May 18, 2020Open LetterMay 18, 2020, London Dear Matt Hancock, We are civil society organisations, privacy advocates and academic researchers writing to express concerns about the NHS’s plans to build a COVID-19 datastore. We share the common goal of preserving public confidence in systems that can help make us all safer. …Nhs6 min read
May 15, 2020Data Commons & Data TrustsWhat they are and how they relate — How do data trusts relate to data commons? When trying to make sense of the many data governance models and data sharing arrangements in existence this question comes up a lot. …Commons10 min read
Feb 20, 2020When One Affects Many: The Case For Collective ConsentRead the full essay on the Mozilla Blog. Data breaches, micro-targeting, advertising based on our data, nudges and gamification, they are not all bad all the time, but for the most part we, users and citizens, never asked for it and were never asked about it. The mass amounts of…Privacy2 min read
Nov 11, 2019Data Trusts: Why, What and HowHow do we, the general public, gain greater control over the estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes of data that is recorded, stored, processed and analysed, every day? For the moment, we have little say over what can be collected, accessed and used, and by whom. Nor do we enjoy much agency…Privacy8 min read
Apr 29, 2019Why your privacy is about all of usWe are on the record. With or without our consent, data about us has been recorded, stored, analysed and used to predict our behaviours and gain insights into our brightest dreams and darkest secrets. Data is nothing more than our recorded actions and words: it is not good or bad…Privacy3 min read
Oct 16, 2018Employee ActivismBe the change you want to see in the world’, the quote that was falsely attributed to Gandhi, rings increasingly hollow. When faced with systems that benefit cheating over collaboration, becoming a kind-hearted vegan is simply not enough to motivate the worst offenders to change course. So then, in addition…Employer Activism3 min read
Oct 16, 2018Human Intelligence TasksA loud ping alerts me to the arrival of a new job. ‘Locate unboxed fashion items in the image (DON’T FORGET BELT)’ the title reads. I click the link and start tagging unboxed dresses, shoes and, indeed, belts. The job is worth 11,549 HITs, which I soon learn stands for…Machine Learning3 min read
Published in Embassy Network·Jun 1, 2018How to make yourself dispensableIn a community where a single dinner easily results in nine newly registered domain names, there are bound to be some projects that fall by the wayside. Not everything is permanent and that’s ok. …Productivity3 min read
