IGF 2016: Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

[20-Minute Lightning Session]

Massive data collection, Data mining, profiling and directed advertising are currently the foundation of apps and online platforms. As Snowden proved, this DataEconomy, based on profit from the data and metadata produced by internet users, has strong correlation with surveillance practices from the States and ultimately, lead us into a new paradigm of "surveillance capitalism".

Nevertheless, the wonders of innovation of new technologies have led most of the population to adopt tracking technologies without critical view about what is at stake. At the same time, legal framework for data protection are far behind overcoming challenges posed by new technologies, that goes from jurisdictional conflicts, to proper means of transparency and effective consent. 

In this scenario, civil society organizations are already working on different investigations about government and company surveillance practices, but effective strategies for awareness raising are still emerging. In this sense, it is necessary to translate all the evidence collected and accumulated expertise into compelling narratives that would explain and highlight the wide dimensions of the impact of such practices in our daily lifes, not only on digital rights but also on other fundamental rights, such as right to equality and freedom and consumers rights. 

That exercise requires a higher interaction between privacy advocates, investigative journalists and technologists to produce more effective advocacy for data protection. Based on the experiences of the platform "Unveilling Surveillance Practices in latam", the purpose of this Break-ou-Groups session is to take advantage of the diversity of voices attending IGF to graps other possible approaches and cases to use as sources for narratives.