REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
The power of digital technologies is something of a mixed blessing. Some see it as the silver bullet we can fire at our most deadly challenges; artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, for example, have been used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Others see it as a curse; these technologies can also facilitate violence or the wildfire spread of disinformation. The power is located in a structure determined by social, political and economic contexts. One only needs to look at where big tech companies are headquartered to guess the dynamics that might shape their policies or operations. Individuals also navigate technology at the intersection of their racial and gender identities, class, geographic location and education (to name a few variables).
Yves here. Get a cup of coffee. This is an in-depth but accessible discussion of how the Big Tech monopolists abused their powers to secure and perfect their advantaged positions. The good news is that the government sleeping giant has awoken to the threat they pose to its authority, and it pulling out antitrust weapons with the aim of cutting the monopolists down to size.
Consider a conversation Alastair Mactaggart had among friends at a social outing. The San Francisco real estate developer asked an engineer working for Google whether we should be worried about privacy. “Wasn’t ‘privacy’ just a bunch of hype?” Mactaggart asked. The Google engineer’s reply was chilling: “If people just understood how much we knew about them, they’d be really worried.”