Shouting Zeros and Ones NetHui Video

(bright music) - Hello NetHui, my name is Curtis Barnes. Thanks for joining me. I’m a co-author alongside Tom Barraclough on a chapter called “Digitised Lies: New Zealand and the Global Disinformation Threat.” And Tom and I are law and emerging technologies researchers for Brainbox which is an organization that’s a centre for public interest research focused on emerging technologies. This chapter is about making a case really for a greater investigation into the extent that digital manipulation measures, active measures as they’re called elsewhere are impacting New Zealand society. At the moment we don’t know, but we really ought to, and we’ve watched the impacts elsewhere.

00:49 - Probably are watching the impacts unfolding overseas right now. The reason we need to take this seriously is that globally more than 70 countries at least have been targeted by campaigns that seek to strategically influence their society, disrupt them, polarize them, radicalize them, and disrupt democratic systems, and we can call this the disinformation threat that’s affecting the world. The information flow in society relies upon heavily dependent on digital information, which means we can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak and say let’s no longer use the internet or trust everything on it. We have to trust that our institutions rely on it, our ways of life rely on it. At the same time, clearly states, governments, non-government organizations, individuals have realized that they can use digital infrastructures to promote means that actually serve their purposes and not the purpose of the societies they target.

01:45 - As a member of the global community, New Zealand’s really reliant upon this. We’re probably more reliant than anyone else because we’re so geographically remote. But we’re also a symbol, a target for people who want to disrupt the global order because we have such symbolic prominence on the world stage. So in the book I talk about essentially disinformation, misinformation and mal-information and context and really how we can start building a load-bearing policy framework around those things. And what I’d like to see done from the book is to further a conversation that gets down to specifics of what’s happening to New Zealand, who’s doing it, where it’s coming from, and why essentially.

02:26 - And from there we can actually start to think about what a proportionate response would be and really just start taking seriously at societal and government level. So thank you very much. Enjoy reading and enjoy the rest of NetHui. (bright music) - Hi, I’m Kathy Errington, I’m the Executive Director of the Helen Clark Foundation and together with Anjum Rahman, we co-authored chapter two in “Shouting Zeros and Ones.” Our chapter’s about online harm and how to address that. Specifically our chapter is about how can we regulate a way the things that are wrong with the internet; so, hate speech, misinformation, the spread of violence, and extremist content, while protecting what is good about the internet, which is the ability of marginalized people to connect and organize themselves, and asking how can we better address those at times competing objectives.

03:18 - Why should people care about this? Well, we started our conversation from a position of, more regulation in this area is inevitable because the social license of social media platforms is increasingly gone as people have become conscious of the impact of things like misinformation on the 2016 American election, and of course in the context as well as the atrocity in Christ church and the role of Facebook in that particular event. So, in that context we wanted to talk about given that old consensus that it’s too hard to regulate the internet is increasingly gone, and what could work, and what things should the government think about and be careful of as they venture into this area? So what change would I like to see in this area? Well, one idea we touch on in the chapter is the idea of a duty of care, but that’s of course just one suggestion. Another thing I really like the concept of is a kind of hippocratic oath for technologists where people commit to not use their skills to create things that are harmful, and I think that’s quite a cool concept. Beyond that, I do want more regulation and I also think it’s inevitable. So I want to see a conversation really framed around, well, what are we going to do and what can work and how can we work with other jurisdictions to do it effectively, because of course you’re tackling what are very large and very powerful private companies? But of course countries have tackled that before by working together in different areas. So, I don’t think that’s the end of it.

04:48 - And finally I want voices like my co-author Anjum Rahman to lead the way in this conversation about what should we think about, what should we do, which is why the bulk of the chapter is a conversation between us about her views on what should happen and how we should address online harm. And that’s chapter two. Thank you. (bright music) - (speaks foreign language) I am Merrin Macleod, I’m a software developer with a particular interest in climate change and the impact of technology on climate change. I’ve written a chapter in “Shouting Zeros and Ones” called “The Environmental Impacts of Globalised Computing,” and that’s a primer on the impact of digital technology on climate change, particularly from a New Zealand context. The lowdown of it is basically that digital technology isn’t environmentally free, it doesn’t come at no carbon cost even though it’s really difficult to see. And especially in New Zealand, even though we have quite reasonably clean energy using quite a lot of renewable electricity, when we move things onto the cloud, it’s often moving it into Australia and using coal-fired electricity in Australia.

06:19 - So that’s really the one fact that I’d like people to come away from that chapter with. And since I’ve just told it to you, you don’t even have to read the chapter if you haven’t already. People should care if they care about climate change, which I think most people do. It can be really stressful to think about and so I know a lot of people just kind of put it out of their mind so that they can not be sad all the time. But it is a really important issue and it is something that we can do something about, and it is something that we can do something about with the skills that we have as technologists and particularly as policy people in the technology space.

07:14 - The change that I’d like to see and that I think the people at NetHui are really well placed to influence and to get this change to happen is better policies around reporting of emissions from computing and putting pressure on big organizations like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. So Google in particular, I think they have a lot of really good stuff in the space. So they have things like they are looking at moving compute loads between regions depending on who’s got more renewable energy available, things like that, but their maps on their sustainability reports always cut off this entire region. So they care deeply about what their customers and governments in North America and Europe think, but they don’t seem to care very much about what happens in the other half of the world, which is deeply concerning on a number of levels. But I think that if we annoy them enough maybe we’ll get included in their maps.

09:00 - Usually it’s just New Zealand not being included in the maps, but in this case, and the Google environmental reports it’s usually also China and India are being excluded off the maps, which is a little bit more of an oversight than just leaving us off. So thank you very much. I hope that there’s some good conversations around this at NetHui this year. I know we had some really great (speaks foreign language) last year. And yeah, thank you very much. (bright music) - Hello, my name is Caleb Moses, and I’m a data scientist at Dragonfly Data Science. I used to work for Stats NZ as a statistical processing analyst where my subject matter expertise was in data confidentiality.

09:55 - My chapter in “Shouting Zeros and Ones” is titled “The Integrated Data Infrastructure.” (Caleb speaking in foreign language) The integrated data infrastructure is a large database, otherwise known as the IDI. It’s maintained by Stats NZ, where the government joins data from across all sectors at the individual level. The idea is used for research which will change how our government runs. In my chapter, I talk about the history of the IDI, how it came to exist, and the policy framework that was set up to keep the data safe.

10:29 - The IDI is unique in the world, and as such it represents a challenge to safely use private data for the public good. It consists of the personal data of over 9 million people and we all have an interest in making sure it’s run safely and for the benefit of all New Zealanders. While better understanding of the interconnected nature of New Zealand society has the potential to solve widespread issues of unequal access to education, employment, criminal justice, health, and well-being, these deeply integrated problems are going to require integrated solutions. So the IDI is an opportunity for us to unravel the tangled web of pieces that make up our society. It has the potential to be a key player in the conversation to build a more inclusive, more equal New Zealand so long as it’s used correctly.

11:18 - I want to see the IDI driving innovative cross-sector change in how we run our country. There is good potential for benefit but there are also substantial ongoing risks. In my chapter, I challenge the government to use the insights from the IDI carefully to implement cross-sector solutions to the country’s big economic health and well-being problems and to work honorably and in good faith alongside MÄ ori as treaty partners. I hope I see you at NetHui. (bright music) - Kia ora koutou, ko Briony Blackmore ahau. I am a PhD student in the philosophy program at the University of Otago, and a member of the Otago Center for Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy, also known as CAIPP.

12:03 - For the past two and a bit years, I’ve been completing my master’s and now my PhD on Artificial Intelligence and Ethics. My master’s focused on predictive risk model use and criminal justice with a special focus on transparency, and this is the focus of my chapter. I wrote the chapter “Predictive Risk Models in Criminal Justice,” (speaker speaking foreign language) in the book “Shouting Zeros and Ones.” Here I looked at the notion of using predictive risk models to determine the risk a person is at re-offending. In New Zealand we use these kinds of models to help back up our decisions about the rehabilitation criminal offenders get as well as whether an offender will receive parole.

12:49 - Predictive risk models get a lot of negative air time with an overwhelming focus on how they’re ethically suspect. I think it’s important that we give a fair look at both the negatives and the positives. So I start my chapter by looking at why ethically speaking we might be doing the right thing by using them. In particular I look at ideas such as increased accuracy and efficiency. I then turn to the ethical issues that arise as a result of using them, focusing on trust, bias against minority groups, results being more accurate for some groups than others, and the consequences of a lack of transparency in decision making.

13:31 - From here, I turned to discussions of the sorts of things that ought to be done to mitigate the ethical issues and ensure that these predictive risk models are used in such a way that is responsible and conscientious. There are many things we should be doing to mitigate ethical problems, but three of the most important are: One, those who are using the outputs of an algorithm should be up-front and clear with those impacted by them about how they’re used. There should also be public consultation about their use, and the public should actually engage. It’s a two-way street. Number two, data in the algorithm itself should undergo frequent testing to make sure that it’s not bringing around ethically suspect consequences such as bias. This should be undertaken by an independent entity that has understanding of both the technology and the context.

14:29 - And then three, making sure that the algorithm is not off the shelf and rather is developed in-house or through a contract. Doing so means that government departments and ministries are in control of sharing information about the algorithm as they won’t be bound by proprietary claims against sharing. A plus of this approach is that we also have an algorithm that is suited to the context at hand. Well, that’s a little bit about my chapter. Thank you for tuning in, and I will hopefully see you around at virtual NetHui.

15:01 - (bright music) - Kia ora koutou people of NetHui. My name’s Stephen Judd. I wrote the chapter in “Shouting Zeros and Ones” entitled “Solutions have Problems,” which is about online voting. I work in IT, I’m based in Wellington, I’ve been in this industry for about 25 years doing a bunch of different roles: Technical and non-technical. I currently work for Catalyst. The reason I wanted to write this chapter was I am very interested in online voting because of my interests in politics and in IT, and I felt like the public discussion around it is really superficial, under-informed. So what I wanted to do was cover the pros and cons, look at the evidence from other jurisdictions, look at some political science research and use some of the ideas that come out of a book called “Dangerous Enthusiasms” about how really sexy technology ideas and lots of money have a kind of logic of their own in the way that we think about them.

16:20 - What I concluded is that the evidence for online voting is producing the results that people want to see is actually pretty weak, but the drivers for the different participants in this debate who are the real advocates are kind of revealing. You can read the book to find out why. What I’d like to see personally happening is that we looked at investing the money that’s proposed to be invested in online voting and voter outreach and education and things that are more likely to produce behavioural change. And I think another thing to think about is whether we can really solve something that’s about voter’s sense of engagement, the relevance and the power of their vote through a technology solution. Fundamentally this may actually be a political problem, a problem for politicians in our political class not one that technology is really well equipped to solve. So, anyway have a great time at NetHui. I hope to see you there. I hope that this chapter and this book has some seeds for good conversations. See you soon.

17:33 - (bright music) - (speaks foreign language) Ko Anna Pendergrast ahau. - Ko Kelly Pendergrast ahau. We work together at ANTISTATIC which is a small communications and research consultancy, and we focus on important issues around technology, the environment and social justice. - We co-wrote the chapter “Digital Inclusion” (speaker speaking in foreign language) in the book “Shouting Zeros and Ones.” - Our chapter is about making sure that everyone can participate in all elements of community and society with a focus on being able to access and use digital technologies on the internet. So, we looked at ways that digital inclusion is defined in New Zealand by government and by others, who isn’t included at the moment, the reasons why they might not be included and, spoiler alert, it has more to do with wealth and equality and other underlying factors than just tech skills and owning a smartphone.

18:25 - And we finished off by talking about how we can work towards a more digitally included Aotearoa. - This is really important because digital and technologies are intertwined in so many aspects of our lives now and many services are now delivered either partly or completely online. Being excluded from convenient access to digital tools and technologies can have a really big negative impact on people’s lives. Also everyone has a digital subject which means that digital information and data are collected about all of us and used to make decisions. So we think that people should have the basic skills to understand these technologies and how they affect our lives, and have the rights and ability to push back when needed.

19:05 - - Yeah, so with that being said, here are three things that are at the top of our list to ensure that everyone can be digitally included. First, everyone needs to have enough money to live comfortably so they can afford to make decisions about what devices and what kind of internet and data they want, and have the capacity to get connected and learn new skills. - Next, an internet connection should be put in all public housing in Aotearoa and a monthly data connection should be provided at low or no cost. And finally, government organizations and companies need to design their platforms and services so they are accessible for everyone. - Great, is that it for now? - Yeah, I think we’re all good. Cool.

19:46 - - [Speakers] Bye (bright music) - Hi, everyone. My name is Serena, I am an interaction designer working on security, privacy and anti-abuse at Google Chrome. My two chapters in “Shouting Zeros and Ones” are “The Spread of Online Fascism” and “A Framework for Response.” And what it’s about is essentially taking a look at the overwhelming world of internet flavored fascism through the lens of epidemiology and then taking that and what we know from fighting COVID-19 as a framework to guide us in our thinking, and how we might structure a response to protect ourselves and our loved ones and society. I found that this is a really helpful framework because it takes the overwhelming world of the internet and the fascist and fascist-adjacent groups and actions that happen and organizes it and views it through a holistic lens and a probabilistic lens in that one event causes another to be more likely, rather than one directly causing another.

21:20 - And this is really important because at the end of it, online fascism and offline fascism are inseparable and it spills over to real world violence as we are intimately familiar with the past year and also in the world the past five or ten years. So, this is something that I implore everyone to be aware of and think about. And what I hope people will take away from these chapters is the understanding that all of us are in the same boat, we’re all connected in the same world and therefore each of us, and that means you, has a responsibility to protect ourselves and our loved ones whether that be your place in a government, whether that be your place in a business, all the way to your place within your own family and your own friend groups. No matter what it is, we each have a responsibility to act and do something to protect ourselves and each other much like we have the responsibility in the pandemic right now. And so I hope you have a lovely time at NetHui.

22:53 - I know I really had a great time last year along with the other authors. A lot of really great chats, a lot of really great smart people. And yeah, keep safe. (bright music) .