#EU#Neoliberalism#Neoiliberalism#Censorship#Surveillance#DSA: "Despite the significance of digitalisation in mediating these political-economic shifts, mainstream platform regulation scholarship remains largely disconnected from these wider trends. EU laws are predominantly analysed using normative framings aligned with ‘progressive neoliberalism’, as efforts to balance growth and innovation against fundamental rights and ‘public values’. Schematically, EU regulation is distinguished on this basis from a free-market US approach and authoritarian, state-capitalist Chinese approach.
Against this, the paper makes two key claims. First, EU platform regulation can more helpfully be framed as manifesting an ongoing shift away from progressive neoliberalism and towards neo-illiberalism. Fundamental rights and liberal-democratic norms which previously legitimised EU policy are increasingly sacrificed in favour of unrestrained state surveillance and private-sector-led innovation. Second, methodologically, researchers should not only consider how these laws are being implemented currently, but also look ahead to an increasingly-plausible ‘far-right Europe’.
To demonstrate this framework’s analytical value, the paper examines the 2022 Digital Services Act, arguing that its overall regulatory approach is characteristically neo-illiberal: economically, it embraces marketised media governance and corporate power, while politically, it creates extensive possibilities for state censorship. Broadly, it seeks to strengthen platforms’ accountability in three main ways: individual consumer rights; empowering civil society via transparency and consultation; and technocratic risk management procedures."
Sascha van Schendel - Regulating risk profiling by law enforcement. a task for data protection law, non-discrimination law and criminal procedural law - 2024 PhD
#Europe#EasternEurope#DigitalRights#Privacy#Surveillance: "The civil society organisation (CSO) Meter project assesses the civil society environment in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The 2023 Regional Report focuses on digital rights.
Digital rights have continued to evolve in the region but political developments, in particular the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, put protections under constant pressure. In 2023, several EaP countries saw the expansion of surveillance powers of the state and the restriction of freedom of expression online, including attempts to silence activists and government critics. Disinformation remains a significant challenge in the region: CSOs in Georgia and Armenia noted disinformation attacks against civil society and at times, government responses to disinformation unduly restrict freedom of expression. There is significant progress in terms of developing comprehensive data protection legislation, notably in Moldova and Georgia, but countries are struggling with the implementation and enforcement of new rules. Digitalisation efforts continue in the region with several best practices emerging in terms of civil society participation in these processes." https://edri.org/our-work/2023-digital-rights-update-eastern-partnership-cso-meter/
#Israel#Palestine#Gaza#Surveillance#HumanRights#Privacy: "Highlighting, exposing, and actively working against the proliferation and normalization of surveillance technology is crucial in protecting human rights worldwide. At the Tor Project, we know that it is through collective awareness and action that we can all build and contribute to privacy-preserving technologies that aim to protect people everywhere from the prevalence of surveillance and oppression. It is equally important to hold companies accountable and recognize the source and enablers of surveillance tech, especially now as we see these technologies being aggressively utilized in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
This post delves into the impact of Israeli surveillance technologies in Palestine, illustrating how localized instances of its use can have extensive repercussions that pave the way for the widespread acceptance and global adoption of such oppressive practices.
There is a growing need for a global stance against the use of technology for oppression. Tech workers and the broader international community are urged to prioritize integrity over profit to protect privacy and prevent the deleterious impacts of pervasive surveillance on our lives. There is even more urgency to address these issues in the face of growing demand for surveillance solutions enhanced and exacerbated by AI."
Things That Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations by Arundhati Roy & John Cusack, 2024
An activist and an actor reflect on Edward Snowden and the surveillance state in this collection that “reads like a whistleblower’s travel diary” (Disorient). In late 2014, Arundhati Roy, John Cusack, and Daniel Ellsberg traveled to Moscow to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
As surveillance capitalism spies on us ceaselessly from our cars, our refrigerators, our toasters, our TVs — you have no choice but to think of these lines from Leonard Cohen's deathless "Tower of Song."
House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US #Spy Program
The US House of Representatives voted on Friday to extend the #Section702 spy program. It passed without an amendment that would have required the #FBI to obtain a #warrant to access Americans’ information. #privacy#surveillance
Case and point example of algo bias, further compounded by human bias, in a supposed verification step.
Trained overseas on foreign data, the system is likely far more erroneous when presented with Māori or Pasifika peoples, women of these descents even more so.
But really this weaponised tech should not even be in public markets, lest of all beta tested on real people. It is as though we have forgotten that. #surveillance#privacy
In addition to the key issue of U.S. person queries, the House passed several problematic amendments advanced by the House Intelligence Committee to actually expand#FISA#Section702#surveillance
La France fait partie des pays qui ont adopté en mars 2020 les règles de confinement les plus strictes pour lutter contre la pandémie de Covid-19. Historien et sociologue, Nicolas Mariot s'est interrogé sur cette expérience d’obéissance de masse.
Si l’Italie a été le premier pays européen exposé au virus à prendre des mesures drastiques, les pays qui ont ensuite adopté les règles les plus strictes n’étaient pas plus à risque, du point de vue sanitaire, que les autres. La différence de réaction est clairement liée aux habitudes coercitives des gouvernements : nous montrons que plus les États européens comptent de policiers par habitant, ou plus ils ont l’habitude de s’affranchir des libertés publiques, plus ils ont enfermé leur population.
À l’occasion de cette pandémie, on a donc vu ressurgir de vieilles habitudes de gestion punitive des populations. Pour la France, cette politique a sans doute aussi témoigné du manque de confiance des autorités dans la capacité des habitants à suivre la politique recommandée. Le pays sortait de la crise des « gilets jaunes » et des manifestations contre la réforme des retraites, nos gouvernants ont probablement craint une réaction hostile.
Big Brother Is Watching Amazon and Walmart Warehouse Workers
Both Amazon and Walmart invest massively in highly invasive technological surveillance of their warehouse workforce — surveillance that then enables the hyperexploitation both companies’ workers are subject to.