Social injustice in surveillance capitalism

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the link in this record.A rapidly accelerating phase of capitalism based on asymmetrical personal data accumulation poses significant concerns for democratic societies, yet the concepts used to understand and challenge practices of dataveillance are insufficient or poorly elaborated. Against a backdrop of growing corporate power enabled by legal lethargy and the secrecy of the personal data industry, this paper makes explicit how the practices inherent to what Shoshana Zuboff calls ‘surveillance capitalism’ are threats to social justice, based on the normative principle that they prevent parity of participation in social life. This paper draws on Nancy Fraser’s theory of ‘abnormal justice’ to characterize the separation of people from their personal data and its accumulation by corporations as an economic injustice of maldistribution. This initial injustice is also the key mechanism by which further opaque but significant forms of injustice are enabled in surveillance capitalism—sociocultural misrecognition which occurs when personal data are algorithmically processed and subject to categorization, and political misrepresentation which renders people democratically voiceless, unable to challenge misuses of their data. In situating corporate dataveillance practices as a threat to social justice, this paper calls for more explicit conceptual development of the social harms of asymmetrical personal data accumulation and analytics, and more hopefully, attention to the requirements needed to recast personal data as an agent of equality rather than oppression

Deconstructing the binaries of spatial data production: Towards hybridity

types: ArticleCopyright © 2014 Canadian Association of Geographers / L' Association canadienne des géographesBinaries, the most reductive form of categorization, can be usefully invoked to characterize emerging phenomena; yet, they are widely critiqued for oversimplifying a complex world and for their use as tools of social and political influence. Through a literature review and content analysis this article traces the emergence of volunteered geographic information (VGI), and identifies the recurrent use of several related binaries to contrast this phenomenon with the conventional spatial data production activities of states and corporations. Using several key examples, these binaries are deconstructed by identifying a mismatch in how VGI is conceptualized (bottom-up, amateur, asserted) in the literature and the reality of existing VGI projects. As an alternative to a binary conceptualization of spatial data production, a different representation is put forward that more accurately depicts what is in actuality a vast, shifting, and heterogeneous landscape of spatial data production approaches. Thinking about contemporary spatial data production not as a binary but as a continuum could encourage the development of hybridities that harness the benefits of different approaches—including the oversight and quality control of conventional methods, with the speed, low cost, and distributed nature of citizen-based spatial data production.SSHR

Privacy Attitudes among Early Adopters of Emerging Health Technologies.

IntroductionAdvances in health technology such as genome sequencing and wearable sensors now allow for the collection of highly granular personal health data from individuals. It is unclear how people think about privacy in the context of these emerging health technologies. An open question is whether early adopters of these advances conceptualize privacy in different ways than non-early adopters.PurposeThis study sought to understand privacy attitudes of early adopters of emerging health technologies.MethodsTranscripts from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with early adopters of genome sequencing and health devices and apps were analyzed with a focus on participant attitudes and perceptions of privacy. Themes were extracted using inductive content analysis.ResultsAlthough interviewees were willing to share personal data to support scientific advancements, they still expressed concerns, as well as uncertainty about who has access to their data, and for what purpose. In short, they were not dismissive of privacy risks. Key privacy-related findings are organized into four themes as follows: first, personal data privacy; second, control over personal information; third, concerns about discrimination; and fourth, contributing personal data to science.ConclusionEarly adopters of emerging health technologies appear to have more complex and nuanced conceptions of privacy than might be expected based on their adoption of personal health technologies and participation in open science. Early adopters also voiced uncertainty about the privacy implications of their decisions to use new technologies and share their data for research. Though not representative of the general public, studies of early adopters can provide important insights into evolving attitudes toward privacy in the context of emerging health technologies and personal health data research

mHealth Geographies: Mobile Technologies and Health in the Global South

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the URL in this record

Evidence and future potential of mobile phone data for disease disaster management

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Global health threats such as the recent Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks require rapid and robust responses to prevent, reduce and recover from disease dispersion. As part of broader big data and digital humanitarianism discourses, there is an emerging interest in data produced through mobile phone communications for enhancing the data environment in such circumstances. This paper assembles user perspectives and critically examines existing evidence and future potential of mobile phone data derived from call detail records (CDRs) and two-way short message service (SMS) platforms, for managing and responding to humanitarian disasters caused by communicable disease outbreaks. We undertake a scoping review of relevant literature and in-depth interviews with key informants to ascertain the: (i) information that can be gathered from CDRs or SMS data; (ii) phase(s) in the disease disaster management cycle when mobile data may be useful; (iii) value added over conventional approaches to data collection and transfer; (iv) barriers and enablers to use of mobile data in disaster contexts; and (v) the social and ethical challenges. Based on this evidence we develop a typology of mobile phone data sources, types, and end-uses, and a decision-tree for mobile data use, designed to enable effective use of mobile data for disease disaster management. We show that mobile data holds great potential for improving the quality, quantity and timing of selected information required for disaster management, but that testing and evaluation of the benefits, constraints and limitations of mobile data use in a wider range of mobile-user and disaster contexts is needed to fully understand its utility, validity, and limitations.A portion of this research was funded as part of the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience (SHEAR) programme, by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

A method to determine spatial access to specialized palliative care services using GIS

This is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Providing palliative care is a growing priority for health service administrators worldwide as the populations of many nations continue to age rapidly. In many countries, palliative care services are presently inadequate and this problem will be exacerbated in the coming years. The provision of palliative care, moreover, has been piecemeal in many jurisdictions and there is little distinction made at present between levels of service provision. There is a pressing need to determine which populations do not enjoy access to specialized palliative care services in particular. METHODS: Catchments around existing specialized palliative care services in the Canadian province of British Columbia were calculated based on real road travel time. Census block face population counts were linked to postal codes associated with road segments in order to determine the percentage of the total population more than one hour road travel time from specialized palliative care. RESULTS: Whilst 81% of the province's population resides within one hour from at least one specialized palliative care service, spatial access varies greatly by regional health authority. Based on the definition of specialized palliative care adopted for the study, the Northern Health Authority has, for instance, just two such service locations, and well over half of its population do not have reasonable spatial access to such care. CONCLUSION: Strategic location analysis methods must be developed and used to accurately locate future palliative services in order to provide spatial access to the greatest number of people, and to ensure that limited health resources are allocated wisely. Improved spatial access has the potential to reduce travel-times for patients, for palliative care workers making home visits, and for travelling practitioners. These methods are particularly useful for health service planners - and provide a means to rationalize their decision-making. Moreover, they are extendable to a number of health service allocation problems.Funding for this research was provided by the British Columbia Medical Services Foundation and British Columbia Rural and Remote Health Research Network. NS is funded by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award

Spatial and temporal variations in the incidence of dust storms in Saudi Arabia revealed from in situ observations

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Monthly meteorological data from 27 observation stations provided by the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) of Saudi Arabia were used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric dust in Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2016. These data were used to analyze the effects of environmental forcing on the occurrence of dust storms across Saudi Arabia by considering the relationships between dust storm frequency and temperature, precipitation, and wind variables. We reveal a clear seasonality in the reported incidence of dust storms, with the highest frequency of events during the spring. Our results show significant positive relationships (p < 0.005) between dust storm occurrence and wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. However, we did not detect a significant relationship with temperature. Our results reveal important spatial patterns, as well as seasonal and inter-annual variations, in the occurrence of dust storms in Saudi Arabia. For instance, the eastern part of the study area experienced an increase in dust storm events over time, especially in the region near Al-Ahsa. Similarly, an increasing trend in dust storms was also observed in the west of the study area near Jeddah. However, the occurrence of dust storm events is decreasing over time in the north, in areas such as Hail and Qaisumah. Overall, the eastern part of Saudi Arabia experiences the highest number of dust storms per year (i.e., 10 to 60 events), followed by the northern region, with the south and the west having fewer dust storm events (i.e., five to 15 events per year). In addition, our results showed that the wind speeds during a dust storm are 15-20 m/s and above, while, on a non-dust day, the wind speeds are approximately 10-15 m/s or lower. Findings of this study provide insight into the relationship between environmental conditions and dust storm occurrence across Saudi Arabia, and a basis for future research into the drivers behind these observed spatio-temporal trends

Building Digital Identities: The Challenges, Risks and Opportunities of Collecting Behavioural Attributes for new Digital Identity Systems.

The provision of legal identity for all is increasingly viewed as a key mechanism for driving development goals. Behavioural attributes produced through digital interactions may have significant potential for enabling access to a legal identity for all, however the social, legal, and technical affordances and implications remain under-explored.University of Exeter and CoelitionEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Optical Navigation Algorithm Performance

There is a wide variety of optical navigation (OpNav) techniques that can be used to extract observables from images of natural bodies. Each of these techniques has a number of strengths and weaknesses and domains where they are most applicable. In this paper, we compare the performance of some of the most commonly used OpNav techniques across a variety of orbital regimes and a variety of body types through the use of synthetic images. Specifically, we consider the techniques of analytic model fitting, phase corrected moment estimation, limb-scanning, ellipsoid matching, and cross correlation using synthetic images of a tri-axial ellipsoid, the asteroid Bennu, and the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. For each technique, regime, and body, we examine the overall accuracy and the type of information available. The resulting information provides a useful tool for understanding which techniques are best suited for a given image, as well as for understanding the relative performance of each technique

Exploring the value of a global gene drive project registry

Recent calls to establish a global project registry before releasing any gene-drive-modified organisms (GDOs) have suggested a registry could be valuable to coordinate research, collect data to monitor and evaluate potential ecological impacts, and facilitate transparent communication with community stakeholders and the general public. Here, we report the results of a multidisciplinary expert workshop on GDO registries convened on 8–9 December 2020 involving 70 participants from 14 countries. Participants had expertise in gene drive design, conservation and population modeling, social science, stakeholder engagement, governance and regulation, international policy, and vector control; they represented 45 organizations, spanning national and local governmental agencies, international organizations, nonprofit organizations, universities, and district offices overseeing local vector control. The workshop aimed to gather perspectives on a central question: “In what ways could a gene-drive project registry both contribute to and detract from the fair development, testing and use of GDOs?” We specifically queried the perceived purpose of a registry, the information that would need to be included, and the perceived value of a registry. Three primary findings emerged from the discussion: first, many participants agreed a registry could serve a coordinating function for multidisciplinary and multisector work activities; second, doing so may require different design elements, depending on the target end-user group and intended purpose for that group; and third, these different information requirements lead to concerns about information sharing via a registry, suggesting potential obstacles to achieving transparency through such a mechanism. We conclude that any development of a gene-drive project registry requires careful and inclusive deliberation, including with potential end-users, to ensure that registry design is optimal