Canadian author and educator
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21 Guests and 27 episodes later, Agile Vocalist has hit its three year mark (which is kind of amazing for a podcast). Thank you to my season 3 guests:Cellista, Alphabet Rockers, Rob Jensen and Warren Trezevant, Sonic Runway creators, sound healer & instructor, Melissa Felsenstein, taiko artist Janet Koike, and carillonist, Simone Browne for their amazing sound and arts stories in season 3!Listen to this epsiode to learn how to get yourself listener gifts to unleash your inner vocalist (and upgrade your wellness). You'll also get a sneak peep about our upcoming guest!More about Agile Vocalist, including artist biographies, liner notes and additional visual material for every episode can be found on the Agile Vocalist web site. Subscribe to Sound Cocktails, the politely very intermittent and always refreshing, podcast newsletter here. Find Agile Vocalist on IG Visit the Community Page of the YouTube channel. Support Agile Vocalist, a privately funded labor of love dedicated to the arts by leaving a tip here.
The sounds of bells in towers is a common experience to many around the world. But the reality is there is an entire profession devoted to carillons-- actual lever and pedal instruments making the sounds of bells you hear. Carillons exist all over the U.S., Europe and other parts and are commonly heard from the top of towers and built structures.This interview features Simone Browne, professional carillonist and UC Berkeley student who shares how she found the profession and its effects on the audible worlds immediately around the instruments. More about Agile Vocalist, including artist biographies, liner notes and additional visual material for every episode can be found on the Agile Vocalist web site. Subscribe to Sound Cocktails, the officially intermittent, polite, and always refreshing, podcast newsletter here. Find Agile Vocalist on IG Visit the Community Page of the YouTube channel. Support Agile Vocalist, a privately funded labor of love dedicated to the arts by leaving a tip here.
From data protection rights and facial recognition technology to hostile environment data sharing and shaping the government's use of technology, PLP Legal Director, Ariane Adam, and Research Fellow in new technologies and automation, Mia Leslie, ask whether tech can be used for good and what it might look like, with special guest Gracie Mae Bradley. Gracie is Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, and was previously Interim Director at Liberty. Gracie Mae Bradley's book, Against Borders: The Case for Abolition, is available here The Government's AI regulation white paper has been published since recording and is available here Read more information about Liberty's successful challenge to the Gangs Matrix here Read more about Privacy International's intervention in a judicial review challenge to the Home Office's policy of seizing the mobile phones of all migrants who arrived to the UK by small boat between April 2020 and November 2020 here Dark Matters - On the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne is available here
Welcome to 1919Radio's Black Geographies podcast series! This 4-part Black Geographies podcast series brings together four authors in the emerging field of Black geographies to explore the conditions of Blackness across multiple spatial dimensions. The goal of this series is to bring radical ideas of race, space, and the politics of place out of academia and into our community and streets through an engaging and open access medium. In the third episode of the Black Geographies podcast series, Mohamed sits with scholar, researcher, and author Dr. Simone Brown. Dr. Brown is the Associate Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a Research Director of critical surveillance inquiry with Good Systems, a research collaborative at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the author of the 2015 book ‘Dark Matters. Listen as these two discuss life under surveillance, black ways of knowing and surviving, and the governable worlds we live in. Dr. Brown invites us to think about how biometric technologies, regimes of surveillance, illegibility, and the politics of recognition shape and govern black life in a post 911 era. Toward the end of the episode, Dr. Brown gestures to the work of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Mariame Kaba & grassroots organizers on how to live and dream abolition as practices of liberation.Title sequence credits:Introduction clip: Angela Davis on Democracy Now! Second clip: Sister Souljah response to Bill Clinton Third clip: Kwame Ture on Organizaiton and mobilization Song: The Pharcyde - Runnin'A full transcript is available for all of our episodes on the 1919Radio webpage.Contact and follow us to learn more about our work and how to get involved! www.1919mag.com (instagram + twitter) Contact: nines@1919mag.com Submissions and pitches: submissions@1919mag.com
The global protests and mobilisation for Black lives crystallised around policing, although simultaneously pointing at the broader dimensions of criminalisation and control of especially Black and other racialised poor folks and communities. The protests unfolded globally very quickly, also in many parts of continental Europe such as Germany, France and Switzerland. In this session, we explore the differential logics of policing in Europe, which are connected to the histories of empire, colonialism and racial gendered capitalism. We consider the functions and logics of policing, its relation to violence and safety and explore possible alternatives. Reading Eddie Bruce-Jones (2014), “German policing at the intersection: race, gender, migrant status and mental health”, Race & Class, 56(3): 36-49. Frantz Fanon (1963), The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove. Muschalek, Marie (2019), Violence as Usual: Policing and the Colonial State in German Southwest Africa, Ithaca, Cornell University Press. Simone Browne (2015), Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, London: Duke University Press. Stuart Hall et al. (1978), Policing the Crisis. Mugging, the State, and Law an Order, London: Palgrave. Vanessa E. Thompson (2018), “There is no justice, there is just us! Ansätze zu einer postkolonial-feministischen Kritik der Polizei am Beispiel von Racial Profiling“, in: Daniel Loick (Ed.): Kritik der Polizei, Frankfurt/Main: Campus, pp. 197-221. (English translation to be published in: Michael J. Coyle and Mechthild Nagel (Ed.): Contesting Carceral Logic: Knowledge and Praxis in Penal Abolition). Resources Abolitionist Futures. Defund Police. Questions What is the significance of the differential logic of policing to our understanding of safety? What are further intersectional systems of oppression that play into policing (such as gender or migration status)? What could make communities safe? What are possible alternatives to policing?
Episode Two explores the benefits and disadvantages of going unseen by surveillance technologies. We examine notions of visibility and invisibility in the context of AI imaging systems with author and professor Simone Browne, artist Sondra Perry, and artist and academic Mimi Onuoha.
Reviewing what we learned in 2020—and ranking what we read! So many books! Also: MARIMBAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Show Notes The books we covered this season: Phaedrus, Plato: 8.02, 8.03 The Postmodern Condition, Lyotard: 8.04, 8.05 The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil: 8.06, 8.07 Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton: 8.08, 8.09 The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein: 8.10, 8.11 Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Browne: 8.12, 8.13 The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin: 8.14, 8.15 Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley: 8.16, 8.17 Contact, Carl Sagan: 8.18, 8.19 Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfekçi: 8.20, 8.21 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan: 8.22 Stephen’s list Twitter and Tear Gas Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore The Printing Press as an Agent of Change The Postmodern Condition Contact Jurassic Park Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness The Real World of Technology Phaedrus The Age of Spiritual Machines Evolution as a Religion Chris’s list Twitter and Tear Gas Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore The Printing Press as an Agent of Change Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness Jurassic Park Phaedrus Contact The Real World of Technology The Postmodern Condition The Age of Spiritual Machines Evolution as a Religion Credits Music “Foxglove”, by Ryan Dugré. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
We've probably all heard the phrase 'Big Brother is watching you' (a reference to the fictional character in George Orwell's dystopian novel '1984') - but are we really under constant surveillance? Is it actually possible to be a fully functioning member of modern society without being tracked by some sort of surveillance system? And how is technology being used to track protestors - such as those involved in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations? We catch up with Anjuli Shere, from Oxford's Department of Computer Science and Channel 4's show 'Hunted', to find out. Find out more on this topic with Simone Browne, Shoshana Zuboff and Ken Klippenstein.
Can I ask my friend to turn off her Alexa when I go to her house? To answer that question, Dr. Simone Browne joins the show to talk about privacy, ethics, and whose job it is to convince someone to not opt into surveillance. 〰️〰️〰️ More information and show notes here 〰️〰️〰️ Advice For And From The Future is written, edited and performed by Rose Eveleth. The theme music is by Also, Also, Also. The logo is by Frank Okay. Additional music this episode provided by Blue Dot Sessions. ✨ To get even more, you can become a Flash Forward Presents Time Traveler for access to behind the scenes exclusive content, early access to new shows, and other surprises & goodies. ✨ Episode sponsors: The Listener: A daily podcast recommendation newsletter, sending three superb episodes to your inbox every week day. Get 20% off your first year using the code ADVICE20 at checkout at thelistener.co/advice. Shaker & Spoon: A subscription cocktail service that helps you learn how to make hand-crafted cocktails right at home. Get $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com/futureadvice. Tab for a Cause: A browser extension that lets you raise money for charity while doing your thing online. Whenever you open a new tab, you’ll see a beautiful photo and a small ad. Part of that ad money goes toward a charity of your choice! Join team Advice For And From The future by signing up at tabforacause.org/futureadvice. Tavour: Tavour is THE app for fans of beer, craft brews, and trying new and exciting labels. You sign up in the app and can choose the beers you’re interested in (including two new ones DAILY) adding to your own personalized crate. Use code: futureadvice for $10 off after your first order of $25 or more. Purple Carrot: Purple Carrot is THE plant-based subscription meal kit that makes it easy to cook irresistible meals to fuel your body. Each week, choose from an expansive and delicious menu of dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks! Get $30 off your first box by going to www.purplecarrot.com and entering code futureadvice at checkout today! Purple Carrot, the easiest way to eat more plants! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the country, police are using facial recognition and all kinds of other technology to arrest protesters and organizers. While, in some cases, the people arrested did commit crimes, after-the-fact arrests can have a chilling effect on free speech and lead to cases of mistaken identity. They also show us just how much surveillance is part of our lives. Molly speaks with Simone Browne, author of “Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness.”
As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the country, police are using facial recognition and all kinds of other technology to arrest protesters and organizers. While, in some cases, the people arrested did commit crimes, after-the-fact arrests can have a chilling effect on free speech and lead to cases of mistaken identity. They also show us just how much surveillance is part of our lives. Molly speaks with Simone Browne, author of “Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness.”
As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the country, police are using facial recognition and all kinds of other technology to arrest protesters and organizers. While, in some cases, the people arrested did commit crimes, after-the-fact arrests can have a chilling effect on free speech and lead to cases of mistaken identity. They also show us just how much surveillance is part of our lives. Molly speaks with Simone Browne, author of “Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness.”
Digging into Simone Browne’s application of critical race theory to surveillance studies. Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness—Explained, Simone Browne Show Notes The two main subjects we mentioned on the show as relevant were critical theory (and specifically critical race theory) and surveillance studies. Notably, while Browne describes herself as a black feminist and makes reference to the adjacent idea of intersectionality, she never explicitly refers to critical (race) theory. We applied the term to her work based on the historical and interpretive methods she used. Stephen reviewed our intro music, Joshua Crumbly’s “New Rock Thingy,” here. Finally (as noted on air), Stephen was definitely recording from a closet: screenshot of our Zoom call with Stephen in a closet Upcoming Books August (8.14 and 8.15): The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin September (8.16 and 8.17): (probably) Technopoly, Neil Postman (We actually have a tentative plan through the end of the year… but we’ll publicize it once we’re more solid!) Credits Music “New Rock Thingy” by Joshua Crumbly. Used by permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
In this episode, edna bonhomme interviews Hiba Ali and they discuss COVID-19, multimedia performance art, surveillance, global shipping, Amazon, and modes of healing. Hiba Ali is a digital artist, educator, scholar, DJ, experimental music producer and curator based across Chicago, IL, Austin, TX, and Toronto, ON. Her performances and videos concern surveillance, womxn of colour, and labour. She conducts reading groups addressing digital media and workshops with open-source technology. She is a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queens University, Kingston, Canada. She has presented her work in Chicago, Stockholm, Toronto, New York, Istanbul, São Paulo, Detroit, Dubai, Austin, Vancouver, and Portland. She has written for THE SEEN Magazine, Newcity Chicago, Art Dubai, The State, VAM Magazine, ZORA: Medium, RTV Magazine, and Topical Cream Magazine. Image, A still from we are living: workers liberation as environmental justice, YouTube 360 Video, 2020 Bibliography Simone White, Of Being Dispersed Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women and Queer Radicals, Saidiya Hartman River of Fire, Qurratulain Hyder NTS: Nkisis (https://www.nts.live/shows/nkisi) and Fauzia (https://www.nts.live/shows/fauzia) Decolonization is not a Metaphor, Tuck & Yang Hito Steyerl, Duty-Free Art Artists: Saskia Sassen, Mariame Kaba, Simone Browne, Ruha Benjamin, Lisa Nakamura, Cedric Robinson, Lisa Nakamure, Lisa Parks, Saidiya Hartman, Diamond Stingily, Tabitha Rezaire, Sondra Perry, Nina Sarrelle, Joelle Mecedes,cAmina Ross, Liz Mputu, Hito Steyerl, Mika Rottenburg, Black Audio Film Collective, Otolith Group, John Akomfrah, Carrie Mae Weems Detroit Digital Justice Coaliton: http://detroitdjc.org/ Mandy Harris Williams Reading Group - Algorithms of Oppression Reading Group, Women Center for Creative Work: https://www.feminist.ai/aoo-book-club Toronto Digital Justice Lab : https://digitaljusticelab.ca/virtualgrounds Abolition Futures Reading Group: https://abolitionistfutures.com/pre-conference-events/abolitionist-reading-discussion-group/reading-list/ NGHT SHFTS Festival: https://www.nghtshfts.org/
Don’t go into science for the money: you will get killed by dinosaurs. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) Show Notes We put dinosaurs mostly in the background and talk about what Crichton really wanted to discuss: the science/industrial complex, the limits of science to interpret or re-create nature, the limits of discovery, and disciplinary power. Things mentioned on the show People trying to recreate mammoths in Siberia to fix … climate change? The world’s fastest supercomputer being used for climate simulations, among other things The wild tale of Anthony Levandoski’s self-driving cars corporate espionage Self-driving cars as a zero-sum game We also mentioned the famous “you didn’t stop to consider whether you should…” quote in 6.11: Very Thoughtful Ethics Dogs. Upcoming books Note that we’ve ended up changing plans since we recorded our Kurzweil episodes! We originally planned to read Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, but decided to talk about our “background” reading so far! June: The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein July: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown Music “Pull Apart (feat. Samantha Eason)” by Summerooms “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!
What the well-known novel and movie have to say about science, ethics, epistemology, and hubris. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) Show Notes Things mentioned on the show Media OS—see TVTropes’ “Extreme Graphical Representation” for many examples. The Expanse TV series overview book series overview Caliban’s War: the book in which “complex simple systems” appear Nuclear meltdowns Three-Mile Island Chernobyl Fukushima Upcoming books Note that we’ve ended up changing plans since we recorded our Kurzweil episodes! We originally planned to read Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, but decided to talk about our “background” reading so far! June: The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein July: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown Music “Achime” by TENGGER “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!
Live from the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces at Brown University, Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill talk about Simone Browne's book Dark Matters, John Fletcher's article on deepfake videos, and the Netflix interactive film Bandersnatch. The co-hosts are joined in the fourth chair by conference participants including Nick Porcino of Facebook Reality Labs and Kamal Sinclair of the Sundance Institute's New Frontier Labs Program.
Welcome to the second Repisode of The Core for Berkeley Rep's 50th Anniversary Season. In The Core, we talk to members of the community to see where the onstage and offstage worlds of our season intersect. In this Repisode, we talked to Dr. Brandi Wilkins Catanese, a professor of Theatre at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Simone Browne, a sociology professor at University of Texas at Austin. SPOILER ALERT: Only listen to this Repisode after you have seen Fairview. Our conversation includes reactions to key moments within the play, positioning Fairview within the canon of American theatre and breaking down themes and ideas that are sprinkled throughout Jackie Sibblies Drury's innovative new play. Fairview is running now through November 4. Tickets are available at berkeleyrep.org! Follow Berkeley Rep on SoundCloud to keep up with the whole series. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Music credit to James Dinneen.
In this episode, various voices consider self-care in the work of the henceforward. There is a discussion of self-care collectively vs. individually, Elder Jacqui Lavalley generously explains smudging, and dark sousveillance* is offered as a form of self-care. *Dark sousveillance counters and subverts surveillance mechanisms that target Black and Indigenous peoples. For more information about dark sousveillance and its intervention into surveillance studies, read Simone Browne's book, Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness.
Bio Dr. Simone Browne (@wewatchwatchers) is Associate Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. She teaches and researches surveillance studies and black diaspora studies. Her first book, Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, examines surveillance with a focus on transatlantic slavery, biometric technologies, branding, airports and creative texts. You can read the Introduction to Dark Matters here. Winner of the 2016 Best Book Prize, Surveillance Studies Network Winner of the 2016 Lora Romero First Book Prize, American Studies Association Winner of the 2015 Donald McGannon Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communications Technology Research She is an Executive Board member of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory). She is also a member of Deep Lab, a feminist collaborative composed of artists, engineers, hackers, writers, and theorists. Along with Katherine McKittrick and Deborah Cowen she is co-editor of Errantries, a new series published by Duke University Press. Resources Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Noble UT Austin Department of Sociology AI Now Institute at New York University Deep Lab Danielle Deane Sadie Barnette News Roundup CFPB Head Mulvaney Halts Equifax Probe Patrick Rucker at Reuters reported on Sunday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Acting Director, Mick Mulvaney, has been blocking the investigation into Equifax's massive September data breach. The breach exposed the data of some 143 million Americans to hackers. But Mulvaney has been working behind the scenes by not ordering any subpoenas, seeking sworn testimony, or really anything that would suggest CFPB is doing anything to further the investigation. CFPB has also blocked other agencies such as the FDIC and Federal Reserve from even stepping in to help out with the investigation. The U.S. Court of Appeals also affirmed Mulvaney's poltically-charged appointment. Study finds text reminders reduced arrest warrants for those who fail to appear in court A new University of Chicago Crime Lab and ideas42 study that was funded, in part, by the MacArthur Foundation, found that texts reminding people about court appearances in New York City, reduced Failure to Appear "FTA" arrest warrants by as much as a third. Changes to the summons form, that put the most relevant information on top, such as the date, time and place of the court appearance, plus the penalty associated with failing to appear, translated to a reduction of FTA arrest warrants by 17,000, when the form changes were implemented system-wide. U.S. Census Bureau to Ignore Detailed Race Classification The U.S. Census Bureau is bowing to an apparent effort by the Trump administration to ensure that as many people as possible claim their race as "White" for census purposes. The Census Bureau released a statement on January 26th saying that the 2020 Census would ignore the Obama Administration's recommendation to allow census respondents to check specific ethnicities along with racial categories. Instead, the Bureau will continue to emphasize the broader racial categories of White and Black, with Hispanics and Latinos only being able to write-in their heritage, but also having to choose their race as Black or White. The form also indicates "Egyptian" as an example of "White". Additionally, the "White" racial category will continue to be listed first. But that would have been the case on the form that the Obama administration recommended as well. The Census Bureau has until March 31st to make its final determination. PBS cries foul on YouTube content-flagging plan YouTube's plan to flag government-sponsored content isn't going over so well with PBS. PBS receives some, but not all, funding from the federal government. So the powerful, non-profit broadcast network is concerned that YouTube will lump all of its content into one bucket. Hamza Shaban reports for The New York Times. Ahead of Valentine's Day, the FTC posts infographic warning of dating site scams The Federal Trade Commission last week released a new infographic warning about dating site scams. Some of the things to look out for include, well, weirdos, basically – people who profess their love quickly, ask for money, or say they need help with an emergency. You know, standard stuff. The FTC says people lost $220 million from scams like these in 2016. DON'T let it happen to you. Alphabet's board names new Executive Chairman Google's parent company Alphabet has announced its new Chairman to replace outgoing Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. John Hennessy has taken the helm. Hennessy is the former President of Stanford University and he's been an Alphabet board member since it was founded in 2015, and prior to that was a Google board member since 1997. Hennessy is a passionate defender of the DREAM Act. Schmidt remains an Alphabet board member and technical advisor to the company. He has also joined MIT as an innovation fellow. Trump SOTU breaks Twitter record Twitter reports that Trump's State of the Union Speech last week broke the Twitter record. The 3 million tweets during Trump's speech surpassed the 2.6 million tweets Barack Obama's garnered in 2015.
April 27, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelists Simone Browne and Wendy Osefo. Special thanks to our sponsors! www.huntakiller.com/solve www.upside.com/biztrip Episode scoring music by Patrick Cortes, Ramiro Marquez, Blue Dot Sessions, and FMG Dez. #undisclosed #freddiegray #justiceforfreddie #udaddendum Support the show.
Alondra Nelson (@alondra) is the Dean of Social Science at Columbia University. An interdisciplinary social scientist, she writes about the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and inequality. She is author of the award-winning book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination. Her latest book, The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations and Reconciliation after the Genome, was published in January. In this episode, we discussed: the meaning and importance of "racial reconciliation" and the potential for genetic research in helping to promote it. the extent to which the concept of race is based on biology as opposed to being socially-constructed. the role of DNA evidence in historical analysis. key national priorities policymakers ought to focus on as they consider ways in which genetic research can help to advance social equality. Resources Columbia University Division of Social Science The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome by Alondra Nelson Dark Matters on the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne NEWS ROUNDUP FCC Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly sent a letter to associations representing Internet Service Providers saying they plan to roll back the FCC's net neutrality rules. The FCC passed the landmark rules which state that ISPs must treat all internet traffic equally, without prioritizing their own content, in 2015. The rules were subsequently upheld by a 3-judge DC Circuit Panel. A complete reversal of the rules would take some time, since a public comment period would need to be conducted first. Ajit Pai, who is expected to serve as the interim FCC Chairman once current Chairman Wheeler resigns in January, has said the days of the net neutrality rules are quote-unquote "numbered". -- The FCC has passed new rules enabling consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing to communicate. Previously, those who are deaf and hard of hearing had to rely on clunky, so-called teletype (TTY) devices to communicate with others. TTY devices converted tones into text and required the recipients to read on paper. Under the new rules, the FCC will now require wireless carriers and device manufacturers to enable "real time" text messaging, or RTT standard, which allows messaging recipients to see, in real time, what deaf and hard of hearing individuals are communicating. Sam Gustin has the story in Motherboard. -- Researchers at Google, UT Austin, and the Toyota Technological Institute in Chicago have devised a new way to test algorithms for biases. Examples of biases in machine learning have included computer programs that take data and target black neighborhoods, show advertisements for payday loans to African Americans and Latinos, or display executive-level jobs only to white male applicants. The approach developed by the researchers, entitled the Equality of Opportunity in Supervised Learning, would enable algorithms to determine that particular demographic groups were more likely to have particular behaviors, but would not target or exclude all individuals based on their race, ethnicity or gender, simply because some individuals within a particular sample had the behaviors. For example, if the algorithm determined that white women were in general more likely to buy wine, and then conclude that someone who bought wine was likely to be a white woman, that would be less biased than excluding non-white women from ad campaigns for white wine. Hannah Devlin has the story in The Guardian. Separately, the White House released a report warning of the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the workforce. The report concludes AI can lead to significant economic opportunities, but have detrimental impact on millions of workers. -- Nokia has sued Apple for patent infringement in Germany and in a federal court in Texas, accusing Apple of not renewing some patents the mobile industry relies on, and which Nokia now relies on for profit. Apple is stating that Nokia is acting like a patent troll by extorting Apple and not licensing the patents on reasonable terms. Nate Lanxon, Ian King and Joel Rosenblatt have the story at Bloomberg. -- Two consumer groups have filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint against Google accusing it of privacy violations after the company updated its privacy policy back in June. Consumer Watchdog and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse claim the company had its users opt-in to a privacy change in which the company allegedly merged data from several Google services without providing adequate notice. Craig Timberg has the story in the Washington Post. -- Pinterest released its diversity data, and while the company hit some of its internal hiring goals, black employment at the company remains at 2% with Hispanic employment at 4% of the company's total, tech and non-tech workforce. -- Facebook released its annual Global Government Requests report showing a 27% uptick globally in the number of government requests for user data, to over 59,000 total requests. -- Finally, HUD Secretary Julian Castro announced a major White House initiative to help students living in HUD-assisted housing to gain access to computers and the internet at home. In the partnership between HUD, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, the New York City Housing Authority and T-Mobile, 5,000 families living in public housing in the Bronx will get internet connected tablets. The ConnectHome program has thus far reached 43 states, with other major partners including Google Fiber, Comcast, AT&T, Sprint, Best Buy, the Boys and Girls Club of America, PBS, and others.
How is the history of slavery tied to modern-day surveillance systems? Is surveillance always a negative term? How can a gendered lens change the way we perceive privacy rights and policies? In episode 9 of the Imagine Otherwise podcast, host Cathy Hannabach chats with feminist scholar Simone Browne about how Black communities have resisted and interfered with the surveillance practices that target them, the multiple lenses through which to consider privacy, and the joys of collaborating with academics, artists, and activists. Show notes: https://ideasonfire.net/9-simone-browne