From kontakt at renekoenig.eu Mon Jun 2 11:19:49 2014 From: kontakt at renekoenig.eu (=?iso-8859-1?B?UmVu6SBL9m5pZw==?=) Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 11:19:49 +0200 Subject: [re-search] right to be forgotten In-Reply-To: <3BAD25B3-B3A4-4E08-B62C-41D5E1B49B56@desk.nl> References: <23E8E98F-55E1-4480-A3A0-752FB75A4CE1@networkcultures.org> <3BAD25B3-B3A4-4E08-B62C-41D5E1B49B56@desk.nl> Message-ID: <010801cf7e43$ce45c020$6ad14060$@renekoenig.eu> "Google is already handling millions of deletion requests for copyright violations every month, so even a couple of hundred insisting individuals won't make much of a difference." Looks like Mayer-Sch?nberger underestimated that as there were 12.000 delete requests within the first 24 hours after Google put on the form. But ok, I guess this is probably mainly due to the heavy media coverage on this topic and it will rather decline in the future. However, the broader question behind this "right to be forgotten" is quite critical and I?m concerned that many people in Europe instinctively take sides against Google without thinking too much about the implications. For example, in the Spanish case that initiated the whole thing, the complainant tried before to go against the publisher of the information he wanted to get rid of. The court decided against that, anyway Google has to delete links referring to this information. So, they are forced to take down information that is actually legal. To me that sounds like opening the door to censorship. More critical arguments were made in this interesting article (in German, sorry): http://www.daniel-schwerd.de/sperren-statt-loeschen-warum-das-eugh-urteil-ke in-recht-auf-vergessen-darstellt/ Best, Ren? -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- Von: re-search [mailto:re-search-bounces at listcultures.org] Im Auftrag von Geert Lovink Gesendet: Mittwoch, 14. Mai 2014 13:36 An: re-search at listcultures.org Betreff: Re: [re-search] right to be forgotten > http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/13/omission-of-searc > h-results-no-right-to-be-forgotten > > Millions of deletion requests are handled for copyright violations, so a few insisting individuals won't make a difference > ? Viktor Mayer-Sch?nberger > ? The Guardian, Tuesday 13 May 2014 23.30 BST The decision by the > European court of justice that in some cases Google may have to omit search results if an affected individual requests so, is alternatively hailed as the dawn of an effective "right to be forgotten", or condemned as the end of search engines or even the freedom of the press. Frankly it is neither. > > In part this has to do with how the decision is phrased. For starters, the court made clear that news media are exempt from such deletion requests; Google is only on the hook because it argued it is not media (to avoid having to comply with media regulation in Europe). > > The court also clarified that individuals cannot simply request links to be deleted, and Google has to comply. Instead what's necessary is a careful balancing, the court said, of all the rights involved, including the public's right to have access to information. This limits the application to rather a small number of cases, in which for instance the information to be deleted is both damning and irrelevant. And it requires that individuals vigorously pursue their complaint before data protection agencies and courts, not shying away from cost and time. > > Such a deletion right has existed for 20 years, and very few of us have used it. There is little reason to believe that will change. Moreover, search engines don't have to redesign themselves to comply. Google is already handling millions of deletion requests for copyright violations every month, so even a couple of hundred insisting individuals won't make much of a difference. > > This may be reassuring to the internet industry, but unfortunately it does not solve the challenge of comprehensive digital remembering we face. All through human history, forgetting has been easy for humans, and remembering was hard. > > That helped us to accept that people evolve and change, and that the person we were many years ago is not the person we are today. > > With digital memory, almost global access, and easy retrieval through search engines such as Google, we essentially have undone forgetting. The past has begun to follow us, and all of our misdeeds remain remembered. But it is not just that we find ourselves in a straitjacket of the past that we cannot shake. When we Google someone, we get a mosaic of information that straddles decades of our existence, creating an image that is both incomplete and strangely devoid of time. > > Without forgetting we also risk misjudgment. As psychologists remind us, forgetting also is intimately linked to forgiving. If we can no longer forget, we may turn into an unforgiving society. > > Viktor Mayer-Sch?nberger, professor of internet governance and > regulation at the University of Oxford's Internet Institute and author > of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age _______________________________________________ re-search mailing list re-search at listcultures.org http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org From geert at xs4all.nl Thu Jun 5 08:55:03 2014 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 08:55:03 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Astrid Mager on her work References: <538F02B3.3000002@univie.ac.at> Message-ID: <312D6842-7EDD-4C02-B260-1C6780869777@xs4all.nl> > From: astrid mager > Subject: [iDC] introduction > Date: 4 June 2014 1:27:47 PM GMT+02:00 > To: idc at mailman.thing.net > > Dear Samuel, dear list, > > your email finds me in the middle of a two-day conference and a two-week family trip, so please excuse me for a rather brief introduction. > > I'm a postdoctoral researcher from Vienna working at the Institute of Technology Assessment. My background is in science and technology studies (STS) and my current research is concerned with search technology and how sociotechnical visions, value-systems, and ideologies shape search algorithms, but also business models based on practices of user profiling in different cultural contexts. > > At the moment, I'm leading a project on search engines at the intersection of global capitalism and local (Austrian) socio-political cultures - obviously, the European level will be central here as a kind of middle ground for governance processes. The ongoing reform of the EU data protection legislation will be central in this analysis since it is an important arena where supposedly global search engines - Google first and foremost - are imagined and governed in European contexts. It's a site where tensions between US-American search engines/ social media and European, but also different national visions and values may be observed, where IT lobbying takes place on a grand scale, and where Edward Snowden and the NSA scandal plays a crucial role too. > > The analysis of European visions and value-systems will then be compared to my past research on capitalist ideologies driving search engines in US-American contexts.That's where digital labor comes into play. I've argued that we need to go beyond the political economy of search engines to understand complex actor-networks and power relations involved in the construction and stabilization of big players like Google. Accordingly, content providers and users are not merely exploited by Google & co, but rather stabilize its powerful role and capital accumulation cycle by contributing mundane forms of labor - Profit is generated due to heavy sharing, liking, poking, messaging, watching videos, creating content etc. Drawing on contributions from critical theory (Althusser, Marx, Gramsci) I've conceptualized the notion algorithmic ideology to grasp co-shaping processes of algorithmic logics and socio-cultural values, capitalist ideologies in particular. > > Grounded in this body of work, I'll talk about "digital labor, capitalist ideology, and alternative future" at #DL14. I will discuss how ideology critique can help us to understand the gridlock of mundane forms of digital labor that help corporate search engines (and social media etc.) to further expand, exploit, and commodify larger and larger parts of the web (and social reality). However, I will further discuss how users may opt out of Google's capital accumulation cycle and what role ?organic intellectuals? (Gramsci 2012) can play in challenging hegemonic actors like Google, Facebook, Twitter, ... > > If you got interested in my work, you'll find further information/ publications etc on my blog: > > http://www.astridmager.net/ > > or you just get in touch with me on twitter, facebook etc. - ironically, I'm using these tools to share critical ideas about search engines, social media, and so forth.. - underlining the dialectical nature of the digital objects we are working with.. hehe. > > I guess that's all for now. I'm looking forward to interesting discussions and an exciting time at #DL14!!! > Have a nice summer! Best, Astrid > > _______________________________________________ > iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity (distributedcreativity.org) > iDC at mailman.thing.net > https://mailman.thing.net/mailman/listinfo/idc > > List Archive: > http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/ > > iDC Photo Stream: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/idcnetwork/ > > RSS feed: > http://rss.gmane.org/gmane.culture.media.idc > > iDC Chat on Facebook: > http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2457237647 > > Share relevant URLs on Del.icio.us by adding the tag iDCref -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From geert at desk.nl Mon Jun 9 08:56:12 2014 From: geert at desk.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2014 08:56:12 +0200 Subject: [re-search] =?windows-1252?q?the_sentiments=2C_they_are_a_changin?= =?windows-1252?q?g=85?= References: <5394E9A2.2010104@nedrossiter.org> Message-ID: > http://www.smh.com.au/business/entitlement-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-just-google-it-20140608-39r5r.html From miriam at networkcultures.org Tue Jun 10 16:00:15 2014 From: miriam at networkcultures.org (Miriam Rasch) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:00:15 +0200 Subject: [re-search] out now: Society of the Query magazine Message-ID: <9CB9FAD5-C22E-4380-A83E-723700F880B6@networkcultures.org> In April the INC Reader Society of the Query: Reflections on Web Search was published. In the last months we have also been working on a Dutch adaptation of some of the articles, specifically meant for educational purposes. To download the magazine, go to query.dmci.hva.nl on your tablet (it's made specially for iPad, but should work on other tablets as well), choose 'Add to Home Screen' and then you can open it from there. Also there is a pdf available which can be downloaded here: http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/society-of-the-query-magazine/ Although this is in Dutch, please feel free to share. Also don?t hesitate to promote the printed book. If you need more copies or want to use it in class, contact me! The ePub will be available shortly as well. Best wishes, Miriam Marc Stumpel and Miriam Rasch (eds) Society of the Query Magazine: 10 artikelen over zoeken op het web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2014, query.dmci.hva.nl. --- Miriam Rasch, MA Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences | HvA room 04A07 Rhijnspoorplein 1 NL-1091 GC Amsterdam t: +31 20 5951865 miriam at networkcultures.org www.networkcultures.org @INCAmsterdam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SOTQiPAD.png Type: image/png Size: 87550 bytes Desc: not available URL: