Digital Literacy: Unveiling the Roots of Surveillance Capitalism

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In this episode, we navigate the complex landscape of digital literacy and the systematic surveillance of people of color. We unravel the layers of bias ingrained in our technological systems. Focusing on the #NoTechForICE campaign as a poignant example, we engage with a panel of experts who bring their insights into the realms of data, technology, privacy, surveillance, and race.

Our mission is to shed light on the pervasive issues surrounding technology and surveillance, fostering a nuanced conversation that aims to inspire change. Join us as we explore the roots of surveillance capitalism and work towards a future where technology serves justice and equality for all.

Transcript

Resources

A photo captured by Anthony Behar: Protesters holding a #NoTech4Ice Poster.

Featuring

Professor, Sarah Lamdan

“I saw representatives from Lexis Nexis and Thompson Reuters, Westlaw’s parent company, were listed on the list of potential tech companies that were vying to help build this extreme vetting program. That concerned me and other law librarians...”

Sarah Lamdan is a professor at CUNY School of Law. She also has a master’s degree in library science and legal information management and a law certificate in environmental law. Her research focuses on information law and policy.

She’s writing a book about data analytics companies called Data Cartels (Stanford University Press).

Author, McKenzie Funk

“For years and years, there were these companies that were compiling lists for marketing purposes, or for election purposes, and they would basically say… who’s going to be interested in our product.”

McKenzie Funk is the author of The Hank Show and the PEN Literary Award-winning Windfall. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Outside, Harper’s, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times Magazine, and the London Review of Books. Funk was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where he studied economics and systems thinking.

“We are the sources of surveillance capitalism’s crucial surplus…”

— Shoshana Zuboff

A cartoon depicting a man being surveilled by security cameras.

Democracy Now reports on a lawsuit against LexisNexis by immigrant groups, alleging the data broker’s sale of personal information to ICE, creating a ‘massive surveillance state.’ The suit accuses LexisNexis of aiding ICE in bypassing sanctuary city policies.

A video interview featuring Sam Seder, Host of the Majority Report, in conversation with Professor Sarah Lamdan, delving into the insights from her book, ‘Data Cartels: The Companies that Control and Monopolize Our Information.

A Pew Research Center poll revealing the prevailing sense of powerlessness among most American adults regarding surveillance

Enjoyed our podcast? Dive deeper into the complexities of digital illiteracy, systemic surveillance of people of color, and biases in technology with these recommended readings. Join us in fostering a conversation for change towards a future where technology champions justice and equality.

Cornell University, Video on Demand, A conversation with Sarah Lamdan

Suspect Development Systems: Databasing Marginality and Enforcing Discipline

LEXISNEXIS TO PROVIDE GIANT DATABASE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ICE

The Digital Panopticon

Credits

Script Writer: Disha Wadekar, Sound Editor: Kiara Harding, and Web Producer: T. Ferguson

References

ACLU Calls On Tech Companies to End Their Alliance with ICE and CBP

Examining the intersection of data privacy and civil rights

Author, Safiya Imo Noble, “Algorithms of Oppression”

Author, Virginia Eubanks, “Automating Inequality”

Author, Rahu Benjamin, “Race After Technology”