-our-hands-heres-how-to-use-them-179654">the recent one</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will face similar conditions?</p>
<p>It costs an estimated <a href="https://rainfor.org/upload/publication-store/2021/ForestPlotsnet_Taking_the_pulse_of_forests_plot_networks_BiolCons_2021f.pdf">US$7 million a year</a> to measure how much carbon is sequestered by intact tropical forests. This easily exceeds piecemeal funding by a handful of charities and research councils. Because investment in field research is so inadequate, tropical nations have little idea how their forests are faring as climate change accelerates. They’re unable to say which are slowing it and lack the bargaining power to raise the finance needed to protect them.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the US spends over US$90 million annually on its <a href="https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/bus-org-documents/docs/FIA%20FY2020%20Business%20Report%20-%20draft%20tables.pdf">national forest inventory</a>. Wealthy countries have a firm understanding of their forest carbon balances, and have little trouble demonstrating to the world the contributions their forests make to slowing climate change.</p>
<h2>A fair deal for field workers</h2>
<p>A different approach must put the needs of data gatherers first and demand those benefiting from their efforts contribute funding and other support. Equal collaboration should be the goal of funders, producers and users of tropical forest science alike.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students gather hold a measuring tape around a tree trunk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field botanist Moses Sainge trains university students in data collection, Sierra Leone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Moses N. Sainge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For that to happen, research funding must cover not only the costs of acquiring the data, but also of training and guaranteeing safe and secure employment for forest workers. Involving local communities is critical too – they often own the forests and need economic opportunities as much as anyone. After the fieldwork, there should be funding for the essential work of curating, managing and sharing the data.</p>
<p>Authors and journals who publish scientific studies on tropical forests can help by always including the people who collect the data as authors and publishing in their languages, rather than assuming English is enough.</p>
<p>Everyone could eventually benefit from the open sharing of data. After all, the tree of knowledge yields many fruits. But unless we dedicate ourselves to sustaining its roots, there will be little left to harvest.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Phillips receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the European Research Council, the European Space Agency, the European Union and the Royal Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aida Cuni Sanchez receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renato Lima received funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). </span></em></p>Tropical forests are one of humanity’s best hopes for slowing climate change.Oliver Phillips, Professor of Tropical Ecology, University of LeedsAida Cuni Sanchez, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Honorary Research Fellow, University of YorkRenato Lima, Associate Research Scientist in Forest Ecology, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1782162022-03-11T11:10:38Z2022-03-11T11:10:38ZAntisemitism: how the internet has revived old anti-Jewish tropes<p>Antisemitism in the UK appears to be at a modern record high. The <a href="https://cst.org.uk/">Community Security Trust (CST)</a> is an organisation dedicated to protecting Jewish communities. According to the most recent data it has collected, there were <a href="https://cst.org.uk/data/file/f/f/Incidents%20Report%202021.1644318940.pdf">2,255</a> antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2021. </p>
<p>This is the highest number ever collected by the CST in a single year. It represents a 34% increase from 2020 and breaks the previous record of 1,813 incidents set in 2019. The organisation explains this rise, in part, as being a consequence of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The flare-up in hostilities in the Middle East that took place in May 2021 led to a sharp spike in antisemitism here in Britain.</p>
<p>These shocking figures alert us to the current threats facing British Jewish communities. For many, the type of <a href="https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-how-the-origins-of-historys-oldest-hatred-still-hold-sway-today-87878">antisemitism</a> monitored by CST and found <a href="https://hopenothate.org.uk/2021/10/13/antisemitism-in-the-digital-age-online-antisemitic-hate-holocaust-denial-conspiracy-ideologies-and-terrorism-in-europe/">online</a> is a modern phenomenon. Evidence of anti-Jewish hatred, though, can be traced back across two millennia. </p>
<p>This long history means that the study of antisemitism has attracted to date far more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2019.1682177">historians</a> than data scientists. There is, however, a growing body of <a href="https://jpr.org.uk/publication?id=9993">statistical work</a> that seeks to measure the nature and extent of current issues so that policies can address them more effectively.</p>
<p>Recent research has mapped the scale of problems in the UK, as well as attitudes towards Jews, sensitivity towards anti-Jewish sentiment and the influence of social media. It shows that what might appear to be new forms of antisemitism are often merely age-old tropes revived.</p>
<h2>Official definition</h2>
<p>The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism">defines</a> “antisemitism” as, simply, hatred towards Jews. Despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/nov/29/palestinian-rights-and-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism">ongoing debates</a> concerning legitimate and illegitimate criticisms of Israel – addressed by the IHRA – <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/uk-governments-adoption-of-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism/">numerous organisations and public bodies</a> have adopted its framework. Arguably, we have something close to an official definition.</p>
<p>The term “antisemitism” has been used since being proposed by German writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/anti-Semitism">Wilhelm Marr</a> – himself an antisemite – in the late 19th century. There is a fairly <a href="https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-how-the-origins-of-historys-oldest-hatred-still-hold-sway-today-87878">broad consensus</a> among academics that modern antisemitism stretches back at least 200 years, to the formation of European states. The persecution of Jews, however, stretches back much further, to biblical times and perhaps beyond.</p>
<p>While the study of anti-Jewish hatred has long been the preserve of historians, organisations such as the <a href="https://cst.org.uk/research/cst-publications">CST</a>, the <a href="https://jpr.org.uk/publication?id=9993">Institute of Jewish Policy Research</a> and the <a href="https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/antisemitism-online">Woolf Institute</a> are developing a more data-driven picture of antisemitism today. But deciding on whether we take the historian’s long-view or crunch the latest stats need not be considered a zero sum game. We need both. </p>
<p>In fact, combining history and data science has already delivered valuable insights. Not least, that the “classic” historic tropes of antisemitism remain highly offensive to <a href="https://theconversation.com/researchers-asked-2-500-jewish-and-muslim-people-what-they-find-offensive-heres-what-they-said-127485">overwhelming majorities</a> within Jewish communities. </p>
<p>At first glance, antisemitism found <a href="https://hopenothate.org.uk/2021/10/13/antisemitism-in-the-digital-age-online-antisemitic-hate-holocaust-denial-conspiracy-ideologies-and-terrorism-in-europe/">on the internet</a> may appear to be a thoroughly modern invention. On <a href="https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/antisemitism-online">Instagram and Twitter</a>, we see terms commonly associated with antisemitism alongside contemporary <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-blame-social-media-for-conspiracy-theories-they-would-still-flourish-without-it-138635">conspiracy theories</a> relating to COVID-19, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/simoninis-letter-the-19th-century-text-that-influenced-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-about-the-illuminati-134635">Illuminati</a> group, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-and-how-to-change-their-minds-82514">chemtrails</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-experts-investigate-how-the-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-began-139137">5G</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/qanon-conspiracy-theories-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-are-a-public-health-threat-135515">deep state</a>. This feels about as 21st century as it gets. But dig a little deeper and the past emerges.</p>
<p>Hashtags on Instagram conveying strong anti-Israeli attitudes — such as #zionistagenda – regularly appear in conjuction with #devilworshipper and #newworldorderagenda. Similarly, #israhell is found with #saturndeathcultkiller (a historic antisemitic trope relating to Jews worshipping the planet Saturn).</p>
<h2>Enduring tropes</h2>
<p>A series of giant leaps through history will confirm that antisemitic depictions of Jews in modern society renew older ideas that have remained stubbornly resilient. Times may change but the tropes, it would appear, remain the same.</p>
<p>We see a forerunner of modern antisemitism in the <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0153.xml">New Testament</a> and the Gospel of John, as early Christians attempted to distance themselves from Judaism. Writing in the second century, Justin Martyr described Christians, and therefore not Jews, as the true people of God. If we are looking for the source of current antisemitic depictions of Jewish people as inherently different – or outside the norms of western society – here will do.</p>
<p>Fast forward to the 11th and 12th centuries and we find Jewish communities stigmatised and persecuted as traders and moneylenders. Financial success bred resentment leading to the expulsion of Jews from England by King Edward I in <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/::ognode-637356::/files/download-resource-printable-pdf-5#:%7E:text=In%201290%2C%20the%20entire%20Jewish,there%20by%20William%20the%20Conqueror.">1290</a>. Such events fostered stereotypes of Jews as greedy and untrustworthy that have survived for over 700 years.</p>
<p>In the 14th century, we find Jews blamed for the Black Death and the ritualistic killing of children – the so-called “<a href="https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/blood-libel">Blood Libels</a>”. Modern conspiracy theories casting Jewish people as devil-worshippers recycle tropes around paganism and satanism that are centuries-old.</p>
<p>A final giant leap through history lands us in the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-the-era-of-nationalism-1800-1918">19th century</a>, witnessing the birth of modern Europe. The emergence of the twin concepts of biological race and nationalism – blood and soil – was disastrous for European Jewish communities, leading ultimately to the Holocaust. Thinkers in the 19th century (such as Marr) asked, are European Jews really European? Are German Jews really German? And what do they want?</p>
<p>Suspicions and fears culminated in the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion">rather mysterious</a> 1903 publication of the notorious <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion">Protocols of the Elders of Zion</a> – a fabricated account of plans for Jewish global domination. Its popularity and influence grew throughout the 1910s and 1920s (thanks, in part, to the industrialist Henry Ford who <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/henryford-antisemitism/">republished</a> it in his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent). </p>
<p>Despite being exposed as a fake by The Times in 1921, the work remains a popular influence on antisemitic ideology – whether emanating from the political right or left. Modern-day conspiracies concerning secretive power, undue political influence and control of the media have a heritage traceable back to the same fictitious source material that was used to justify the genocide of European Jews.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Woolf Institute received funding from the Antisemitism Policy Trust and the Community Security Trust to undertake a study of antisemitism online, referenced in this article.</span></em></p>Latest figures show antisemitism in the UK is on the rise, with new expressions of anti-Jewish hatred merely reviving older ones.Julian Hargreaves, Director of Research at the Woolf Institute and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1753852022-02-25T17:27:04Z2022-02-25T17:27:04ZTo engage LGBTQ+ people in data collection, we need to look at its harmful history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446999/original/file-20220217-23-whsjbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=100%2C62%2C4951%2C3212&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paper-doll-people-holding-hands-448484386">STILLFX / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 1950s, the UK government formed a committee to investigate fears of a homosexual “problem” in Britain. This was partly sparked by a series of scandals, including the exposure of a Soviet spy ring of homosexual and bisexual men at the heart of major cultural and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35360172">political institutions</a>, and the conviction of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html">mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing</a> for gross indecency. </p>
<p>The Wolfenden Committee <a href="https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1386377">published their findings</a> in 1957, recommending the decriminalisation of sex between men aged 21 and over. The committee also made a curious statement about the absence of relevant data:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So far as we have been able to discover, there is no precise information about the number of men in Great Britain who either have a homosexual disposition or engage in homosexual behaviour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The history of data about LGBTQ+ people is troubled by gaps and absences. The national census, for example, only asked questions about sexual orientation and trans/gender identity <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/18/census-to-ask-about-sexual-orientation-for-the-first-time">for the first time</a> in 2021. Population data from the census is used to inform policies and make decisions about funding for services. Leaving out data about sexual orientation and trans/gender identity means that the specific needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ communities have been overlooked.</p>
<p>In the rare cases where data was collected about individuals who broke gender, sex and sexuality norms, it was often used to “prove” criminality, deviance or difference. For example, records detailing the names of men charged with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59863140">crimes related to homosexual activity</a> or participants in studies of homosexuality, in which <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.37984.442419.EE">same-sex attraction was understood as a mental illness</a>.</p>
<p>The damaging history of data is often left out of discussions about the importance of LGBTQ participation in major research exercises, such as the census and the UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-lgbt-survey-summary-report">national LGBT survey</a>. </p>
<h2>Careful data collection</h2>
<p>Today’s relationship between data and LGBTQ+ communities is partly the product of a history where data functioned as a tool to stigmatise, pathologise and inflict harm.</p>
<p>Far more data about LGBTQ+ lives exists today than at the time of the Wolfenden Committee. This data can reveal the effects of discrimination on rules that shape everyday life, and expose differences for LGBTQ+ communities in everything from the use of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2021.1958249">public transport</a>, experiences of <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-health">healthcare</a> to <a href="https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/guidance/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/creating-inclusive-environment/lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-people">educational attainment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stack of envelopes and brochures with census 2021 branding and the words 'your response is required by law.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446996/original/file-20220217-2552-c58vhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UK census asked questions about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/2021-united-kingdom-census-letters-reference-1931729267">mundissima / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there is no easy way out of the damage caused by the harmful history of data collection. LGBTQ+ communities are told, by those in positions of power, that to change the status quo we first need to gather evidence about the nature, size and scale of the problem before work can commence. But, considering data’s dark past, why should we participate?</p>
<p>In projects involving the collection of data about LGBTQ+ communities, I ask myself the following questions before I agree to share my data:</p>
<p><strong>What does the project aim to achieve?</strong> </p>
<p>The collection and analysis of data is not an objective in itself. What problem does the data specifically intend to address? It is also vital to assess whether the project creates more good than harm, and whether the potential benefits outweigh the potential dangers. </p>
<p><strong>Who will make decisions about the data?</strong> </p>
<p>LGBTQ+ people should make decisions about data that disproportionately affects their communities. Where this is not practical, or there is a risk of overburdening a small number of people, decision makers should be familiar with LGBTQ+ issues and people.</p>
<p><strong>Is more data required to solve the problem?</strong> </p>
<p>Do not assume the need for more data –- enough evidence of a problem might already exist to justify the need for action. Similarly, does the data present an authentic account of LGBTQ+ lives? This might be a matter of collection and analysis methods, such as multiple response options and the provision of open-text boxes, to produce a more meaningful reflection of lives and experiences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Guyan is employed on a project that receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. He sits on the board of the LGBTI charity the Equality Network.</span></em></p>Data collection has been used as a weapon against LGBTQ+ communities.Kevin Guyan, Research fellow, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1675222021-10-27T13:14:26Z2021-10-27T13:14:26ZBeing Watched: How surveillance amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest — Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 10<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428566/original/file-20211026-21-1lrwvl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C43%2C2800%2C1898&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A CCTV camera sculpture in Toronto draws attention to the increasing surveillance in everyday life. Our guests discuss ways to resist this creeping culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lianhao Qu /Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/8e5484a0-56c5-49c4-b0c7-cf7458c63316?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>So much of our lives happens online. </p>
<p>When the global pandemic was declared, for many of us, the shift from in-person life to digital life was almost total. We attended classes online, went on virtual dates, had Zoom parties with our friends and video consultations with our doctors. </p>
<p>Social media took on an outsized role in how we kept in touch with loved ones and shared our reactions to the news. For many of us, our digital footprint has exploded in size — there is more information than ever about our health, what we think, where we live, how we look and who we love available online. </p>
<p>One could argue that artificial intelligence technology has an upside, like when it <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/01/04/how-artificial-intelligence-can-power-climate-change-strategy/?sh=5560f3d83482">tracks and predicts climate change</a>. But there are also a lot of downsides. And even the potential benefits can have negative implications. </p>
<p>Although we sometimes opt in to share personal information in exchange for the convenience of apps and services, there are other times when our information is shared — and used — without our permission, and often without our knowledge. For example, in 2020, <a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2020/nr-c_200706/">Clearview AI was essentially kicked out of Canada</a> for collecting a database of billions of Canadian faces they sold to police departments and private companies. </p>
<p>Once analysts gain access to our private data, they can use that information to influence and alter our behaviour and choices. And if you’re marginalized in some way, the consequences are worse. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man lies face down on the ground while police kneel next to him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428581/original/file-20211026-23-1b47d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surveillance plays a role in the attitude of RCMP officers towards Indigenous land defenders. Here, RCMP arrest a man during an anti-logging protest in Caycuse, B.C. in May.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jen Osborne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Experts have been <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters">warning about the dangers of data collection</a> for a while now, especially for Black, Indigenous and racialized people. This year, Amnesty International called for the banning of facial recognition technology, calling it a <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/01/ban-dangerous-facial-recognition-technology-that-amplifies-racist-policing/#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CFacial%20recognition%20risks%20being%20weaponized,Rights%20Researcher%20at%20Amnesty%20International.">form of mass surveillance that amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest</a>. </p>
<p>What can we do to resist this creeping culture of surveillance? </p>
<p>Our guests today <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/ep-10-being-watched-how-surveillance-amplifies-racist-policing-and-threatens-the-right-to-protest">on this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> have some ideas. They are experts in discrimination and technology. Yuan Stevens is the policy lead on technology, cybersecurity and democracy at the Ryerson Leadership Lab and a research fellow at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill School of Public Policy. Her work looks at technology’s impact on vulnerable populations. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is the Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media at Simon Fraser University where she also heads up the Digital Democracies Institute. She’s the author of several books — her most recent is <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/discriminating-data"><em>Discriminating Data</em></a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C71%2C3870%2C2544&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428273/original/file-20211025-23-10nke5m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police forces across Canada have begun using technology to predict who may become involved in illegal activity or where crimes might take place. Here an Oakland police officer surveils protesters with binoculars during a 2020 protest in California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Christian Monterrosa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a full transcript of this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, go <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-watched-mass-surveillance-amplifies-racist-policing-and-threatens-the-right-to-protest-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-10-transcript-167523">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Additional reading</h2>
<p>Each week, we highlight articles or books that drill down into the topics we discuss in the episode. This week:</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/intense-police-surveillance-for-indigenous-land-defenders-contrasts-with-a-laissez-faire-stance-for-anti-vax-protesters-169589">Intense police surveillance for Indigenous land defenders contrasts with a laissez-faire stance for anti-vax protesters</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-police-surveillance-technologies-act-as-tools-of-white-supremacy-127435">How police surveillance technologies act as tools of white supremacy
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/to-protect-our-privacy-and-free-speech-canada-needs-to-overhaul-its-approach-to-regulating-online-harms-170256">To protect our privacy and free speech, Canada needs to overhaul its approach to regulating online harms</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-new-refugee-camp-like-a-prison-greece-and-other-countries-prioritize-surveillance-over-human-rights-168354">Inside new refugee camp like a ‘prison’: Greece and other countries prioritize surveillance over human rights</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-technologies-like-police-facial-recognition-discriminate-against-people-of-colour-143227">AI technologies — like police facial recognition — discriminate against people of colour</a></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381818/original/file-20210201-13-1g0n3ld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/podcasts">Click here to listen to Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/police-and-governments-may-increasingly-adopt-surveillance-technologies-in-response-to-coronavirus-fears-133737">Police and governments may increasingly adopt surveillance technologies in response to coronavirus fears </a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/collecting-race-based-data-during-coronavirus-pandemic-may-fuel-dangerous-prejudices-137284">Collecting race-based data during coronavirus pandemic may fuel dangerous prejudices </a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters">Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/privacy-and-data/the-new-surveillance-state/274550">The new surveillance state</a></p>
<p><a href="https://citizenlab.ca/2020/09/algorithmic-policing-in-canada-explained/">Algorithmic Policing in Canada Explained</a></p>
<h2>Follow and listen</h2>
<p>You can listen or subscribe on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The series is produced and hosted by Vinita Srivastava. Our producer is Susana Ferreira. Our associate producer is Ibrahim Daair. Reza Dahya is our sound producer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Zaki Ibrahim wrote and performed the music we use on the pod. The track is called Something in the Water.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Mass data collection and surveillance have become ubiquitous. For marginalized communities, the stakes of having their privacy violated are high.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1675232021-10-27T13:14:24Z2021-10-27T13:14:24ZBeing Watched: How surveillance amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest — Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 10 transcript<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428563/original/file-20211026-23-j8t5oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C119%2C3361%2C2147&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo of art work by Banksy in London comments on the power imbalance of surveillance technology. Guests on this episode discuss how AI and Facial recognition have been flagged by civil rights leaders due to its inherent racial bias.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niv Singer/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/8e5484a0-56c5-49c4-b0c7-cf7458c63316?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/being-watched-mass-surveillance-amplifies-racist-policing-and-threatens-the-right-to-protest-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-10-167522"><strong>Episode 10: Being Watched: How surveillance amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest</strong></a>.</p>
<p><em>NOTE: Transcripts may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.</em></p>
<p><strong>Vinita Srivastava (VS):</strong> From The Conversation, this is Don’t Call Me Resilient, I’m Vinita Srivastava.</p>
<p><strong>Wendy Hui Kyong Chun (WKC):</strong> We don’t have to accept the technology that we’re given. We can reinvent it, we could rethink it. We need to challenge the defaults.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> It feels like technology, like facial recognition and artificial intelligence, are an inevitable part of our lives. We ask Google Nest or Alexa to find and play a song. We use our faces to unlock our phones and we share news articles on social media. I’ll be honest, I feel like this technology has its upsides, like when it can track and predict climate change or identify the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. But there are also a lot of downsides. Once analysts gain access to our private data, they can use that information to influence and alter our behaviour and choices. And like most else, if you’re marginalized in some way, the consequences are worse. Experts have been warning about the dangers of data collection for a while now, especially for Black, Indigenous and racialized people. And this year, Amnesty International called for the banning of facial recognition technology, calling it a form of mass surveillance that amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest. So what can we do to resist this creeping culture of surveillance? Our guests today are experts in discrimination and technology. Yuan Stevens is the Policy Lead on Technology, Cybersecurity and Democracy at the Ryerson Leadership Lab and a research fellow at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill School of Public Policy. Her work examines the impacts of technology on vulnerable populations in Canada, the U.S. and Germany. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is the Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media at Simon Fraser University and she leads the Digital Democracies Institute there. She’s the author of several books, including <em>Discriminating Data</em>, which is out this fall. I’ve been thinking non-stop about surveillance and facial recognition for the last little while, as you can imagine. I’m not living under a rock. I know that there are significant dangers around personal data collection. And yet I’m one of those complacent people. I’ve got two kids. I’ve got a full-time job. I’m really busy. And I actually love social media. I put pics of my kids on there last night. So what are some of the risks of sharing my life online? Yuan, what do you think?</p>
<p><strong>Yuan Stevens (YS):</strong> I think there is a lot at stake when it comes to the amount of data we’re giving companies and how they can treat us and what they can do with that data once they have it. So what I do in my work is I basically look at the development of technology and I think about the ways it can be abused. One of the worst possible outcomes is that we end up in a place where companies work with governments to have this data and to access this data, but to also categorize us and control us. So one of my own personal interests is how people were treated by the Stasi and by their peers in the German Democratic Republic. And I think about how different they think about their data than we do in North America because they have a history behind them of the state snooping into their lives. There’s this ethnographic study by a researcher named <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322753483_Surveillance_and_control_an_ethnographic_study_of_the_legacy_of_the_Stasi_and_its_impact_on_wellbeing">Ulrike Neuendorf</a>, and she was able to discover that the impacts of this surveillance included things like significant impacts on their well-being, mistrust and significant trauma. If you think about what it feels like for someone to know something about you that you didn’t want them to know, that is huge. </p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> What I’m hearing you saying is that this has implications for our health, our lives, our well-being and society. I sort of understand it on a large scale, that it can result in all of these things that are troubling. But on a personal level, what are the dangers there for somebody who is like, well, I’m a law-abiding citizen, so what’s the problem?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> So I think that one thing we can do is maybe switch it a little and not say I’m a law-abiding citizen. What’s the problem? But ask, what are the conditions under which you are a law-abiding citizen? So what’s really fascinating now is the example you started with. You took pictures of your kid. You put them online. What’s wrong with this? What’s interesting now is that publicity and surveillance are so intertwined now that it’s hard to understand their difference. So in other words, when you take that picture and you put it up and you create a public persona, you engage with people. It’s not simply you putting it up, but the ways in which by you doing this, what else is happening?</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I’m just going to use an example as old, old school in the ‘90s when I was an activist on campus, we knew that they were Canadian agents somewhere in our midst. We just knew that they were collecting files on us. But in my head, I imagine those files to be like manilla folder files with black and white photos. So information was just more localized. And I don’t know what it’s like to be an activist today. And I’m wondering about the — especially for racialize people, queer people, immigrants, refugees — how they might be extra targeted by this kind of information and surveillance. What’s at stake for these communities?</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Yeah, I think it’s a really good question of who stands to be, I think, the most targeted and harmed by the use of surveillance technology. So whether you’re queer or a religious minority or person of colour or if you are protected under discrimination law, what that means is that you deserve treatment that ensures that your rights are protected in the same way that you would be if you were a dominant group. It’s absolutely true that certain groups are going to be more targeted than others. So if you look at predictive policing technologies, there are certain logics inscribed in the use of and design of those technologies that can further perpetuate realities or statistical findings that existed before. So, for example, if you decide to deploy police to a certain neighbourhood because there are more instances of crime there, in fact, what you could be doing is finding crime more often there, primarily because you’re actually sending police there more than if you were to send them to another neighbourhood, for example.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> You’re just looking more basically.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Exactly. That’s one of the instances in ways in which people of colour, for example, and racialized people can be further subject to surveillance and further found guilty of crimes because what you have is a feedback loop. So feedback loops are a really important concept when you’re looking at surveillance studies in the context of technologies.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Every time I think of predictive policing, I’m thinking about this dystopian movie, <em>Minority Report</em>.</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> So a classic example of this is the Chicago heat list, which is now no longer being used. And there, they came up with — allegedly — they said what we’re doing is just coming up with a list of people most likely to be murdered or to murder somebody and then we’re going to go visit them and say, “look, you better change your ways or else something bad is going to happen.”</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Oh, my God, that dystopian movie is actually real.</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> It is real.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Absolutely.</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> And the way that they determined the people most likely to be murdered was by going to past arrest history. So if you had a co-arrest with somebody who became a homicide victim, that would be a strong indicator that you then would be involved in a homicide. Now, what’s really strange about this is that, first of all, they didn’t take time into consideration. So you have these people who had co-arrests from being a kid and when marijuana was illegal, smoking weed together, who had clean records being visited by police and saying, look, you have to change your ways. And since some of these people had clean records when the police came and visited, the neighbours were like, this guy’s a snitch. The crazy thing as well is that the data that went into these predictive policing models and the whole setup of the model itself came from studying mainly African-American neighbourhoods in the west side of Chicago. So race and background are already there. So race didn’t need to be an overt factor because it was an implicit factor. So if you think of how these programs work, they’re trained using certain data in the way that they’re validated as correct — to say, OK, yes, it’s made a proper prediction — is by hiding some of that past data and then saying, “OK, let’s use this model.” Does it predict the past correctly? So these don’t actually predict the future. They’re tested on the ability to break with the past. So if the past is racist, these programs will only be considered to be correctly validated as accurate if they make racist predictions. So you’re caught in a system in which learning means repeating the past, which means you lose the future. So the reason why we don’t want these automated systems is because all it does is automate past mistakes. So some artists did this great mock-up of a machine-learning programme to find the white collar criminal on the fancy side of New York, blah, blah, blah. So, I mean, I think that the question is, how are we understanding exactly what Yuan was talking about, which are the communities that are most policed so we have the most data about? And so, if the police really want to say, look, we want to be effective and we want to use our resources, then go for this empty swath of people in the suburban homes, doing all sorts of stuff that are never pulled over or looked into. Not that I’m advocating for that.</p>
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<p><strong>VS:</strong> I want to talk a little bit about Clearview, because some of this became known when the story of Clearview broke in the mainstream media that all of our data is scraped and then put into this database that is now being used for facial recognition and this database being sold to police or to law enforcement or to companies. Can you explain a little bit about that case and why it’s so important in Canada, the Clearview case?</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Yeah, absolutely. What happened was this company, a start-up that’s still getting funding, tried to provide and is trying to provide its services to the general public and to the police and to governments and all kinds of entities. Clearview AI is a facial recognition technology company, but it’s also a data scraping company. So what it does is it scrapes data from all kinds of sources, social media websites in general, collects those, has used deep learning and machine learning technologies to analyse whose face is whose and categorise those. And then what it does is it sells the service of matching faces. Why this matters is not only is the company selling essentially face matching capabilities but it’s scraped significant amounts of data contrary to law that would otherwise prevent the scraping of data. Now scraping it in itself as not to be seen as criminal. I think it can be used for legitimate reasons, for example, by academic researchers. But none of this is done without our consent. We had no notice. We had no knowledge of this.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> You mean like Canadians. When you say we, we’re talking about residents of Canada?</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Yeah, I think when it comes to both racism and surveillance, we do have Canadian exceptionalism and Clearview AI and its use by the RCMP is another example to show that surveiling and the surveillance of us in Canada absolutely exists and is occurring. The reason why it matters too is because what happened was the RCMP was using Clearview AI services and conducted hundreds of searches, though it only admitted to some of those to the office of the privacy commissioner. And it’s always about the child predators. It always starts with that. And that’s something that <a href="https://www.schneier.com/">Bruce Schneier</a> has referred to as the four horsemen of the info apocalypse. Which is this idea that there is certain aberrant behaviour that you want to address. And then you say, you know, I’m going to use this technology only in those situations, which could be true. All of us can get behind the idea that children should be protected. And that’s, of course, I believe that, too. But then what you see happening is surveillance creep and the ability to use that same technology in other situations. And that’s actually, in a way, what’s happening potentially or what could happen with Apple scanning our images before they’re stored in our iCloud for, again, child sexual abuse materials. People who are concerned about how technology can be used and abused are always thinking in a sort of Minority Report sense. And the good reason we’re trying to see what is the absolute worst that can happen with us is because we’re trying to protect all people, because you know that in order to protect all people, you can’t allow certain people to be treated a certain way necessarily unless they’re … depending on how much trust there is an institution.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Are you basically saying my photos in my phone are also something to be worried about?</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Absolutely, absolutely.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Just gets worse and worse. We have to talk for a minute now, or more than a minute, about facial recognition. I know that you both look at this in your work. Can we talk a little bit about what the technology is and also how it’s being used right now, Wendy?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> Sure. So facial recognition technology is a form of pattern recognition. And so it’s the idea that somehow and these are done through machine learning programs mainly, and they don’t focus on features that make sense to us. It’s not like a computer saying, “oh, I remember these people’s eyes, I’m going to match this eye to that eye,” but rather through various algorithms. Basically, you see one face and you try to match it to another face is the basic technology. It’s very problematic. It doesn’t really work well. It’s also very bad because the early programs were trained on publicly available faces. So you’re thinking Hollywood. Now think of what a hotbed of diversity Hollywood is. Other ones are like undergraduates who will do anything for five dollars or some school credit. So the libraries were mainly white. And so these technologies work very well with light-skinned faces and really poorly with dark-skinned faces. It’s getting better. But that’s not the point. The point isn’t that this needs to be perfect for all skin tones. But the reason why this matters so much is that think of how self-driving cars operate. If they can’t recognize dark people as people, then there’s clear danger that’s involved in this. But also because it’s not refined on dark-skinned faces. And this is something that people at Georgetown (University) have been working on a lot, is that it will misrecognize dark faces as criminal because it doesn’t have that distinction. So there was this famous example given by the ACLU where they looked at the U.S. Congress and said who amongst these are criminals? And it was disproportionately people of colour that were marked as “criminals.”</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> So basically, these technologies are built on historical information, which includes historical discrimination, historical racism. And so, this idea that science is neutral and technology is neutral is completely wrong. Basically, the discrimination is built into the technology.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Yeah, to the point, work by Kate Robertson and Cynthia Khoo at Citizen Lab has shown that we absolutely do have a bias to believe that mathematical processes are neutral. And so we’ll trust technology and we’ll want to listen to it, so to speak, when it has a certain output. And it’s because we think that this is statistics, this is maths. I don’t understand how it works, it must be fine. And that’s really problematic when you consider the fact that not only police but judges could also rely on essentially recommendation systems. It’s probably OK that we can be recommended some TV shows and Netflix before certain recommendations to be made regarding the most fundamental of our rights, that is a totally different story.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> So should we just completely be not using this technology at all?</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> I absolutely think there should be certain no-go zones when it comes to the collection and particularly the processing of our data for certain outcomes. So, for example, in the general data protection regulation, which is one of the most advanced and progressive data protection regulations in Europe, what is not allowed is the processing of information for automated decision-making for the purposes of profiling. On its face, what that suggests to me is that you shouldn’t be allowed to, for example, collect information about faces in the public setting, perhaps are very certain circumstances. But the presumption should be that you don’t collect faces and biometric information in the setting and therefore to render someone potentially criminal and biometric information is also a really sensitive data type that I think that absolutely deserves special protection. Right now in Canada, there isn’t special affordances given to the protection of that kind of data. What we have is this kind of free for all in a way where all data is the same. But in fact, different kinds of data have different levels of sensitivity and there should be enforceable regulation in Canada saying that spelling out the kinds of data that should not be treated in certain ways. And right now that doesn’t exist.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> And Wendy, what were you going to say?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> I completely agree with everything that Yuan has said. I want to just talk about the predictive part of this, because what I would argue is that the problem is using these programs for prediction. The famous example is Amazon’s hiring algorithm, which was trained on all of the hires it made. And what ended up happening is if you had “woman” anywhere on your CV, you lost.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> How is that even possible? The technology actually docks you a point for being a woman?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> Yeah. So because they went by who they hired and who they didn’t hire. They didn’t hire women, so clearly being a woman is bad, you’re not going to be a good employee. And so they ditched the program. But rather than ditching it, what if we said thank you so much for meticulously documenting your discrimination? We use these not for prediction, but actually as evidence of historical trends. The example I always give is global climate change models. So global climate change models give you the most probable future given past and present behaviour. But then we don’t say, “oh, this is great, it’s going to go up two degrees, let’s make it go faster,” or we’re offered the most probable future so we won’t make that future happen. So what if we took a lot of these things which are allegedly predictive and said, OK, the heat list shows Chicago police are discriminatory, so let’s make sure that the kinds of things that would be automated under this don’t happen. So I think that’s one thing. Take these and look at them as historical probes rather than as predictive. To offer one example of people who are doing this, at USC in the Geena Davis Institute, they’re using these kind of pattern recognition technologies to go through the past archive of Hollywood films and to see what kind of gender representation is there and think through what kinds of representation there have been within mainstream media.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Yeah, and maybe in a more hopeful note as well, I’m aware of efforts by the Algorithmic Justice League, which looks at how people can flag issues with algorithms with respect to how they’re biased. And the hope is that you can improve systems because you say this is something that should be fixed and there are risks inherent with opening up your systems for criticism by the public. But I think it’s really one important step forward to allowing people who are affected by these technologies to impact their design that would actually give rise potentially to what <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/contributors/sasha-costanza-chock">Sasha Costanza-Chock</a> calls design justice. And I won’t go into that in-depth here, but it’s really the idea that there’s meaningful participation of community groups in the design of technology.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> So just talking about the participation of groups in the creation of technology, I don’t know what it’s like for a protester right now on the street. But I do know that summer of 2020 we had uprisings in the United States, but also in Hong Kong and Beirut. And I know that facial recognition is not just used in North America. It’s a global issue that we’re talking about this idea of surveillance. And I know that both of you have talked about some of the ways that the protesters have resisted the surveillance. What caught your attention, Wendy, with some of these protests?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> Well, what’s important is that they’re very aware of how the technology works, because, again, what we started with is the ways in which publicity and surveillance are now intertwined. So it’s hard to think through publicity without thinking through surveillance at the same time. And what I would argue that the protesters show us and that we need to start thinking about our public rights, because I really think the work that is being done around privacy is important, but it’s completely inadequate. And there’s a thought that once you’re in public, you lose all rights, you’re simply exposed. You’re a public figure. But increasingly we’re all public figures. And what we need to be able to do is to be in public, vulnerable, and yet not attacked. And what I find really important is the ways in which people offer each other shade, either through making sure pictures are taken in a certain way or people registering that they’re at a certain place in order to provide a larger or different sense of location for these technologies. And these are inadequate in terms of long term solutions. But what they bring out is if you think again of how all these recommendation engines work or how everything works, we’re fundamentally intertwined with each other. Everything you get is based on what somebody else has done, which means we’re fundamentally connected. So what if we took this position of being connected as a place from which to act and to act collectively and to say we need to be able to loiter in public because everybody should have the right to loiter, everyone should have the right to be in public. And if we switch it this way, I think that this opens up an entirely different conversation. And more importantly, it moves privacy away from corporations get to know everything about you, but not share to other users and think about it in a far more expansive way.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> You said provide shade, is that what you said? Provide shade for others, for each other? </p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> Yes, literally and metaphorically. And this comes from a lot of the work that Kara Keeling has done. She’s in African-American studies and in film studies. And we have been trying to think together through this question of exposure, shade and protection. And it comes from work that she’s done in analysing slavery and in house enslaved women took care of each other and their bodies, not because they own them, but because they did it, because they were outside of certain notions of privacy. So privacy, especially within the U.S., is very white. It’s like the first case in New York State around privacy was the protection of Abigail Robinson, I believe, who is a white woman whose photograph was used to sell flour against her will. But while this case was going on, Nancy Green, who was Aunt Jemima, had no rights to her image. She was completely viewed in public. And so I think if we move away from certain notions of privacy, which have never been adequate, and instead think through publicity as an enabling position that isn’t based on notions of certain really problematic notions of property. I think this can open things up in really productive ways.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I like that the right to loiter, the right to be public, the right to be in the public.</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> And that comes from work done by wonderful Indian feminists who wrote a book, <em>Why Loiter</em>, which is all about that feminist women need and Muslim men need the right to loiter in public.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> I never really thought about it in that way, the idea of loitering being a right to take up space. But you’re saying we all should have it.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> I absolutely agree with Wendy that we have a system in Canada that is actually very similar to the U.S. where we prioritize privacy. In fact, it isn’t just privacy that is at stake, but it’s the right to control our information. The German Constitutional Court calls this informational self-determination. And that phrase to me really encompasses and cuts across a lot of these issues we’re talking about today because we’re talking about privacy, we’re talking about algorithmic decision-making recommendation systems. But privacy alone isn’t enough to protect our rights. Right now, we have changes to Canada’s privacy laws, and that doesn’t go far enough. And in fact, what we need is a comprehensive approach that protects our right to informational self-determination and views us not as consumers, but views us as humans whose human rights are at the core of the most important thing to protect. And that matters because if you’re out in public and if the police are using what’s called an IMSI catcher. So something that can ping to cell towers to tell where you are. Yes, it’s your privacy at stake. But yes, it’s also your freedom to protest. At the root of it is the right to have your information treated in the way that you want to be treated.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Before we wrap up, do you have a couple of top things that you want to leave listeners with, either things that you think individuals should be paying attention to or things that we should look at from a policy level or just observations that you think we should be making?</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> We don’t have to accept the technology that we’re given. We can reinvent it. We could rethink it. We need to challenge the defaults. And secondly, technology isn’t the solution to our social problems. It’s often framed this way because there’s this belief that somehow we humans are inadequate and we can build this thing that can take care of these problems for us. It will never be, but it can be, part of the solution. But only if we look at the technology closely and we realize that the technology itself is built-in with these assumptions. But it’s also built on studying certain populations. And that maybe one way, therefore, to change these technologies is to revisit the populations that were so key to the building of certain presumptions, like go back to that residential study of segregation in the United States, realized there was something more and so much more that was happening. And so, therefore, start with everybody we touch whenever we use these technologies as a way to open up different worlds.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> And to add to that, I really want to encourage any listeners who care about these topics to take up space too. And this extends what you were saying, Wendy, about the right to loiter and the right in some ways to take up that space. I really would encourage people who would deploy technology, whether you’re policymakers or are the police, to really consider what is in the public interest. And part of the consideration of what’s in the public interest is consideration of how your technology will impact those equality-seeking groups. So it’s twofold. It’s really take up more space if you are going to be a person who’s impacted by this. And also keep in mind the public interest and those are qualities seeking groups when you are using this technology to the detriment of those people.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> Lovely to speak with you both so much. Thank you very much for taking the time today to be with me.</p>
<p><strong>WKC:</strong> Thank you for inviting us. And it’s a wonderful conversation.</p>
<p><strong>YS:</strong> Thank you so much. I’m really honoured to be part of this.</p>
<p><strong>VS:</strong> That’s it for this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient. Thanks for listening. I’d love to know, are you as freaked out as I am after that conversation? Talk to me. I’m on Twitter @WriteVinita. And don’t forget to tag our producers @conversationca. Just use the hashtag #DontCallMeResilient. If you’d like to read more about the creeping dangers of surveillance, go to theconversation.com/ca. It’s also where you’ll find our show notes with links to stories and research connected to our conversation with Yuan Stevens and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun. Finally, if you like what you heard today, please help spread the love. Tell a friend about us or leave us a review on whatever podcast app you’re listening to us on. Don’t Call me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. It was made possible by a grant for journalism innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The series is produced and hosted by me, Vinita Srivastava. Our producer is Susana Ferreira. Our associate producer is Ibrahim Daair. Reza Dahya is our incredibly patient sound producer and our fabulous consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Lisa Varano leads audience development for The Conversation Canada and Scott White is our CEO. And if you’re wondering who wrote and performed the music we use on the pod, that’s the amazing Zaki Ibrahim. The track is called Something in the Water. Thanks for listening, everyone, and hope you join us again. Until then, I’m Vinita. And please, don’t call me resilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Once analysts gain access to our private data, they can use that information to influence and alter our behaviour and choices. If you’re marginalized in some way, the consequences are worse.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientIbrahim Daair, Culture + Society EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686462021-10-18T14:40:21Z2021-10-18T14:40:21ZGet ready for the invasion of smart building technologies following COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426033/original/file-20211012-27-1mqcmfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3071&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When employees step into a workplace or shoppers into a shopping mall, they're unaware of the presence of the smart technology that surrounds them.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Denys Nevozhai/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The past two years were a busy time for real estate professionals. While commercial buildings like office towers, shopping malls and hotels stood empty for months in a row as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, building owners and their corporate tenants were pondering how to bring people back to their properties. Technology plays a big role in these plans. </p>
<p>As part of their return-to-work plans, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-10/socgen-natixis-use-under-desk-sensors-as-office-return-ramps-up">a couple of European investment banks have decided to smarten their employees’ work stations by placing under-desk sensors to optimize office occupancy</a>. </p>
<p>The technology is similar to that used to manage parking spots. The use of sensors limited to occupancy seems fairly harmless, although it would not take much to move from smart office to something potentially more nefarious.</p>
<p>Technologies that can capture virtually every aspect of employee behaviour in their work spaces already exist: employers can determine how much time they work, whom they interact with and for what purposes, even how they feel. </p>
<p>The list goes on to the extent that human behaviour can be fully captured by ad-hoc technologies developed by <a href="https://medium.com/@vincentlecamus/proptech-what-is-it-and-how-to-address-the-new-wave-of-real-estate-startups-ae9bb52fb128">so-called proptech (property technology) companies</a>.
These technologies are known <a href="https://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=985617">as background or calm technologies</a>, meaning they capture a user’s attention only when necessary and remain in the background most of the time.</p>
<p><a href="https://calmtech.com/papers/coming-age-calm-technology.html">They are pervasive although totally invisible to their users, who are oblivious to their presence</a>. When employees step into an office building or visitors enter a shopping mall, for example, they’re often unaware they’re surrounded by technological apparatus that constantly interacts with them. </p>
<h2>The rise of smart buildings</h2>
<p>Such technology-embedded structures are known as smart buildings. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306307018823108">They are the future of commercial real estate and allow unprecedented levels of customized interactions between a building and its occupants</a>.</p>
<p>Smart buildings are equipped with real-time feedback mechanisms that allow the building to anticipate changes in its environment as well as its occupants’ needs. In the process, the building’s occupants are reduced to being the source of the feedback. They are supposed beneficiaries of the technology but their presence is the main resource feeding the technology through data collection and analytics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a person walks through a modern, minimalist office of chairs and desks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426210/original/file-20211013-25-1arq1qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Is behavioural control behind the rise of smart buildings?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Laura Davidson/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But an important question needs to be asked: In view of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58805965">the recent whistle-blowing revelations about Facebook</a>, should we blindly trust those who control smart building technology to have the well-being and best interests of a building’s occupants at heart? If you believe so, then the pervasiveness of calm technology won’t trouble you.</p>
<p>Conversely, if you tend to doubt Big Tech’s goodwill towards mankind, one word should spring to mind: Control.</p>
<p>Clearly, behavioural control is not something technology evangelists want us to associate with smart buildings. But it is the elephant in the room that the technological wizardry of smart building vendors can’t fully hide from view.</p>
<p>While smart buildings have the ability to predict our behaviours, they also open the door to pervasive control through ever more customized interactions. Each of us exist in our own work and living spaces, but with increasingly limited or no control over the experiences designed for us and powered by algorithms.</p>
<h2>Shaping behaviour</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=664">Since the early days of cybernetics, control has always been central to information technology</a>. Etymologically, <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2015/03/cyber-word-origins/">“cyber” comes from the Greek verb for to steer</a>. Control in commercial buildings is part of surveillance, but it goes further than that by aiming to shape behaviours.</p>
<p>In democratic societies, motivations for shaping the behaviour of building occupants are mostly utilitarian, part of a trade-off between individual satisfaction and free will. In less democratic societies like China, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/17/smart-cities-surveillance-privacy-digital-threats-internet-of-things-5g/">smart building technologies can also be linked to policing and maintaining social order</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A team of window washers descend on ropes as they clean an office building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426222/original/file-20211013-21-b2g56p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A team of window washers descend on ropes as they clean an office building in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)</span></span>
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<p>But these two visions of control over the spaces where we live and work aren’t conceptually very different. The moral high ground is quite slippery when it comes to technology-enabled control, and the interplay between control and profit in modern societies is nothing new. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/abs/control-revolution-technological-and-economic-origins-of-the-information-society-by-james-r-beniger-cambridge-harvard-university-press-1986-pp-xi-493-2500/8BED19F85693CAF1BB2F34D26823E5E2">It’s been mentioned in the context of capitalist economies and the information society since the 1980s</a>. </p>
<p>Behavioural control takes on a whole new dimension with smart buildings, however, since there’s nowhere to hide. Extracting behaviourial data from building occupants could become a major source of wealth for the real estate industry. To capitalize on this new resource, real estate companies can partner with technology companies and join the ranks of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/opinion/sunday/surveillance-capitalism.html">“surveillance capitalists.”</a> </p>
<h2>The path forward</h2>
<p>However, it would be a deal with the devil since tech companies don’t care whether buildings are occupied or not. They can extract data elsewhere and still thrive. By contrast, as the last two years have exemplified, empty buildings are the ultimate risk to any landlord.</p>
<p>So what should be the way forward for the real estate industry? Stigmatizing smart buildings isn’t helpful. Smart technologies have definite benefits for building occupants and they are here to stay. </p>
<p>But first and foremost, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.1201/9780429344145-2/digitalisation-commercial-real-estate-patrick-lecomte?context=ubx&refId=5ea8a9fd-be1a-472e-a3c6-84d0b40749ae">a regime of property rights in commercial buildings — including those pertaining to digital space — should be enacted so that these rights can be shared among all stakeholders</a>. This is especially true for the occupants of smart buildings and in all technology-fuelled spaces, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/style/metaverse-virtual-worlds.html">including so-called metaverses, where human dignity is at stake</a>. Their human rights must be legally recognized and protected at all costs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Lecomte does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Behavioural control is poised to become a new resource for employers and the real estate industry.Patrick Lecomte, Professor, Real Estate, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653232021-08-02T20:12:16Z2021-08-02T20:12:16ZInstagram’s privacy updates for kids are positive. But plans for an under-13s app means profits still take precedence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414095/original/file-20210802-13-1j1w9w7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C40%2C4425%2C2950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Facebook <a href="https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/giving-young-people-a-safer-more-private-experience">recently announced</a> significant changes to Instagram for users aged under 16. New accounts will be private by default, and advertisers will be limited in how they can reach young people. </p>
<p>The new changes are long overdue and welcome. But Facebook’s commitment to childrens’ safety is still in question as it continues to develop a separate version of Instagram for kids aged under 13. </p>
<p>The company received <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2021/may/11/instagram-for-kids-the-social-media-site-no-one-asked-for">significant backlash</a> after the initial announcement in May. In fact, more than 40 US Attorneys General who usually support big tech <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/10/attorneys-general-ask-facebook-to-abandon-instagram-for-kids-plans.html">banded together</a> to ask Facebook to stop building the under-13s version of Instagram, citing privacy and health concerns.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-social-media-damaging-to-children-and-teens-we-asked-five-experts-126499">Is social media damaging to children and teens? We asked five experts</a>
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<h2>Privacy and advertising</h2>
<p>Online default settings matter. They set expectations for how we should behave online, and many of us <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.001">will never shift away</a> from this by changing our default settings. </p>
<p>Adult accounts on Instagram are public by default. Facebook’s shift to making under-16 accounts private by default means these users will need to actively change their settings if they want a public profile. Existing under-16 users with public accounts will also get a prompt asking if they want to make their account private.</p>
<p>These changes normalise privacy and will encourage young users to focus their interactions more on their circles of friends and followers they approve. Such a change could go a long way in helping young people navigate online privacy.</p>
<p>Facebook has also limited the ways in which advertisers can target Instagram users under age 18 (or older in some countries). Instead of targeting specific users based on their interests gleaned via data collection, advertisers can now only broadly reach young people by focusing ads in terms of age, gender and location. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-companies-learn-what-children-secretly-want-63178">How companies learn what children secretly want</a>
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<p>This change follows <a href="https://au.reset.tech/uploads/resettechaustralia_profiling-children-for-advertising-1.pdf">recently publicised research</a> that showed Facebook was allowing advertisers to target young users with risky interests — such as smoking, vaping, alcohol, gambling and extreme weight loss — with age-inappropriate ads.</p>
<p>This is particularly worrying, given Facebook’s <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/07/age-verification/">admission</a> there is “no foolproof way to stop people from misrepresenting their age” when joining Instagram or Facebook. The apps ask for date of birth during sign-up, but have no way of verifying responses. Any child who knows basic arithmetic can work out how to bypass this gateway.</p>
<p>Of course, Facebook’s new changes do not stop Facebook itself from collecting young users’ data. And when an Instagram user becomes a legal adult, all of their data collected up to that point will then likely inform an incredibly detailed profile which will be available to facilitate Facebook’s main business model: extremely targeted advertising.</p>
<h2>Deploying Instagram’s top dad</h2>
<p>Facebook has been highly strategic in how it released news of its recent changes for young Instagram users. In contrast with Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram’s head <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mosseri/">Adam Mosseri</a> has turned his status as a parent into a significant element of his public persona. </p>
<p>Since Mosseri <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Instagram-Visual-Social-Media-Cultures/dp/1509534393">took over</a> after Instagram’s creators left Facebook in 2018, his profile has consistently emphasised he has three young sons, his curated Instagram stories include #dadlife and Lego, and he often signs off Q&A sessions on Instagram by mentioning he needs to spend time with his kids.</p>
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<img alt="Adam Mosseri's Instagram Profile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413928/original/file-20210730-19-1s5i9f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Adam Mosseri’s Instagram Profile on July 30 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instagram</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>When Mosseri posted about the changes for under-16 Instagram users, he carefully framed the news as coming from a parent first, and the head of one of the world’s largest social platforms second. Similar to <a href="https://reallifemag.com/layers-of-identity/">many influencers</a>, Mosseri knows how to position himself as relatable and authentic.</p>
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<h2>Age verification and ‘potentially suspicious’ adults</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/07/age-verification/">paired announcement</a> on July 27, Facebook’s vice-president of youth products Pavni Diwanji announced Facebook and Instagram would be doing more to ensure under-13s could not access the services.</p>
<p>Diwanji said Facebook was using artificial intelligence algorithms to stop “adults that have shown potentially suspicious behavior” from being able to view posts from young people’s accounts, or the accounts themselves. But Facebook has not offered an explanation as to how a user might be found to be “suspicious”. </p>
<p>Diwanji notes the company is “building similar technology to find and remove accounts belonging to people under the age of 13”. But this technology isn’t being used yet. </p>
<p>It’s reasonable to infer Facebook probably won’t actively remove under-13s from either Instagram or Facebook until the new Instagram For Kids app is launched — ensuring those young customers aren’t lost to Facebook altogether.</p>
<p>Despite public backlash, Diwanji’s post confirmed Facebook is indeed still building “a new Instagram experience for tweens”. As I’ve argued in the past, an Instagram for Kids — much like Facebook’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-28/messenger-kids-is-facebooks-strategy-video-messeging-app-google/9285530">Messenger for Kids before it</a> — would be less about providing a gated playground for children and more about getting children familiar and comfortable with Facebook’s family of apps, in the hope they’ll stay on them for life.</p>
<p>A Facebook spokesperson told The Conversation that a feature introduced in March prevents users registered as adults from sending direct messages to users registered as teens who are not following them. </p>
<p>“This feature relies on our work to predict peoples’ ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up,” the spokesperson said.</p>
<p>They said “suspicious accounts will no longer see young people in ‘Accounts Suggested for You’, and if they do find their profiles by searching for them directly, they won’t be able to follow them”. </p>
<h2>Resources for parents and teens</h2>
<p>For parents and teen Instagram users, the recent changes to the platform are a useful prompt to begin or to revisit conversations about privacy and safety on social media. </p>
<p>Instagram does provide some <a href="https://about.instagram.com/community/parents">useful resources</a> for parents to help guide these conversations, including a bespoke Australian version of their <a href="https://about.instagram.com/en-us/file/217520986937315/IG-Parents-Guide-English-(Australia).pdf/">Parent’s Guide to Instagram </a> created in partnership with <a href="https://parents.au.reachout.com/landing/parentsguidetoinsta">ReachOut</a>. There are many other online resources, too, such as CommonSense Media’s <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/parents-ultimate-guide-to-instagram">Parents’ Ultimate Guide to Instagram</a>.</p>
<p>Regarding Instagram for Kids, a Facebook spokesperson told The Conversation the company hoped to “create something that’s really fun and educational, with family friendly safety features”. </p>
<p>But the fact that this app is still planned means Facebook can’t accept the most straightforward way of keeping young children safe: keeping them off Facebook and Instagram altogether. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anorexia-coach-sexual-predators-online-are-targeting-teens-wanting-to-lose-weight-platforms-are-looking-the-other-way-162938">'Anorexia coach': sexual predators online are targeting teens wanting to lose weight. Platforms are looking the other way</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tama Leaver receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as a chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.</span></em></p>The changes do not stop Facebook itself from collecting young users’ data and keeping it.Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1498042021-03-23T12:32:00Z2021-03-23T12:32:00ZPrivacy may be under threat, but its protection alone isn’t enough to preserve civil liberties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390448/original/file-20210318-23-ybwzfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2995%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators shine their cellphones during a protest in St. Louis in 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-light-up-their-cell-phones-during-a-protest-news-photo/1228695076?adppopup=true">Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>While the battle over privacy is everywhere in American life, it’s actually a relatively new concept that didn’t become grounded in law until over a century after the Declaration of Independence. </p>
<p>Privacy is supposedly a core American value, forged in the country’s founding. For example, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Privacy/b7CE5PqvVw8C?hl=en">historians claim</a> that privacy concerns drove the American Revolution. Colonists were reacting to British troops invading their warehouses and shops in search of taxable goods, and to British demands that the Colonists shelter soldiers in their homes. </p>
<p>And today, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/qa-daniel-solove-how-bad-security-arguments-are-undermining-our-privacy">civil liberties advocates argue</a> that democracy requires privacy. They believe privacy is necessary to create independent-minded, free-thinking citizens who vote as they wish.</p>
<p>Yet the term “privacy” is not mentioned in the Constitution. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1321160">legal right to privacy</a> wasn’t articulated until 1890. And it came to be robustly <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/479/">defended by the Supreme Court</a> only in the 1960s. </p>
<p>These are among the many things I discovered while researching “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/e-commerce-law/life-after-privacy-reclaiming-democracy-surveillance-society?format=PB&isbn=9781108811910">Life after Privacy: Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Society</a>,” which explores the nature of privacy, its history and its uncertain future. I also learned that privacy remains an ill-formed and embattled concept. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/">Americans feel</a> their privacy is gravely endangered in the digital age. Corporations use increasingly sophisticated methods of data collection to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2016/12/31/facebook-knows-when-you-fall-in-love-and-thats-pretty-creepy/?sh=21021cf6f525">analyze and influence people’s behavior</a>.</p>
<p>This ability can be used both to bolster and hamper democracy. For example, Facebook used its deep knowledge of user data to <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/facebook-experiment-boosts-us-voter-turnout-1.11401">boost voter turnout</a> in 2010. Four years later, data firm Cambridge Analytica used the same technique to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/23/leaked-cambridge-analyticas-blueprint-for-trump-victory">target voters</a> with Donald Trump campaign ads.</p>
<p>In my research, I learned that political liberty relies much less on privacy than on people’s ability and willingness to demonstrate and deliberate in the public realm. By that I mean protecting privacy alone will not help with consumer and citizen freedom. I believe people need to use the power of public protests to gain and maintain their civil liberties.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-stonewall-riots-didnt-start-the-gay-rights-movement/">gay rights movement</a> demonstrated this power in the past century. Throughout the 20th century in much of America, people were <a href="https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/decriminalization-sodomy-united-states/2014-11">prosecuted for homosexual behavior</a> in their private lives. The aggressive work of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/act-up-aids.html">ACT UP</a> and other gay rights activist groups led to legal protections for people to live and love as they wished. And in 2003, the Supreme Court <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/558/">overruled all state laws</a> that had prohibited homosexuality. </p>
<p>Civil and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/labor">labor rights campaigns</a> in the 20th century had similar outcomes. Despite civil rights leaders’ being <a href="https://taylorbranch.com/king-era-trilogy/parting-the-waters/">spied on and hounded</a> from the start, they used their power of coordination and public organizing to trump their lack of privacy. Their organizational roots, built over many decades, enabled them to withstand repeated assault and launch <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in">disciplined</a>, <a href="https://www.biography.com/news/black-history-birmingham-childrens-crusade-1963">creative</a> protests. </p>
<p>In other words, privacy is not so much a prerequisite for democracy as it is a product of democratic action. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>It is still unclear how digital technology has changed the nature of political protest, and whether it has made it more or less effective. </p>
<p>As scholar <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300259292/twitter-and-tear-gas">Zeynep Tufekci notes</a>, modern, internet-fueled “networked protests” like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/what-is-occupy-wall-street-the-history-of-leaderless-movements/2011/10/10/gIQAwkFjaL_story.html">Occupy Wall Street</a> and the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/17/what-is-the-arab-spring-and-how-did-it-start">Arab Spring</a> used social media to quickly organize massive protests, but with <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/nze9em/twitter-makes-it-easy-to-start-a-revolution-without-finishing-it">limited long-term success</a>. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Digital technology has changed Americans’ behavior in surprising ways, including when it comes to privacy. People share intimate details about their lives on social media. Meanwhile, digital media <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/9/e2023301118">has also given rise</a> to hardened partisanship and political radicalization.</p>
<p>I believe philosophers need to look ahead and consider what other new behaviors digital technology is inspiring. Perhaps consumers and citizens will become more predictable, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/02/age-of-surveillance-capitalism-shoshana-zuboff-review">data analysts believe</a>. Alternatively, people may rise up and rebel against constant surveillance and the efforts of spying governments and marketers to control them.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149804/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Firmin DeBrabander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A privacy expert says citizens will need to exercise their right to public protest if they want to preserve their privacy.Firmin DeBrabander, Professor of Philosophy, Maryland Institute College of ArtLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1481632020-10-16T18:54:27Z2020-10-16T18:54:27ZRural health cooperatives are challenged by connectivity and social distancing – but are innovating<p><em>Rural areas are seeing <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/new-covid-cases-jump-16-in-rural-counties-to-set-one-week-record/2020/10/14/">some of the fastest spread of the COVID-19</a> in the U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2020.0151">taxing</a> already stressed <a href="https://theconversation.com/rural-hospital-closings-reach-crisis-stage-leaving-millions-without-nearby-health-care-124072">rural health care systems</a>. Researchers Tanisa Adimu and Amanda Phillips Martinez head the Community Health Systems Development team of the <a href="https://ghpc.gsu.edu/">Georgia Health Policy Center</a> at Georgia State University, providing and evaluating technical assistance to rural health care providers and organizations around the country. Over the past months, they surveyed around 120 rural health care providers about the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they are adapting to meet those challenges.</em></p>
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<h2>New ways to get health data</h2>
<p>There has been a <a href="https://ghpc.gsu.edu/download/adjusting-approaches-to-data-collection-and-utilization/?wpdmdl=4754146&refresh=5f8765c5c4c371602708933">drop in the number of patients</a> making in-person visits to clinics and hospitals, so biometric data points like body mass index and blood pressure along with other clinical measures have been difficult to collect. </p>
<p>So rural health collaboratives are relying more on self-reported data, which has its own limitations, but is certainly better than no data at all. These data are usually collected by phone, email, video conferencing and even the old-school method of snail mail. Health care providers are sending out information for patients to complete and send back to them by mail. </p>
<p>Others engage people where they gather – at convenience or grocery stores. And they are using those sites as an opportunity to meet people where they’re likely to go in order to collect data and information.</p>
<h2>Delivering services for mental health and addiction</h2>
<p>Peer support programs require a trusting relationship and are driven mainly by in-person contact. The peer support specialist takes their client to an appointment, or to go have coffee on a bench at the park. So we heard from folks that one strategy was just <a href="https://ghpc.gsu.edu/download/peer-support-and-recovery-services-in-a-virtual-environment/">connecting by phone</a> or moving to online and virtual. This helps mitigate transportation barriers, and also some of the stigma of maybe having your car parked outside the mental health clinic for all to see in your small community. So there have been some some positives to the changes brought by the pandemic.</p>
<p>An unexpected opportunity has been the expansion of access to telehealth services. Clinicians are now able to deliver and be paid for <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-telehealth-as-good-as-in-person-care-a-telehealth-researcher-explains-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-remote-health-care-142230">additional services</a> through telehealth, and many of the patients they are seeing are responding very positively.</p>
<h2>Technology barriers to access</h2>
<p>Connectivity and technology issues are <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-lockdowns-expose-the-digital-have-nots-in-rural-areas-heres-which-policies-can-get-them-connected-144324">persistent challenges in rural communities</a>, even before the pandemic. </p>
<p>As a result of the barriers to access presented by the pandemic, rural health collaboratives report unreliable or spotty access to broadband when trying to meet with patients, partners and staff.</p>
<p>Others have shared the challenge of engaging patients who do not have access to technology. Not everyone has a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/">smartphone</a> or a computer to videoconference with their doctors. Rural health collaboratives have responded to these challenges through innovation and creativity. Some rural providers are offering what they’re calling curbside visits, or they are loaning iPads to patients who are in their vehicles and are there for virtual visits at their clinic. </p>
<p>Another especially creative method which demonstrates the cohesion that is often found in rural communities is that there are schools, libraries, hospitals and even a local McDonald’s that offered their parking lot so that community members can use their WiFi as a hotspot.</p>
<h2>Changes here to stay?</h2>
<p>When we first started hearing from the rural collaboratives in March and April, everyone was in sprint mode, figuring stuff out on the fly and learning as they go. Nobody had an instruction manual per se for how to take your services, make them pandemic-relevant, meet the needs of your communities and fulfill the requirements of their grants. We’re starting to see providers move from the sprint mentality into the marathon mentality. The pandemic is here to stay for a while.</p>
<p>Things will probably not go back to the way that they were pre-COVID-19 in terms of how we deliver health care services, given how patients want health care services and what they need.</p>
<p>One of the challenges is that rural health collaboratives are concerned about the uncertainty of the policy environment going forward. And so they’re asking themselves, “When we’re on the other side of COVID-19, are we still going to be able to provide services to our patients to the extent that we have during the pandemic?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The pandemic has exacerbated existing issues of connectivity and access, but providers and patients are finding creative solutions.Tanisa Adimu, Assistant Project Director, Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State UniversityAmanda Phillips Martinez, Assistant Project Director, Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436382020-07-31T17:50:38Z2020-07-31T17:50:38ZVideo: Who controls pandemic data?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350286/original/file-20200729-29-10wdu6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C7916%2C5297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public data is vital to the functioning of a democracy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/financial-report-chart-and-calculator-medical-royalty-free-image/963050722?adppopup=true">Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: When the Trump administration ordered hospitals <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/20/coronavirus-hhs-hospital-data-373269">to report COVID-19 data</a> to the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/">Department of Health and Human Services</a> rather than the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> as they had been doing, it provoked <a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87632">worries and criticism from public health experts</a>. The White House said that the HHS system will provide more accurate data faster, but the switch did <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/28/covid19-coronavirus-vaccine-distribution/">raise concerns</a> that political considerations would influence what data is reported. Professor of public policy Julia Lane, who recently published the book “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/democratizing-our-data">Democratizing Our Data: A Manifesto</a>,” explains why public data is vital to public health and democracy in general.</em> </p>
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<h2>What was the main concern over the data?</h2>
<p>The whole point of having a career civil service running public data systems is that, because they can’t be fired, they have the integrity to produce the statistics the best way possible. And that’s what makes the federal government and state and local governments such high-quality data engines.</p>
<p>Now, the concern that came up is the appearance of political interference. Who knows what actually happened. But the point is, if there is political pressure on the measurement, then that can substantially affect the aggregates. The language that has come out of the administration has not helped the cause of the career civil servants appropriately.</p>
<h2>Why is it important to have accurate and transparent public data?</h2>
<p>When you’re making decisions that are important for all the citizens of the country, or the population of the country as a whole, then you need good data to be able to allocate those resources. Now, if those data are biased in some way, people are not going to get counted. And if they’re not counted, they’re not going to get resources.</p>
<p>People matter. A democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. If you don’t know who the people are, you don’t have a democratic system of government. And if you don’t have high quality data, you can make lots of mistakes. For example, we didn’t have high quality data on the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4139477/">opioid crisis</a>. And so it kind of surprised everyone how bad it was because we had no way of measuring it.</p>
<h2>What happens when government data is influenced by politics?</h2>
<p>In the United States, I don’t think that has been a major issue, although I’ll give you one example in which government data has been influenced by politics. But certainly in dictatorships, government data is influenced by politics because if you control the message of the data, you control an awful lot of messaging that’s going on in the country. Anyone who’s worked for the World Bank or in totalitarian countries will be able to tell you that government data is the first thing that goes.</p>
<p>Now, I’m going to give you an example from the United States, and this is quite well documented. So the U.S. Census Bureau in 1940 was asked to provide tabular information on the location of Japanese Americans. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/03/secret-use-of-census-info-helped-send-japanese-americans-to-internment-camps-in-wwii/">That’s the information that was used</a> to round people up and put them in internment camps – Japanese Americans in internment camps.</p>
<h2>People are relying on nongovernmental sources, such as like Johns Hopkins University or the media, for data on the spread of the virus. What are some potential problems with data from private institutions?</h2>
<p>The challenge is if you don’t have a trusted source and what you’re seeing happening here is people are going to multiple other sources. So they’re going to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">Johns Hopkins</a>, <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/">Worldometer</a> or <a href="https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/">1Point3Acres</a> – people are getting their data from lots of different sources. </p>
<p>I don’t want to cast aspersions on any of those datasets, but how does the data that they put out compare with some measure of ground truth? How does the data collection persist over time? How do we standardize measures across countries? With private institutions, maybe people are trying to sell you things. Maybe there’s marketing involved or there’s a profit motive.</p>
<h2>How do we improve our public data systems?</h2>
<p>What I talk about in the book, which is called “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/democratizing-our-data">Democratizing Our Data: A Manifesto</a>,” is reducing the monopoly power in the federal system. If you have a monopoly power, you’ve got a single point of failure, and that makes you vulnerable to these political pressures that we’re seeing.</p>
<p>So what I talk about is a networked system that pushes the development of measures and indicators down to the states and local areas – the regions which are closer to the data and have a better sense of the way in which the data are generated. But combine that with the federal system so that you get consistency, that quality focus that I was just talking about.</p>
<p>The current system clearly isn’t working. When I wrote the book, I did not expect the coronavirus pandemic to highlight all of the fragilities in our data collection system. I talk much more about GDP and unemployment. But all of the fragilities of our current system are being exposed with the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
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<header>Julia Lane is the author of:</header>
<p><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/democratizing-our-data">Democratizing our Data: A Manifesto</a></p>
<footer>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</footer>
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</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Lane receives funding a number of federal and state government agencies and philanthropic foundations. All of them are listed on her website <a href="http://julialane.org">http://julialane.org</a>. She works for New York University and the Coleridge Initiative. </span></em></p>A White House decision to take over collection of COVID-19 data from the CDC sparked worries over political interference. A public data expert talks about the importance of transparent public data.Julia Lane, Professor of Economics, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1407592020-06-24T16:49:40Z2020-06-24T16:49:40ZBalancing privacy with public health: how well is South Africa doing?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343453/original/file-20200623-188921-kvilgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The French mobile phone application StopCovid, developed to trace people who test positive with COVID-19. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chesnot/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 spreads from person to person through droplet and contact transmission. That’s why contact tracing and quarantining have been included as one approach to control the spread of the virus. The aim is to ensure that the number of new cases generated by each confirmed case is maintained below the effective reproduction number. </p>
<p>This process entails identification, assessment and quarantining of people who have been exposed to the virus. But COVID-19 can be transmitted before people are symptomatic. Therefore, in an effort to prevent further transmission, “one-step-ahead” tracing and preemptive quarantining are important measures in limiting the spread of the disease.</p>
<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa acted swiftly once the first cases were identified in South Africa by declaring a national state of disaster. Among the measures taken was the gazetting of amended regulations for <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-south-africas-response-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-13-may-2020">contact tracing</a>. These allowed for the creation of an electronic contact tracing database in which the personal information of people infected with COVID-19 – or suspected to have come into contact with infected persons – could be aggregated. Personal information was to be collected from a variety of sources. This included mass testing as well as contact tracing using digital surveillance technologies.</p>
<p>But contact tracing poses a range of challenges – from technological through to the protection of personal privacy. South Africa needs to be cognisant of both if it’s going apply this correctly.</p>
<h2>Technology issues</h2>
<p>China and Singapore reported success in the use of cellular phones in the fight against COVID-19. Their success has been dependent on smartphone applications that collect GPS and bluetooth location and proximity data. Smartphone applications are also being used in a number of developed countries as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01514-2">virtual health passports</a>.</p>
<p>This isn’t possible in the South African context as only 51% of people <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/Pew-Research-Center_Technology-use-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa_2018-10-09.pdf#page=5">surveyed</a> were reported to own smartphones. </p>
<p>South Africa relies on the triangulation of cell tower metadata supplied by electronic communication service providers. This is also problematic. In rural areas with few towers, triangulation is not possible. In urban areas, buildings scatter signals. Even under ideal conditions and with a high density of cell towers, it can only locate a phone to approximately 100 metres. This technology does not allow for identification of close contacts or retrospective traces.</p>
<p>Given these limitations, it is highly unlikely that <a href="http://www.sajbl.org.za/index.php/sajbl/article/view/626">cellular telephone tracing</a> using cell tower metadata will contribute to identifying or locating COVID-19 cases or contacts in the country. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mobile-phone-data-is-useful-in-coronavirus-battle-but-are-people-protected-enough-136404">Mobile phone data is useful in coronavirus battle. But are people protected enough?</a>
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<h2>Privacy issues</h2>
<p>In South Africa, marred by historical systematic discrimination, recent abuses of power and continued social marginalisation, particular consideration needs to be given to the measures being used to contain the spread of COVID-19.</p>
<p>There is provision in South Africa law for <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2002-070.pdf">cellular phone data to be accessed</a>. Data are primarily used in anti-crime activities, and access requires a court order from a judge. Allegations that the information has been used in covert and unauthorised ways have raised suspicion. The use of some information has been challenged in the courts and in late 2019, the Gauteng High Court <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2019/384.html">struck down</a> key parts of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication Related Information Act as being an affront to the constitutional right to privacy. </p>
<p>What is to stop the state from using the information gathered for contact tracing as a security measure – or for other purposes that fall outside the realm of public health?</p>
<p>In the case of COVID-19, the regulations authorise the Director-General of Health to issue tracking orders. The regulations also instruct the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to appoint a retired High Court judge as the COVID-19 Designated Judge. Justice Kate O’Regan, a retired Constitutional Court judge, <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-ronald-lamola-appoints-justice-kate-o%E2%80%99regan-coronavirus-covid-19-designate-judge-3">was appointed</a> to oversee the contact tracing database.</p>
<p>To protect public health via contact tracing, balancing privacy rights with other constitutional rights is essential. This is not an easy task. The <a href="http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/12911">rights of people in the midst of an epidemic</a> must be considered in both the textual setting of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng.pdf">South African Constitution</a> and their socioeconomic setting. </p>
<p>Health data qualify as special personal information in terms of the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/3706726-11act4of2013protectionofpersonalinforcorrect.pdf">Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013</a>. Additional safeguards are required when health data are collected, processed and stored. The Act was due to come into effect on 1 April 2020, but this has been postponed due to the pandemic. </p>
<p>This has left South Africa with its constitutional and common law protection of privacy. </p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>A person’s right to access healthcare is determined by an intricately linked bundle of human rights. This includes the right to dignity, bodily and psychological integrity and privacy. </p>
<p>The government’s power to limit any rights during a pandemic by collecting personal information for purposes of contact tracing must be considered against its constitutional obligations. This includes taking reasonable measures to achieve the realisation of these rights within available resources. </p>
<p>Balancing these rights is nuanced by South Africa’s socioeconomic context, which influences how the rights may be exercised. For example, <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=6429">13% of the population</a> live in informal settlements, making it difficult to implement evidence based preventative methods such as social distancing and shelter in place directives. </p>
<p>In addition, South Africa relies on <a href="https://edpb.europa.eu/sites/edpb/files/files/file1/edpb_guidelines_20200420_contact_tracing_covid_with_annex_en.pdf">guidelines</a> for ethical data management issued by <a href="https://www.cfjustice.org/civil-societys-call-to-states-we-are-in-this-together-dont-violate-human-rights-while-responding-to-covid-19/">international bodies</a> for protection of people’s privacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its electronic contact tracing database is aligned with the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/332049">interim guidance of the World Health Organisation</a> on contact tracing during COVID-19. </p>
<p>The World Health Organisation has also provided training material and a <a href="https://www.who.int/godata/about">link</a> to software developed to enable countries to properly manage case-contact relationships and follow-up contacts.</p>
<p>The most essential data privacy principles include transparency, accountability, information quality, security and data subject participation. Data processing, consisting of collection, storage and use, must be lawful and for a clearly defined purpose. This purpose will determine the limits of use.</p>
<p>Protection of privacy goes much deeper than merely protection of personal information. The protection of personal information is fundamental to non-discrimination, human dignity and the freedoms of speech, association, movement and trade. These rights are central to any open and democratic society. The wellbeing and safety of a society as a whole during pandemics rely heavily on the codependent relationships between society, its individuals and their government.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted weak points in the preparedness of countries to deal with large scale health care disasters. It has also pointed out constitutional weaknesses and shortcomings. Capitalising on the fear of another war and in realising his political ambition to establish the United Nations after WWII, Winston Churchill said “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. </p>
<p>Similarly, many modern-day politicians are exploiting the current crisis to strengthen their positions of power. The challenge for society is to seek to improve protection of rights and freedoms during the crisis, rather than to acquiesce in their abrogation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Sean Pepper receives funding from the South African Medical Research Council and the University of Pretoria</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Pope, Camille Castelyn, Ignatius Michael Viljoen, and Marietjie Botes do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a country marred by systematic discrimination and continued social marginalisation, particular consideration needs to be given to the measures being used to contain the spread of COVID-19.Michael Sean Pepper, Director, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine & SAMRC Extramural Unit for Stem Cell Research & Therapy, University of PretoriaMarietjie Botes, Post Doctoral Researcher, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305102020-06-22T12:16:32Z2020-06-22T12:16:32ZAI could help solve the privacy problems it has created<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337436/original/file-20200525-106866-1wvl1lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artificial systems use reams of data to get a better profiles of individuals. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>The stunning successes of artificial intelligence would not have happened without the availability of massive amounts of data, whether its smart speakers in the home or personalized book recommendations. And the spread of AI into new areas of the economy, such as AI-driven marketing and self driving vehicles, has been driving the collection of ever more data. These large databases are amassing a wide variety of information, some of it sensitive and personally identifiable. All that data in one place makes such databases tempting targets, ratcheting up the risk of privacy breaches.</p>
<p>The general public is largely wary of AI’s data-hungry ways. According to a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2018/05/21/brookings-survey-finds-worries-over-ai-impact-on-jobs-and-personal-privacy-concern-u-s-will-fall-behind-china/">survey by Brookings</a>, 49% of people think AI will reduce privacy. Only 12% think it will have no effect, and a mere 5% think it may make it better. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Oo_T8iYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">cybersecurity</a> and privacy <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2QFqeJIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researchers</a>, we believe that the relationship between AI and data privacy is more nuanced. The spread of AI raises a number of privacy concerns, most of which people may not even be aware. But in a twist, AI can also help mitigate many of these privacy problems.</p>
<h2>Revealing models</h2>
<p>Privacy risks from AI stem not just from the mass collection of personal data, but from the deep neural network models that power most of today’s artificial intelligence. Data isn’t vulnerable just from database breaches, but from “leaks” in the models that reveal the data on which they were trained. </p>
<p>Deep neural networks – which are a collection of algorithms designed to spot patterns in data – consist of many layers. In those layers are a large number of nodes called neurons, and neurons from adjacent layers are interconnected. Each node, as well as the links between them, encode certain bits of information. These bits of information are created when a special process scans large amounts of data to train the model. </p>
<p>For example, a facial recognition algorithm may be trained on a series of selfies so it can more accurately predict a person’s gender. Such models are very accurate, but they also may store too much information – actually remembering certain faces from the training data. In fact, that’s exactly what researchers at Cornell University <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3133956.3134077">discovered</a>. Attackers could identify people in training data by probing the deep neural networks that classified the gender of facial images. </p>
<p>They also <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7958568">found</a> that even if the original neural network model is not available to attackers, attackers may still be able to tell whether a person is in the training data. They do this by using a set of models that are trained on data similar, but not identical, to the training data. So if a man with a beard was present in the original training data, then a model trained on photos of different bearded men may be able to reveal his identity.</p>
<h2>AI to the rescue?</h2>
<p>On the other hand, AI can be used to mitigate many privacy problems. According to <a href="https://enterprise.verizon.com/resources/reports/dbir/">Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report</a>, about 52% of data breaches involve hacking. Most existing techniques to detect cyberattacks rely on patterns. By studying previous attacks, and identifying how the attacker’s behavior deviates from the norm, these techniques can flag suspicious activity. It’s the sort of thing at which AI excels: studying existing information to recognize similar patterns in new data.</p>
<p>Still, AI is no panacea. Attackers can often modify their behavior to evade detection. Take the following two examples. For one, suppose anti-malware software uses AI techniques to detect a certain malicious program by scanning for a certain sequence of software code. In that case, an attacker can simply shuffle the order the code. In another example, the anti-malware software might first run the suspicious program in a safe environment, called a sandbox, where it can look for any malicious behavior. Here, an attacker can instruct the malware to detect if it’s being run in a sandbox. If it is, it can behave normally until it’s released from the sandbox – like a possum playing dead until the threat has passed. </p>
<h2>Making AI more privacy friendly</h2>
<p>A recent branch of AI research called adversarial learning seeks to improve AI technologies so they’re less susceptible to such evasion attacks. For example, we have done some <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3309182.3309186">initial research</a> on how to make it harder for malware, which could be used to violate a person’s privacy, to evade detection. One method we came up with was to add uncertainty to the AI models so the attackers cannot accurately predict what the model will do. Will it scan for a certain data sequence? Or will it run the sandbox? Ideally, a malicious piece of software won’t know and will unwittingly expose its motives.</p>
<p>Another way we can use AI to improve privacy is by probing the vulnerabilities of deep neural networks. No algorithm is perfect, and these models are vulnerable because they are often very sensitive to small changes in the data they are reading. For example, researchers have shown that a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/machine-learning-backdoors/">Post-it note added to a stop sign</a> can trick an AI model into thinking it is seeing a speed limit sign instead. Subtle alterations like that take advantage of the way models are trained to reduce error. Those error-reduction techniques open a vulnerability that allows attackers to find the smallest changes that will fool the model. </p>
<p>These vulnerabilities can be used to improve privacy by adding noise to personal data. For example, researchers from Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany have designed <a href="http://openaccess.thecvf.com/content_iccv_2017/html/Oh_Adversarial_Image_Perturbation_ICCV_2017_paper.html">clever ways</a> to alter Flickr images to foil facial recognition software. The alterations are incredibly subtle, so much so that they’re undetectable by the human eye.</p>
<p>The third way that AI can help mitigate privacy issues is by preserving data privacy when the models are being built. One promising development is called <a href="https://research.google/pubs/pub45648/">federated learning</a>, which Google uses in its Gboard smart keyboard to predict which word to type next. Federated learning builds a final deep neural network from data stored on many different devices, such as cellphones, rather than one central data repository. The key benefit of federated learning is that the original data never leaves the local devices. Thus privacy is protected to some degree. It’s not a perfect solution, though, because while the local devices complete some of the computations, they do not finish them. The intermediate results could reveal some data about the device and its user. </p>
<p>Federated learning offers a glimpse of a future where AI is more respectful of privacy. We are hopeful that continued research into AI will find more ways it can be part of the solution rather than a source of problems.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130510/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhiyuan Chen receives funding from National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NIST, US Department of Education, IBM, and TEDCO. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aryya Gangopadhyay receives funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, and IBM. </span></em></p>Artificial intelligence insatiable data needs has encouraged the mass collection of personal data, placing privacy at risk. But AI can help solve the very problem it creates.Zhiyuan Chen, Associate Professor of Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyAryya Gangopadhyay, Professor, Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1398252020-06-09T12:14:45Z2020-06-09T12:14:45ZWorkplaces are turning to devices to monitor social distancing, but does the tech respect privacy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340426/original/file-20200608-176560-e140vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C0%2C6720%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maintaining social distancing is a challenge as workplaces reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/coworkers-with-protective-face-masks-using-computer-royalty-free-image/1227193807?adppopup=true">miodrag ignjatovic/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, those of us who still have a workplace may not recognize it. Businesses, eager to limit liability for employees and customers, are considering a <a href="https://www.workplaceprivacyreport.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/162/2020/05/COVID-Technologies2.pdf">variety of emerging technologies</a> for limiting pandemic spread.</p>
<p>These technologies can be loosely divided into two types: one based on cellphone technologies and the other using wearable devices like electronic bracelets and watches. Both approaches focus on maintaining social distancing, nominally six feet between any two workers based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-distancing.html">guidelines</a> and supported by <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/20-1093_article">some modeling</a>.</p>
<p>Most workers will have little choice whether to participate in their employer’s risk mitigation. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PpKoYdUAAAAJ&hl=en">networking and security researcher</a>, I believe that it is essential that both employees and employers understand the technologies in use, their effectiveness at reducing risk of infection and the risks they may pose to the privacy and well-being of all involved.</p>
<h2>The technologies</h2>
<p>Social distancing technologies are designed to warn workers when they get too close to each other, typically relying on communications that can travel only short distances. In this way, if your device can “hear” someone else’s device, you’re considered too close to the other person and potentially infected.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most promising communication technology for social distancing is ultra-wideband, which enables <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/UWBST.2002.1006336">precise distance measurements</a> between devices. A more common medium is Bluetooth Low Energy, which is used for headphones and portable speakers, though it may produce less <a href="https://github.com/DP-3T/documents/blob/master/DP3T%20-%20Exposure%20Score%20Calculation.pdf">consistently</a> <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1389140">accurate</a> distance information depending on the environment. </p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://www.novid.org/">sound itself can be used</a> to determine distance to other people, much like bats use echoes to identify obstacles in their flight paths, with the advantage that it respects wall and door boundaries just like the coronavirus.</p>
<p>Modern cellphones typically can communicate through both Bluetooth Low Energy technologies and sound. <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/ultra-wideband-information-iph771fd0aad/ios">Late model iPhones</a> also support ultra-wideband communications. </p>
<p>Contact tracing apps, which are used to alert people when they’ve been exposed to an infected person, generally use these media while loosely adhering to a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.13670">common design</a>. They include approaches focusing on <a href="https://pact.mit.edu/">privacy</a> and <a href="https://github.com/DP-3T/documents">security</a>, or precise distance measurements using <a href="https://www.novid.org/">sound</a> outside of the human hearing range. More recently, Apple and Google jumped into the fray with their own <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/apple-and-google-partner-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">approach</a> that also solves some of the <a href="https://uynguyen.github.io/2018/07/23/Best-practice-How-to-deal-with-Bluetooth-Low-Energy-in-background/">technical challenges</a> that appear to <a href="https://github.com/opentrace-community/opentrace-ios/issues/4">require</a> the cooperation of the two tech giants.</p>
<p>Wearables, which are more limited devices that a person can wear like a <a href="https://accent-systems.com/">bracelet</a> or a <a href="https://ouraring.com/">ring</a>, can also be used for social distancing. Popular workplace wearables can be programmed to buzz or otherwise alert employees when they get within six feet of each other. These include <a href="https://www.proxxi.co/">Halo</a>, <a href="https://estimote.com/">Estimote</a> and <a href="https://romware.com/covid-radius/">Covid Radius</a>. Other devices monitor health indicators such as <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/covid-19-early-warning-system-for-medical-staff-developed-in-cork-1.4227423">pulse, body temperature</a> or <a href="https://www.blacklinesafety.com/contact-tracing">movement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340425/original/file-20200608-176585-kajy0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tugboat deckhand demonstrates a digital bracelet that flashes red when a coworker is too close to him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Corona-Bracelets/9957665e1ae2452dac7af5ded3c36a4c/2/0">AP Photo/Virginia Mayo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Will this help?</h2>
<p>Workplace social distancing products are designed to monitor the six-foot separation guideline of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-distancing.html">CDC</a>. This is a <a href="https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/one-meter-six-feet-how-social-distancing-guidelines-vary-across-countries-1.625118">crude measure</a> that is complicated in practice. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/coronavirus-time-risk/index.html?utm_source=twCNN&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2020-05-19T07%3A45%3A34&utm_term=link">How long</a> are people in contact? What kind of <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article">air patterns</a> surrounded them? Were they wearing masks? Were they <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm">singing</a>?</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/20-1093_article">some modeling</a> suggests that even crude social distancing can help spread out infection rates over time to help with hospital load, digital contact tracing faces serious <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/11/1001541/iceland-rakning-c19-covid-contact-tracing/">challenges of adoption</a> – in order for an infectious contact to be recorded, both parties must be using the technology.</p>
<p>This means, for example, that if 50% of people in a work area – including mail deliverers, IT support and plumbers – adopt the technology, then approximately 25% of the infectious contacts might be identified. If the workplace is already a hot spot for infection, say a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/why-meatpacking-plants-have-become-covid-19-hot-spots/">meatpacking facility</a>, then the technology only tells workers what they already know: There is widespread infection risk.</p>
<h2>What about privacy?</h2>
<p>Employers can already legally <a href="https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/labor">read employee emails</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/privacy-america-electronic-monitoring">monitor calls</a> and record video of employees. What additional risk does contact tracing present?</p>
<p>The location data that is used by some contact tracing solutions can be intensely personal. It can identify, for example, with whom workers eat lunch or even what they purchased at the lunch counter. It can identify what fraction of the workday is spent by the water cooler, and even how often and for how long workers go to the bathroom. Without explicit safeguards, employees are forced to choose between keeping their jobs and maintaining their privacy.</p>
<p>Fortunately, some of the solutions do attempt to safeguard privacy in a variety of ways.</p>
<h2>Open tech, limited data</h2>
<p>It is important that data shared with the employer – or any other third party – should be anonymous and not tied to personal information. Indeed, several of the cellphone-based solutions only share randomly generated data that is useful only for contact tracing apps that tell the cellphone’s owner about potential exposures. Furthermore, some of the wearables do not use a central repository, instead sharing data only among themselves and deleting it after the infection window, typically 14 days.</p>
<p>Some of the technologies prevent employers from accessing employee contact history. In these approaches, only employees who have been near an infected individual are alerted, either through physical feedback like a vibrating buzz or through alerts on their smartphones. Employers are naturally anxious to get a broad picture of worker health, but the greater insight necessarily intrudes on privacy. I believe the ideal scenario is where the worker – and no one else – knows only that he has been exposed to the virus at some recent time, not when, where or by whom.</p>
<p>It may be very difficult for employees to understand what kind of privacy a social distancing system provides without knowing how it operates. Many of the existing products on the market are open-source, meaning that anyone can view and analyze at least some of their code. Some also make all contact information publicly visible, albeit obfuscated, so that there is no mystery about what data is being collected and used.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, social distancing technologies can help protect employees in a post-COVID world. However, absent <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/02/1002491/us-covid-19-contact-tracing-privacy-law-apple-google/">well-crafted privacy law</a>, both employees and employers must understand broadly how these technologies work, their limitations and their capabilities.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ari Trachtenberg works for Boston University. Some of the ideas mentioned in this article came out of discussions with colleagues (Mayank Varia, David Starobinski, Ran Canetti, Renato Mancuso, Rich West, Gerald Denis and Anand Devaiah) and students (Maha Ashour, Sean Brandenburg, Nadim El Helou, Manan Monga, Novak Boskov) as part of a project to develop a contact tracing app.
Some of his research is supported by a DARPA saeedline grant and National Science Foundation Grant No. 1563753; any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DARPA or the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Novak Boskov is a doctoral student at Boston University. Some of his
research is supported by the National Science Foundation. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Smartphone apps and wearable devices can tell when workers have been within six feet of each other, promising to help curb the coronavirus. But they’re not all the same when it comes to privacy.Ari Trachtenberg, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Computer Science, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.