Life-hack #4 How to beat Bureaucracy

Looking Back: How to beat bureaucracy?
TivoliVredenburg 29/09/2015

Evgeny Morozov on Silicon Valley: The Invisible Trap.
Arjan el Fassed and Jons Janssens respond.

Evgeney Morozov (Soligorsk, Belarus, 1984) is scientist, internet skeptic and author. His articles appear in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Frankfurter Algemeine, El Pais and others. Morozov studies the social and political consequences of new technologies. In his first book The Net Delusion:The Dark Side of Internet Freedom (2011), he states that the internet contributes as effectively to suppression as it does to freedom. In his 2nd book To Save Everything, Click Here (2013) he shows that the internet does not provide the solution for our  problems.

In Morozov’s lecture Silicon Valley: the invisible trap Morozov shares his skepticism with us.  Today, technology companies promise us a seemingly genuine path towards social mobility, equality, safety and justice. As the welfare state is crumbling, these companies are more than happy to provide the public with free services in exchange for our data.  Initially those services were limited to communication and search only, but today they increasingly include services that promise better healthcare, education, transportation, data analysis (timelines, face recognition) and better and freeconnectivity for all. But what are the economic, political, and social consequences of accepting this free bargain? And why are our existing governments – who are often free-riding on these private data infrastructures to hone their surveillance techniques – so eager to go along with Silicon Valley’s plans? Should we accept that data is just like any other asset to be traded, or is there hope/need for an alternative legal and economic regime that will counteract the commodification of data? 

Arjan El Fassed (Vlaardingen, 1973) is director of the Open State Foundation (OSF).  OSF promotes digital transparency and believes in innovative and creative solutions to social issues. Before El Fassed was Groen Links member of the Parliament and spokesman for International Development and Digital Agenda. After studying political sciences, specializing in international and comparative politics researched democratic transition.  From 2002 onwards El Fassed was manager humanitarian campaigns at Oxfam International, with a focus on international conflicts and human rights.