The Carceral Cost of Smart Home Security w/ Lauren Bridges

On Feb. 9th at 6.30pm (GMT) we will hold our second conversation on Data&Us. Please join us in a conversation with Lauren Bridges (UPenn), on The Carceral Cost of Smart Home Security.

In her talk, Bridges will use the example of Ring - Amazon's ‘smart’ doorbell - to examine how it impacts and transforms law enforcement, (in)justice and privacy.

The event is held on zoom and it is free but you must register here

Register at https://lnkd.in/gRV-dFbd

Abstract: Since 1970, home video security systems have been available on the market and, recently, they have become “smart”. Using the case study of an Amazon branch - Ring, which promises to create a 'safety ring around its house' - this conversation examines the ways in which a seemingly benign technology transforms when connected to the internet, bundled in the cloud, shared on social media, and made accessible to authorities. While smart home security cameras appear to be a new technology, they are part of a long history of racial policing in residential spaces that promises more home security for some and imprisonment for others.

Bio: Lauren Bridges is a critical data studies researcher investigating the political, social, economic, and environmental implications of the so-called “cloud.” Lauren Bridges is a Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She researches the material and discursive entanglements of digital infrastructures in the (re)production of state and corporate power and pays particular attention to the stories we tell about technology and its imagined futures. Bridges has published in New Media & Society, Big Data & Society, Information, Communication & Society, and received awards and honorary mentions from International Communication Association, National Communication Association, and the Association for Internet Researchers. She holds an M.A. in creative writing, publishing, and editing from the University of Melbourne and a B.A. in business from Queensland University of Technology. Prior to Annenberg, she worked in academic publishing and the nonprofit sector with a focus on social policy.

Why we resigned from 4S Council (09/2021)

It is with regret that Noortje Marres and I announced in September of 2021 our resignations from our positions as elected members of the Council of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).

When we joined Council in 2018, the Society was playing a key part in the on-going process of transforming the interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology & Society (STS). We support the general principles guiding this project, those of accountability and transparency, and we are deeply sympathetic to the wider vision of developing transnational connections in 4S, strengthening STS in the global South, and de-colonizing STS.

But several decisions have recently been taken in 4S that we strongly believe contravene the above commitments. New committees and positions have been created without due consideration for their impact on the authority of Council and on existing 4S offices. In the last 6 months, all 4S officers have resigned.

Crucially, changes to the Society’s Charter have been proposed that, if approved, will have the effect of further concentrating power in the 4S President. These changes include a revision of the 4S election procedure, which weakens the role of Council in this process. The revised wording does not grant any formal power to Council, such as consultation and approval of the Election slate, moving away from what has been common practice in 4S.

Last week, 4S Council endorsed these changes with a small majority, leaving us with no other way to express our dissent than by resigning. The proposed Charter changes will now be voted on by the 4S membership during the 4S Business Meeting in Toronto.

Our decision to resign is thus motivated by concern about the dismantling of distributed governance in 4S and the Society’s future. We continue to have confidence in 4S and Council to work towards the shared objectives of accountability, transparency, transnationality and participation in STS.

Ana Viseu and Noortje Marres

DATA&US

DATA&US: A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DATA

Data is an inescapable aspect of contemporary life – it seems to permeate everything we do as well as what is done for us and in our name. Yet, its workings remain elusive and often invisible. The goal of this series is to contribute to a much need conversation on data, exploring its entanglements with our lives and imagining how it can be otherwise.

With an amazing roster of speakers we seek to make visible the political, economic, power, material, social and judicial dimensions of data, through an analysis of themes such as, AI in the home, planetary surveillance, mechanisms for holding big tech accountable, personal identity, and privacy, among others.

Once a month we meet online at 6.30pm (GMT) for a new conversation (in English). Attendance is free but registration is required. Register here.

DATA&US is an initiative of researchers from IADE (Universidade Europeia) and the ICNOVA (Institute of Communications of Universidade Nova de Lisboa). The organization of this initiative is led by Ana Viseu (IADE/ICNOVA), in partnership with Cristina Ponte and Paulo Nuno Vicente (NOVA FCSH/ICNOVA) and Sofia Ponte (IADE/ID+).

Find out more about this series here.

OS DADOS & NÓS

OS DADOS & NÓS: CONVERSAS EM SÉRIE EM TORNO DOS DADOS

Os dados são um aspecto fundamental da vida contemporânea permeando quem somos, o que fazemos e o que é feito em nosso nome. No entanto, o seu funcionamento destes dados permanece invisível e frequentemente inexplicado. O objectivo desta série de conversas mensais com especialistas internacionais é tornar visíveis as dimensões política, social, económica e material dos dados e os desafios de vivermos num mundo por eles gerido. As conversas exploram temas diversos como a vigilância, a inteligência artificial na esfera doméstica, monitorização nas redes sociais, a privacidade, e a criação de mecanismos de responsabilização da Big Tech, entre outros.

Com esta iniciativa pretende-se criar um fórum para diferentes públicos e gerar conversas que vão além da academia. As conversas decorrem em regime online e em inglês, das 18h30 às 20h (GMT). A inscrição, gratuita, deve ser efectuada aqui.

OS DADOS&NÓS é uma iniciativa de investigadores do IADE (Universidade Europeia) e do ICNOVA (Instituto de Comunicação da Universidade Nova de Lisboa). A organização desta iniciativa é liderada por Ana Viseu (IADE/ICNOVA), em colaboração com Cristina Ponte and Paulo Nuno Vicente (NOVA FCSH/ICNOVA) and Sofia Ponte (IADE/ID+).

Chair-er

Portuguese from Brazil is an incredibly flexible and dynamic language that is populated with hybrid and cyborg entities. Case in point: a "cadeirante" is a person on a wheel chair; the English translation would be "chair-er". I like this notion that denotes the ways in which embodiment are connected to identity.