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The Big Problem with Uber’s Big Data: Ethics and Regulation of Data Ownership

The Big Problem with Uber’s Big Data: Ethics and Regulation of Data Ownership

“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral”. That is why it is key to understand how we, as users and moderators, give additional meaning to technological features and participate in the complex chain of interactions they...
By on 10/20/21 Comments Off on The Big Problem with Uber’s Big Data: Ethics and Regulation of Data Ownership
Cut the Cookie: Dark Patterns in BIG DATA

Cut the Cookie: Dark Patterns in BIG DATA

Cookies, introduced as a promise of choice, developed into an institutional nuisance one encounters daily. Formerly an attempt to provide Europeans with a consent infrastructure for or against participation in Big Data practices turned into an exercise in ethical...
By on 10/03/21 Comments Off on Cut the Cookie: Dark Patterns in BIG DATA
Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?

Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?

This blog post covers the struggle between Epic Games on one side and Apple and Google on the other. By suing Google and Apple over anti-competitive practices, Epic Games hopes to break the tight grip the platforms have on...
By David Dijkhuis on 09/24/20 Comments Off on Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?
A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment

A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment

The new uses of smart technology are being constantly introduced, and unlike a cat selfie device or a cute planter that aim to add some fun to our humdrum existence, WeWALK smart cane attempt to make a difference. This...
By Berenika Balcer on 09/23/19 Comments Off on A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment
Could a Digital Expiry Date Policy Limit Extractive Platform Capitalism Business Models?

Could a Digital Expiry Date Policy Limit Extractive Platform Capitalism Business Models?

Since 2016, numerous digital data leaks, data-sharing revelations, and scandals have been brought to light — from Cambridge Analytica to Google+ to several others. The data breaches compromised the personal information of millions of users and showed that not...
By Mahmoud Badry on 04/16/19 Comments Off on Could a Digital Expiry Date Policy Limit Extractive Platform Capitalism Business Models?
A Call for Collectivization: Addressing the atomization and exploitation of ‘lean platform’ workers

A Call for Collectivization: Addressing the atomization and exploitation of ‘lean platform’ workers

Sketching the Problem: Lean Platforms and ‘Precarity by Design’ The platform labor economy, epitomized by platforms such as Uber and TaskRabbit, is actively reshaping the relationship between workers and the labor that they perform. Sometimes referred to as the...
By Hailey Beaman on 03/25/19 Comments Off on A Call for Collectivization: Addressing the atomization and exploitation of ‘lean platform’ workers
A Capitalist Does Not Always Pay His Debts: On Debt, Rentism, and Inequality

A Capitalist Does Not Always Pay His Debts: On Debt, Rentism, and Inequality

Debt, governance, and inequality are three of the main building blocks of capitalist economies. These economies have features that allow great wealth to essentially reproduce itself in the absence of strong governance regulation, which in turn typically leads to...
By Mahmoud Badry on 02/17/19 Comments Off on A Capitalist Does Not Always Pay His Debts: On Debt, Rentism, and Inequality
How Can Art Be Subversive in a Platform System? The Case of Benjamin Grosser

How Can Art Be Subversive in a Platform System? The Case of Benjamin Grosser

    What would happen if one morning, a morning like many others, after you got up, you discovered that your Facebook home page is completely empty, without any type of content? I’m not talking about a crash or...
By Tommaso Campagna on 09/24/18 Comments Off on How Can Art Be Subversive in a Platform System? The Case of Benjamin Grosser
Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.

Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.

The latest controversy surrounding the in development game Star Citizen, struck me as illustrative of the pitfalls and complexities of new forms of financing, and how they manifest the sunk cost fallacy in new, unexpected ways. It isn’t just...
By Tim Groot on 09/24/18 Comments Off on Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.
Spare Change Investment: Saving for the Future or Selling Out Today?

Spare Change Investment: Saving for the Future or Selling Out Today?

Millennials are a new target market. Personal growth, independence, and self-improvement are trends especially prominent with generation Y and Z. Right in tune, finances are following suit with budget, mobile payment and now investment apps like Acorns and Moneybox....
By Vanessa Richter on 09/23/18 Comments Off on Spare Change Investment: Saving for the Future or Selling Out Today?
A Foucauldian Genealogy of Cybernetic Subjectivity

A Foucauldian Genealogy of Cybernetic Subjectivity

An overview of cybernetics, its production of subjects and key players and ideas that formed the cybernetic paradigm.
By Jasper van Tilburg on 04/23/18 Comments Off on A Foucauldian Genealogy of Cybernetic Subjectivity
Interventions on Nick Srnicek’s “Platform Capitalism”

Interventions on Nick Srnicek’s “Platform Capitalism”

A representation of the current platform capitalist culture.
By Els Versluis on 02/16/18 Comments Off on Interventions on Nick Srnicek’s “Platform Capitalism”
A Streamlined Explanation: The Problem with Streaming Games on YouTube

A Streamlined Explanation: The Problem with Streaming Games on YouTube

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is one of the most popular video game streamers on YouTube with more than 57 million subscribers (Orland, 2017). Because of a racial slur uttered in one of his recent Let’s Play videos, PewDiePie faced a...
By Ayse B. Tosun on 10/25/17 Comments Off on A Streamlined Explanation: The Problem with Streaming Games on YouTube
Who controls your voice controlled world?

Who controls your voice controlled world?

One of the latest trends in the tech world is the development of the smart digital voice assistant. It was first popularized by iPhone’s Siri, and now companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft are developing software and hardware technology...
By Aleksandra Straczek on 10/24/17 Comments Off on Who controls your voice controlled world?
Winter is coming for Uber

Winter is coming for Uber

Knockout or next round? All eyes towards the battle between Uber and London’s transport regulation system ‘TfL’. Employee conditions and security affairs are the big issues in this public discussion. Is there a bright new future for digital labor...
By Maximilian Zucchet on 09/25/17 Comments Off on Winter is coming for Uber