It’s time we all learn how to navigate digital technologies safely, smartly, creatively, collectively, and curiously? Here are a few questions we want you to raise next time you feel personally targeted by an ad on Instagram, or you allow Google to check if you’re still human
1. Where does my phone end and my body begin?
This is perhaps the most pressing question of our time because, on the internet, we are now seeing crimes that had never existed before. This question is also at the centre of many legal and ethical debates today, for example, how do we address sexual harassment in cyberspace when our bodies no longer end as the skin touches air? Should we view online harms in the same light as offline sexual violence? This rare verdict on a revenge porn case in West Bengal certainly seems to think so – and we definitely need more judges like him!
2. Whose stories and voices are missing from the internet?
In case you are tired of seeing Google throw up irrelevant results when you search for information in your regional language, welcome to the club! For decades now, internet infrastructure activists have been rallying for the information access gap between Global North and South, to decolonise the knowledge gap.
Since knowledge is power and it rests in the hands of a few, historically speaking, queer-feminist and indigenous oral stories tends to be invisibilized, even on large knowledge databases like Wikipedia.
That’s why there are dedicated task forces who participate in feminist Wiki-edit-a-thons to level the gender gap.
3. How can we practice care for platform workers?
We all know that labour is cheap in India – but do we think about those it hurts the most? Recently, a Canada-based Indian influencer in a viral video extolled the expediency of Amazon India’s doorstep return/pickup services, complaining that it’s not the case in Canada where labour laws are strong enough to protect its gig workers from exploitative and inhumane working conditions in India.
That is not to say that all of us harbour the same outlook towards platform workers who work tirelessly and make our lives more convenient. We all care, respect and empathize – whether it is by gaming exploitative systems (eg. paying the Uber driver directly), using our voices to call out bad-faith companies for their work policies by supporting them when they strike, or by simply amplifying their calls for unionizing, and sometimes, by simply listening to their stories, their fears, their hopes and their needs.
4. What do we talk about when we talk about AI and automation?
It’s very easy to lose sight of what artificial intelligence and automation really is when all we are seeing is hype over driverless cars, smart homes, and ChatGPT stealing our jobs. It’s easy to forget that these systems are ultimately trained by humans – often without our consent, and these are often expensive, if not impossible challenges.
So next time you get a Captcha test, ask yourself why we’re only asked to identify buses, street lights, fire hydrants – never lamps, chairs, or TV sets?
That’s because our answers will be used to train driverless cars – so they can distinguish between a man in a black suit crossing the road from a traffic light post! Another great example is from Amazon’s “automated” self checkout tech fiasco, which was not so automated after all – as it turns out, the system was powered by roughly 1,000 Indian workers to monitor the accuracy!
5. Can we reclaim tech as a tool for resistance?
We have heard time and again how tech is a double-edged sword. But perhaps the problem is not with usage alone. There are inherent power imbalances in how tech is designed, however, it’s not as if we cannot leverage the same technologies for resistance and collective action.
The trick lies in subversion, appropriation, repurposing and play.
This is a great example from the #MeToo movement: When Chinese social media censored a survivor’s open letter against sexual harassment at her university, constantly taking it down despite reposting and resharing, someone put it up on the Ethereum Blockchain where it could remain forever.
About the author : Prarthana Mitra is a writer and knowledge anchor at Point of View where they help build an online residency on Bodies, Technologies and Social Justice. Read more on digitaleveryday.in
Featured Image by Clarote & AI4Media / Better Images of AI / Labour/Resources / CC-BY 4.0