Re: [globaloutlookDH-l] A Faustian bargain

-- Pierre Mounier OPERAS Coordinator (Community) - http://operas-eu.org OpenEdition Associate Director - http://openedition.org DOAB Co-Director - http://doabooks.org orcid.org/0000-0003-0691-6063 EHESS 54, boulevard Raspail 75006 Paris Bureau/Office A-43-4 Mob. +33 (0)6 61 98 31 86 Skype : piotrr19701 Schedule a meeting with me : https://doodle.com/pierremounier On Sun, Nov 24, 2019 at 11:45 PM Bordalejo, Barbara bab995@mail.usask.ca wrote: > Dear all, > > After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, I considered quitting some social > media (starting with Facebook). I was torn between my need to communicate > with family and friends living in far away countries (and some intensely > active work groups I belong to), and the sheer immorality of the way in > which these companies were using personal information to create profit or > manipulate people. I weighed the pros and cons, and decided the price for > leaving was too high at the time. > > As you know, there are other initiatives intending to replace Facebook > (Minds, MeWe, WT social), each of them with its own problems, and none of > them is popular enough, good enough, whatever enough. > > There is a serious argument in the Amnesty International post Domenico > shared, which focuses mostly on the indiscriminate access to private data > and how this can be prevented. Somehow, this doesn’t seem to be a > determining factor for me (although I understand why it is for others). > What I consider much more serious is the refusal from Facebook (and other > social media giants) to deal with the spreading of misinformation and the > rise of radical hate groups. > > Marcello also points out that we are being forced to use certain companies > by our institutions and this shows how deeply the giants of Silicon Valley > have taken root in all parts of our society (including those which should > be independent and free). On top of that, these are services institutions > have to pay for. When we use the “free” alternatives, we are using the > exact same companies. Of course, “free” is never really free. I often tell > my students that if they don’t have to pay for a service and they don’t see > what they are being sold, they are the product. > > I agree that we should be writing about how to disengage from certain > social media (I have various articles saved on how to quit those, but they > were all written by well-intentioned journalists, not academics), what > alternatives we might be using, or whether they are even necessary. Perhaps > someone here might consider leading this work. > > BB > > P.S.: As I was writing this, I logged into Facebook to check on the name > of one of the alternative social media platforms and I found a post from a > colleague about the 160 anniversary of *The Origin of Species*. As a side > note, he reminded me that it is now the tenth anniversary of my online > variorum edition. Not all is evil about social media, and so I remain part > of it for another day... > > > > > > On Nov 23, 2019, at 9:22 PM, O'Donnell, Dan daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca > wrote: > > I agree that we should be talking about this. I am increasingly seeing our > community, which was the original "early adopters" now becoming the "early > unadopters." But a) that's easier in the North and out you're wealthy than > in the south or poor (what a surprise) and b) it requires some expertise > and understanding of how, why, and what's involved. And indeed, university > leadership doesn't seem to be treating this as seriously as they should. > > I'm increasingly thinking that this is the major challenge for us--i.e. > Digitally knowledgeable humanists--to take up. I also don't think we are > addressing it as seriously as it requires. We should be writing guides > about how to disengage as seriously as we wrote them about engaging. We > need to start talking about the societal costs we are seeing. > ------------------------------ > *From:* globaloutlookdh-l globaloutlookdh-l-bounces@uleth.ca on behalf > of Marcello Vitali-Rosati marcello@chiavedisvolta.org > *Sent:* Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:41:40 AM > *To:* globaloutlookdh-l, MailList globaloutlookdh-l@uleth.ca > *Subject:* Re: [globaloutlookDH-l] A Faustian bargain > > Dear Domenico, > > I completely agree with you. I particularly liked your paper > "Geopolitica della conoscenza digitale. Dal web aperto all’impero di > GAFAM." > > I think the stakes are huge. I have myself many ongoing project on what > knowledge will be in few years if we do not do something (and what we > could do). > > A would like to underline here a simple fact (I think a discussion about > it here could be useful): I think our institutions are completely deaf > about this problem. At UdeM, we are obliged to use Microsoft mail for > our institutional email address (for some other universities it is > Gmail), it is impossible to write without using Word (I always have > problem when I refuse to give a docx file and I send instead an HTML). > There are many things I cannot do with my Linux on the digital > infrastructure of the university (for example: to review student > applications for admission, we can **only** use Internet Explorer; our > VPN does not work with Linux, there is only documentation for Windows > and Mac, etc.). Our colleagues find normal to use Facebook or Google > Hangout to stream their conferences... And when I say something about > that everybody answers: "but it is easier, I do not have time to lose > with your geek things". > > I am as sconsolato as you > > best > > m > > > > On 2019-11-23 12:20 PM, Domenico Fiormonte wrote: > > Dear all, > > > > as a DHer I was particularly struck by this report by Amnesty on > surveillance giants: > > > > https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol30/1404/2019/en/ > > > > > > "But despite the real value of the services they provide, Google and > Facebook’s platforms come at a systemic cost. The companies’ > surveillance-based business model forces people to make a Faustian bargain, > whereby they are only able to enjoy their human rights online by submitting > to a system predicated on human rights abuse." > > > > As some of you already know, I've been criticizing the political and > social role of these platforms since long ago. And I'm increasingly > wondering how the DH community - and especially our global community - can > remain silent in the face of documented violations of human rights. > Beacause this is exactly what's going on. It's not just about data. > > > > Would make any sense to start a discussion here on how to respond as > digital scholars to these (not anymore just epistemological or cultural) > abuses? > > > > Or should we just go on, using Google and Facebook as those and other > documented abuses did not exist? > > > > Sconsolatamente Vostro, > > > > Domenico > > > > _______________________________________________ > > globaloutlookdh-l mailing list > > globaloutlookdh-l@uleth.ca > > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/listinfo/globaloutlookdh-l > > > > You are currently subscribed to this list in NON-digest mode. This means > you receive every message as it is posted. > > > > If this represents too much traffic, you can also subscribe in DIGEST > mode. 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To change your settings go to > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/options/globaloutlookdh-l You can > request a password reminder from this page if you have forgotten yours. > _______________________________________________ > globaloutlookdh-l mailing list > globaloutlookdh-l@uleth.ca > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/listinfo/globaloutlookdh-l > > You are currently subscribed to this list in NON-digest mode. This means > you receive every message as it is posted. > > If this represents too much traffic, you can also subscribe in DIGEST > mode. This sends out a single email once a day containing the entire day's > postings. To change your settings go to > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/options/globaloutlookdh-l You can > request a password reminder from this page if you have forgotten yours. > > > _______________________________________________ > globaloutlookdh-l mailing list > globaloutlookdh-l@uleth.ca > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/listinfo/globaloutlookdh-l > > You are currently subscribed to this list in NON-digest mode. This means > you receive every message as it is posted. > > If this represents too much traffic, you can also subscribe in DIGEST > mode. This sends out a single email once a day containing the entire day's > postings. To change your settings go to > http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/options/globaloutlookdh-l You can > request a password reminder from this page if you have forgotten yours. >