SHA2017

This morning, like last week, we're announcing the next accepted talk: "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?" by Jillian C. York

Todays tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we as users and citizens have the ability to provide is minimal. Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to vote with our feet (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before. This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.

Jillian C. York is a writer and activist focused on the intersection of technology and policy. Based in Berlin, she serves as the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she works on issues of free expression, privacy, and digital security. Jillian frequently writes about these issues; her byline has recently appeared in Quartz, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.
In 2012, Jillian co-founded the project Onlinecensorship.org, which won the Knight News Challenge in 2014. Jillian is a fellow at the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina and a member of the Deep Lab collective.