liguedesdroits. The hybrid format is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Center Saint-Pierre in Montreal with the authors of the file (www.liguedesdroits.ca www.liguedesdroits.ca>).
With the evolution of digital companies over the past 20 years, the challenges of protecting privacy and personal data are no longer the same. In the face of a new form of capitalism whose behavioral data for humans has become the new oil. According to The Economist, LDL considers the stakes too many and unprecedented to remain idle; The alarm has sounded among human rights activists.
With this dossier of 15 articles by authors from activist, academic, and research circles, the journal’s editorial staff wants to expose the blind spots of surveillance capitalism. Raising awareness of the rapid and profound transformations that are taking place as well as the threats this poses to both democracy and human rights; Above all, to stimulate public debate among the population, far from echo chambers, on these issues that concern us all.
Cover illustration designed by Chlolola
magazine records
A new column, “The Ecologist”, has been proposed, signed by Cynthia Morinville, which deals with the effects of watch capitalism on the environment. Elsewhere in the world was written by Remy Pauline Taheroua which takes a look at refugees and color line in the context of current conflicts; Tim McSorley of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (CSILC) discusses the challenges of combating online harm in a world under surveillance. Delphine Gauthier-Boiteau reviews Alain Saulnier’s Les Barbares Numériques in Un monde de lecture, while LDL-Quebec’s Maxim Fortin paints a picture of the crisis in Quebec City’s police service in part of the column Le monde de Québec.
Excerpts from articles on file
“Artificial intelligence makes it possible to monitor individuals – by both private companies and the state – which can affect freedom of expression, freedom of association and democracy. Facial recognition threatens the right to anonymity and possibly the right to equality” (LDL presentation file, p. 14).
“As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, surveillance capitalism is the dominant economic institution of our time. In the absence of laws to compensate for it, this system runs nearly every aspect of human activity in the digital world” (Shoshana Zuboff, Crisis for Democracies, p. 15) .
“In any case, the information collected is now much more than mere memories and acquires a life of its own, subject to a host of secondary uses, absorbed by multiple unaccountable or even simply anonymous entities” (Stéphane Leman-Langlois, The Culture of Watching, p. 24 ).
“However, surveillance capitalism has developed in the absence of a binding legal framework and in the uncertainty of the obligations of companies operating in the digital space” (Silviana Cocan, In Light of International Human Rights, p. 22).
“It should be noted that police force databases contain data on citizens who have never been convicted of any crime, including data from arrests based on race, social status or politics.”
(Dominic Bechard, Police Forces and Surveillance Capitalism, p. 27).
” […] Surveillance capitalist practices not only affect the privacy of these women’s personal information [victimes de violence conjugale], but also direct consequences for their safety. (Liz Chauvino, Surveillance Capitalism Like the Digital Divide, p. 40).
“Transparency is not enough, because one can be transparent but not put in place the mechanisms to properly assess the impact, reliability and effectiveness of technological tools” (Lyne Nantel, La ville Intelligent: qu’ossa gives?, p. 34).
” […] The content rating algorithms used by the social media platform have greatly contributed to […] amplifying the scope of hate speech that facilitates, among other things, the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar” (Anne-Sophie Letelier and Norman Landry, Mobilization and Social Media: What are the opportunities and what are the challenges?, p. 47).
“There is no need to undergo the painful test of living together if multiple individuals can simply be arranged through their digital profiles.”
(Jacob Boivin and Lawrence Grundin Rubilard, The Solution of Society in Surveillance Capitalism, p. 37).
“Although the regulations have been adopted over the years, they do not reach the heart of the Facebook business model for this world” (Pierre Henrichon, What are the responses, what are the responses, p. 42).
“Very briefly, the idea would be, in the case of privacy, to take into account, from the design stage of computer systems, requirements for the protection of personal data by integrating them directly into the product, rather than adding them later” (Michel Albert Rochet and Marie-Pierre Jolicour, Promoting Privacy and Design Ethics digital, p. 44).