I am in the process of building a new site, but in the mean time, here is some recent writing: In the digital age, who has a right to be anonymous and whose information has a right to be secure? Globe and Mail China’s Digital Dystopia Threatens us all, National
Continue readingAuthor: Taylor Owen
TaylorOwen.com: The Big Tech Podcast
I’m excited to share a podcast I have been working on with David Skok, The Logic and CIGI called Big Tech. The goal is to have longform conversations about tech, society and democracy from a combined journalist (Dave) & academic (me) perspective. For each episode, I am also writing a
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Election integrity and platform governance updates
I haven’t been doing a good job of updating this site, and a full refresh is in development, but I wanted to pin some recent work at the top. Below is some info on recent work on the Canadian election monitoring project, on platform governance, and a range of writing,
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Statement to the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy
Last week had the privilege of appearing before the International Grand Committee (representatives from 12 countries) alongside Maria Ressa, Shoshana Zuboff, Jim Balsille, Heidi Tworek, Jason Kint, Ben Scott and Roger McNamee. After years of working on this wicked set of problems, it was a major milestone to see the
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Oped on Christchurch Call, IGC and Digital Charter
Here is a recent oped in the Globe and Mail in advance of my appearance before the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy: Who will answer the Christchurch Call? Nobody, if tech platforms continue ungoverned Speaking to a technology conference in Paris last week, Prime Minister Justin
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: End of year Globe and Mail oped
Some year end reflections and thoughts on the year to come for the Globe and Mail: Big Tech’s net loss: How governments can turn anger into action It has been a game-shifting 2018 for Big Tech. It was the year that long-simmering concerns about its potential negative effects on our
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Globe and Mail Oped: We can save democracy from destructive digital threats
I had the privilege of speaking to the Federal Cabinet retreat this week. Details from the event can be found here. I was there to address the challenges of misinformation and disinformation in relation to the upcoming election. This oped, published in the advance of the retreat, provides some context
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Democracy Divided: Countering Disinformation and Hate in the Digital Public Sphere
Ed Greenspon and I have just published a report as a collaboration between the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Public Policy Forum, called Democracy Divided: Countering Disinformation and Hate in the Digital Public Sphere. The Report outlines what we see as a structural problem in our
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Conversation on ‘Digital Deceit’
Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Scott about is great New America report “Digital Deceit: The Technologies Behind Precision Propaganda on the Internet” at a Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship conference called AI + Public Policy: Understanding the shift. The video of our conversation is here:
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Behind the Screens: Who decides what I see online?
A short video that the awesome Taylor Gunn and Civix Canada made with me about social platforms, journalism and democracy, for use in Canadian classrooms, focused on grade nine students:
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Globe and Mail oped: The era of Big Tech self-governance has come to an end
A piece in the Globe and Mail on the Zuckerberg hearings: The era of Big Tech self-governance has come to an end Twenty years ago, another young Silicon Valley tycoon was grilled in front of the U.S. Congress. Then, as this week, Congressional leaders grandstanded, asked long-winded questions, and showed
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Globe and Mail oped: The new rules for the internet
There has been lots of discussion lately about regulating social media but much less on what this might look like. Ben Scott (former tech policy for Obama & Clinton) and I suggest some options in The Globe and Mail. In short, it will take a broad new approach to how
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Ungoverned Space
I have an essay in CIGI’s new data governance series, called Ungoverned Space: How Surveillance Capitalism and AI Undermine Democracy. My key points are: The threat to democracy from misinformation is enabled by two structural problems in our digital infrastructure: the way data is collected and monetized (surveillance capitalism), and how
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Public Salon talk
I recently had the opportunity to give a talk at Sam Sullivan’s Public Salon in Vancouver. A great regular event hosted by the former mayor and current MLA. My talk was on the design problems at the core of our current crisis of misinformation. In short, I conclude: “Facebook didn’t
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: How safe are Canada’s elections from fake news on Facebook?
Here is an interview I recently did on CBC’s The Current on the digital threat to the next Canadian election. My argument is that a focus on discrete threats (from say Russia), are distracting us to what is ultimately a structural problem. It is the very design of Facebook that is
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: How Internet Monopolies Threaten Democracy
I have been thinking a lot about the internet and what it means for journalism and democracy lately. I am currently writing a book the topic, so will have much more to say soon. But last month I had the honour of giving the Dalton Camp Lecture in Journalism, which gave
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Is Facebook a threat to democracy?
I have an oped in the Globe today in reaction to Facebook’s Canadian Election Integrity Initiative. In short, I think we are missing the structural problem: The system of surveillance capitalism that has resulted in a market for our attention. Here is a twitter thread that elaborates on this, And here
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Lecture on Fakenews and democracy
Technology and new media are facilitating a rapid shift in the ways in which we consume news. In the shift from print to digital, companies like Facebook – and the algorithms it engineers – are replacing traditional editors and publishers. The result is “surveillance capitalism”: a powerful system that can
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: NPR Interview on Silicon Valley and journalism
I was recently on NPR’s new national show 1A discussing how Silicon Valley is shaping journalism. Part 1 is here, and part 2 (responding after the interview with Facebook’s Campbell Brown) is here.
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Fake News and the Crisis of Information
Below is the video of a talk I gave recently at a Canada2020 conference in Ottawa, titled “Fake News and the Crisis of Information” followed by a panel I was on with David Frum, Anand Giridharadas, Liz Plank, Susan Delacourt and Evan Solomon. Related, here is a recent radio interview on misinformation and the
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