Big tech companies like Google owning data and having no rivals or regulations to check them
Tech Monopolies (22)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Citylab
- 2019
Currently, the idea of “smart cities” are so theoretical and predicated on the idea of “technochauvinism” that they mostly exist in images which sell the ideas of ever-advancing technology and application of futuristic technologies to urban centers as a cash cow waiting to be milked.
- Citylab
- 2019
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- 5 min
- Citylab
- 2019
The 3 Pictures That Explain Everything About Smart Cities
Currently, the idea of “smart cities” are so theoretical and predicated on the idea of “technochauvinism” that they mostly exist in images which sell the ideas of ever-advancing technology and application of futuristic technologies to urban centers as a cash cow waiting to be milked.
Discussion Prompts:
What is a smart city, at least in theory? What might be left out of the phenomenon (urban life) that smart cities attempt to abstract in the creation of a smart city? What priorities come with envisioning a smart city, and who is or should be in control of this?
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- 41 min
- The New York Times
- 2021
In this podcast episode, Ellen Pao, an early whistleblower on gender bias and racial discrimination in the tech industy, tells the story of her experience suing the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The episode then moves into a discussion of how Silicon Valley, and the tech industry more broadly, is dominated by white men who do not try to deeply understand or move toward racial or gender equity; instead, they focus on PR moves. Specifically, she reveals that social media companies and CEOs can be particularly performative when it comes to addressing racial or gender inequality, focusing on case studies rather than breeding a new, more fair culture.
- The New York Times
- 2021
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- 41 min
- The New York Times
- 2021
Sexism and Racism in Silicon Valley
In this podcast episode, Ellen Pao, an early whistleblower on gender bias and racial discrimination in the tech industy, tells the story of her experience suing the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The episode then moves into a discussion of how Silicon Valley, and the tech industry more broadly, is dominated by white men who do not try to deeply understand or move toward racial or gender equity; instead, they focus on PR moves. Specifically, she reveals that social media companies and CEOs can be particularly performative when it comes to addressing racial or gender inequality, focusing on case studies rather than breeding a new, more fair culture.
Discussion Prompts:
How did Silicon Valley and the technology industry come to be dominated by white men? How can this be addressed, and how can the culture change? How can social networks in particular be re-imagined to open up doors to more diverse leadership and workplace cultures?
Movie Title:
Sway: Silicon Valley's Thin Skins and Giant Egos-
- 5 min
- Venture Beat
- 2021
Relates the story of Google’s inspection of Margaret Mitchell’s account in the wake of Timnit Gebru’s firing from Google’s AI ethics division. With authorities in AI ethics clearly under fire, the Alphabet Worker’s Union aims to ensure that workers who can ensure ethical perspectives of AI development and deployment.
- Venture Beat
- 2021
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- 5 min
- Venture Beat
- 2021
Google targets AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell after firing Timnit Gebru
Relates the story of Google’s inspection of Margaret Mitchell’s account in the wake of Timnit Gebru’s firing from Google’s AI ethics division. With authorities in AI ethics clearly under fire, the Alphabet Worker’s Union aims to ensure that workers who can ensure ethical perspectives of AI development and deployment.
Discussion Prompts:
How can bias in tech monopolies be mitigated? How can authorities on AI ethics be positioned in such a way that they cannot be fired when developers do not want to listen to them?
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- 5 min
- NPR
- 2020
After the FTC and 48 States charged Facebook with being a monopoly in late 2020, the FTC continues the push for accountability of tech monopolies by demanding that large social network companies, including Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, share exactly what they do with user data in hopes of increased transparency. Pair with “Facebook hit with antitrust lawsuit from FTC and 48 state attorneys general“
- NPR
- 2020
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- 5 min
- NPR
- 2020
Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, Others Ordered To Explain What They Do With User Data
After the FTC and 48 States charged Facebook with being a monopoly in late 2020, the FTC continues the push for accountability of tech monopolies by demanding that large social network companies, including Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, share exactly what they do with user data in hopes of increased transparency. Pair with “Facebook hit with antitrust lawsuit from FTC and 48 state attorneys general“
Discussion Prompts:
Do you think that users, especially younger users, would trade their highly-tailored recommender system and social network experiences for data privacy? How much does transparency of tech monopolies help when many people are not fluent in the concept of how algorithms work? Should social media companies release the abstractions of users that it forms using data?
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- 7 min
- The New Republic
- 2020
The narrative of Dr. Timnit Gebru’s termination from Google is inextricably bound with Google’s irresponsible practices with training data for its machine learning algorithms. Using large data sets to train Natural Language Processing algorithms is ultimately a harmful practice because for all the harms to the environment and biases against certain languages it causes, machines still cannot fully comprehend human language.
- The New Republic
- 2020
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- 7 min
- The New Republic
- 2020
Who Gets a Say in Our Dystopian Tech Future?
The narrative of Dr. Timnit Gebru’s termination from Google is inextricably bound with Google’s irresponsible practices with training data for its machine learning algorithms. Using large data sets to train Natural Language Processing algorithms is ultimately a harmful practice because for all the harms to the environment and biases against certain languages it causes, machines still cannot fully comprehend human language.
Discussion Prompts:
Should machines be trusted to handle and process the incredibly nuanced meaning of human language? How do different understandings of what languages and words mean and represent become harmful when a minority of people are deciding how to train NLP algorithms? How do tech monopolies prevent more diverse voices from entering this conversation?
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- 5 min
- ABC News
- 2020
The United States government is pushing its interest in breaking up the tech monopoly that is Facebook, hoping to restore some competition in the social networking and data selling market which the company dominates. Facebook, of course, is resistant to these efforts.
- ABC News
- 2020
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- 5 min
- ABC News
- 2020
Facebook hit with antitrust lawsuit from FTC and 48 state attorneys general
The United States government is pushing its interest in breaking up the tech monopoly that is Facebook, hoping to restore some competition in the social networking and data selling market which the company dominates. Facebook, of course, is resistant to these efforts.
Discussion Prompts:
What role did data collection and use play in Facebook’s rise as a monopoly power? What would breaking up this monopoly accomplish? Will users achieve more data privacy if one large company does not own several platforms on which users communicate?