diff --git a/content/session/techandcorona.md b/content/session/techandcorona.md index 2a06019..5c9486f 100644 --- a/content/session/techandcorona.md +++ b/content/session/techandcorona.md @@ -23,6 +23,31 @@ The role of connectivity is something that merits some collective reflection. On > It appears that at least two new kinds of subjectivity have already begun to take shape, both of which are mutually constitutive, intimately dependent upon, and shaped by the informatic infrastructures and apparatuses that now run through and organize much of our planetary society. On the one hand, we have the domesticated/connected subject, who in being confined to their home is pushed to invent new ways to reconnect to and participate in a virtualized economy. On the other hand, we have the mobile/disposable subject that serves as the circulatory system of the pandemic, a subject that becomes increasingly vulnerable and precarious as it is compelled to move at ever greater velocities. In order for domesticated/connected subjects to materially sustain themselves, they must be coupled with the mobile/disposable subject that fulfills the minimum material needs of society while ensuring the social possibility of isolated yet networked domestic life. - SOURCE: [The Corona Reboot](https://www.ianalanpaul.com/the-corona-reboot/) +# Toxic Tools + + +Many of the connectivity and remote working tools that have become widely adopted during the lockdowns, some have come under public scrutiny for having policies that might damage their users. + +Gennie Gebhart, associate director of research for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading nonprofit digital rights group, warned that “As we move more of our everyday lives onto these platforms, we’re going to be looking at new and different and maybe even greater privacy risks in terms of corporate surveillance and employer surveillance". + +SLACK: Your boss may be able to read your *Slack DMs* and Slack retains data, even when you can’t see it. + +SOURCE: [Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts: Are Your Remote Work Apps Spying on You?](https://onezero.medium.com/slack-zoom-google-hangouts-are-your-remote-work-apps-spying-on-you-cf1e33809cf7) + +ZOOM: According to Jamie Zawinski, one of the founders of Netscape and Mozilla.org, Zoom is particularly 'terrible': + +> Zoom's privacy page states: "Whether you have Zoom account or not, we may collect Personal Data from or about you when you use or otherwise interact with our Products." This includes, but is not limited to, your physical address, phone number, your job title, credit and debit card information, your Facebook account, your IP address, your OS and device details, and more." Further, the app allows your boss to spy on you far beyond what's okay in an office setting (Zoom has an attention-tracking feature that can alert hosts if you look away (update: as of April 2, 2020, Zoom have removed the attendee attention tracker feature due to widespread protests).. From EFF: [...] "Admins have the ability to join any call at any time on their organization's instance of Zoom, without in-the-moment consent or warning for the attendees of the call." + +> Zoom Meetings Aren't End-To-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing: +> The meeting is secured with end-to-end encryption, at least according to Zoom's website, its security white paper, and the user interface within the app. But despite this misleading marketing, the service actually does not support end-to-end encryption for video and audio content, at least as the term is commonly understood. Instead it offers what is usually called transport encryption. [...] + +> Without end-to-end encryption, Zoom has the technical ability to spy on private video meetings and could be compelled to hand over recordings of meetings to governments or law enforcement in response to legal requests. While other companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft publish transparency reports that describe exactly how many government requests for user data they receive from which countries and how many of those they comply with, Zoom does not publish a transparency report. + +SOURCE: [Zoom is bad and you should feel bad](https://www.jwz.org/blog/2020/03/zoom-is-bad-and-you-should-feel-bad/?fbclid=IwAR0D0YroobD_i4ZhmISVN4FbHuCe_n64o0u3hPkeAedqdHrPPg6km-WTFoI) + +We are very aware that engaging, experimenting with and learning about different tools and alternative technologies is something that not everyone is able to do, as conditions of work and life vary and often are not supportive of such extra efforts. However, the technopolitical aspect of the pandemic is calling for a very serious collective reflection around our technological futures. Could mainstream technological infrastructures be created beyond corporate solutions that extract data and provide employers and governments with biased surveillance tools? There are many initiatives out there that have been producing some amazing alternatives which go in the direction of empowering users and communities in their relationship with tech. While we are not purist in our approach, as our online presence is part of broad ecosystems and connectivity is in this time more important than ever, we hope some of the resources linked here will inspire and sustain others in become less entangled with set ups we don't want nor consent to. + + Alternative tools and technologies for connectivity can be found at: **Video conferencing:**