WAC Virtual Speaker Series | Digital Rights and Privacy in an Age of Disinformation

 featuring 

Rebecca MacKinnon

Founding Director of the Ranking Digital Rights program at New America
Author, Consent of the Networked (2012)

One of the most pressing and challenging issues we face today is how to get the most out of our digital world without the technologies get the most of out of us and taking advantage of our emotions, biases and habits. For better or worse, across all sectors of our modern society, the internet has proved to be an accelerator for the spread of information and connections. While we have all experienced its benefits, we have also seen how the internet has magnified and snowballed the darker fringes of society as a platform for misinformation and conspiracies.

Rebecca MacKinnon, Founding Director of the Ranking Digital Rights program at New America, will join WAC to breaks down the newly released 2020 RDR Corporate Accountability Index. The RDR Corporate Accountability Index evaluates 26 of the world’s most powerful internet, mobile, and telecommunications companies on their disclosed policies and practices affecting over half of the world’s 4.6 billion internet users’ freedom of expression and privacy. The 2020 RDR Index will be released on February 24, 2021.

In our conversation, Rebecca tackles the questions of:

• How do we regulate social media without quelling free speech

• What is the source for the spread of dis- and mis-information

• How can we minimize the tradeoff between privacy and internet use

• How effective are restrictions on technology and digital platforms as a foreign policy tool

Bring your questions and join in the discussion on one of the most complicated and troubling issues of our time.         

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