The Reboot from Tech for the People

Episode 008: Education and Surveillance Before and During Covid-19

Show Notes Music by Angelo Garcia. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram on @agsilver.music. Read about CIA data collection here https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-cia-has-secret-program-that-collects-american-data/2022/02/10/017b6932-8ad8-11ec-838f-0cfdf69cce3c_story.html [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-cia-has-secret-program-that-collects-american-data/2022/02/10/017b6932-8ad8-11ec-838f-0cfdf69cce3c_story.html] As schools went online during COVID-19, they implemented more surveillance on students’ online activity https://archive.ph/cH74P [https://archive.ph/cH74P]. But this is not new! See here https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/first-circuit-affirms-schools-punishment-students-online-social-media-posts [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/first-circuit-affirms-schools-punishment-students-online-social-media-posts] and here https://www.computerworld.com/article/2521075/pennsylvania-schools-spying-on-students-using-laptop-webcams--claims-lawsuit.html [https://www.computerworld.com/article/2521075/pennsylvania-schools-spying-on-students-using-laptop-webcams--claims-lawsuit.html] . It also happens “offline”. Finally, read about student surveillance in higher ed here. https://archive.ph/gZ9Hj [https://archive.ph/gZ9Hj] Surveilling educators for ideas that challenge white supremacy and U.S. empire is also not new. Read about its long history here. https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/01/history-of-spying-on-teachers.html [https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/01/history-of-spying-on-teachers.html]

Episode 007: Crisis Shame Line: Profit, Mental Health & Data Do Not Mix

Rae and Chris discuss the breaking news in Politico on Friday that Crisis Text Line is selling information to an AI-based customer service company that they are also an investor in. Read Hannah Zeavin’s excellent piece on the origins of hotlines as a third option, distinct from psychiatric and police intervention: http://somatosphere.net/2020/the-third-choice-suicide-hotlines-psychiatry-and-the-police.html/ [http://somatosphere.net/2020/the-third-choice-suicide-hotlines-psychiatry-and-the-police.html/] We found Zeavin’s essay from Jack Poulson’s very informative Twitter thread on Crisis Text Line. Read the whole thing here: https://twitter.com/_jack_poulson/status/1487128251319341063 [https://twitter.com/_jack_poulson/status/1487128251319341063] The NY TImes article Chris mentioned on Deanonymization: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html] Finally, here is Politico’s feature on CLT and Loris.ai: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/suicide-hotline-silicon-valley-privacy-debates-00002617 [https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/suicide-hotline-silicon-valley-privacy-debates-00002617] PeerPride is at PeerPride.org.

Episode 006: Web 3: Same Oppressions, New Technology

Episode 6 is here! After a month hiatus, we're back with a new theme song and some thoughts on "Web 3" Thanks to Angelo Garcia for writing and producing our soundtrack! He takes commissions. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram @agsilver.music Yesterweb’s detailed breakdown of Web3 can be found here: https://yesterweb.org/no-to-web3/index.html [https://yesterweb.org/no-to-web3/index.html] Read Moxie Marlinspike's (Signal creator) blog post on Web3: https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html [https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html] You can read Molly White’s post, criticizing the idea that it’s still “early days” for Web3 here: https://blog.mollywhite.net/its-not-still-the-early-days/ [https://blog.mollywhite.net/its-not-still-the-early-days/] Rebekah Bastian’s Forbes article on work and Web3: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebekahbastian/2021/12/22/2022-prediction-the-influence-of-web3-on-the-future-of-work/?sh=5f1c183c4ce4 [https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebekahbastian/2021/12/22/2022-prediction-the-influence-of-web3-on-the-future-of-work/?sh=5f1c183c4ce4] Here’s that Medium article on Web3 and “Self-Sovereign Healthcare”: https://medium.com/ [https://medium.com/]@moosechris/self-sovereign-healthcare-27b2b47e4fb6

Episode 5: I don't care about Jack

Chris and Rae talk about how Jack Dorsey is stepping down as Twitter's CEO (for the second time!) and what impacts it will - or won't - have for users and workers. We also discussed the general culture around CEOs, the Founder Myth, and why it is that Dorsey can be CEO of two companies at the same time but we can't work for two companies in the same 8-hour shift.

Episode 4: The Affective Labor of Facebook Moderators

Co-host Rae Jereza discusses their recent paper, "Corporeal moderation: digital labour as affective good" looking at the situations of content moderators working for Facebook. Hidden behind the app's Report button, often working for subcontractors and not Facebook itself, the stories and struggles of content moderators go largely unnoticed. Sometimes likened to first responders or called "custodians of the Internet", Rae argues that they are only custodians if we see them as "working in radioactive environments... as they absorb the ills and contradictions of liberal democratic society: they carry their effects and are 'haunted' by them"