Media Public Discourse
Access to tech culture can be hard, constrained by corporate secrecy and a fast paced workplace. Journalists’ accounts of power relations in computing have been a great source of data in the Valuing the Social in Computing project. We amassed an archive of approximately 450 articles on the social dimensions of computing and share them here, grouped in themes that reflect in our on-going analyses. This collection of media sources puts a spotlight on Big Tech to catalyze public reckoning with its impact on society.
Choose one of the topics from below to view the readings and resources:
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Ghaffary, S. (2021, Mar.). Should We Break Up Google? Land of the Giants
Ghaffary, S. (2021, Mar.). A Military Contract Tests Google’s Open Culture, Land of the Giants
Del Rey, J. (2019, July). Alexa, What’s Amazon Doing Inside My Home?, Land of the Giants
Facebook (2021, Feb. 25). Let’s Talk About Why Personalized Ads Matter
Gillard, C. & Golumbia, D. (2021, July 6). Luxury Surveillance
Su, J. (2019, May 16). Why Amazon Alexa Is Always Listening To Your Conversations: Analysis
Piper, K. (2022, Nov. 8) AI experts are increasingly afraid of what they’re creating
Hao, K. & Hernández, A.P. (2022, Apr. 20) How the AI industry profits from catastrophe
Alkhatib, A. (2019, Mar. 26) Anthropological/Artificial Intelligence & the HAI
Bender, E.M. (2022, Apr. 17) On NYT Magazine on AI: Resist the Urge to be Impressed
Pizurica, V. (2020, Feb. 23) AI — a Story of Great Confusion
The Tech Worker Handbook (n.d.) Welcome to the Tech Worker Handbook : Preparedness is Power
Ghaffary, S. (2021, Dec. 29) Big Tech’s employees are one of the biggest checks on its power
Knowles, T. (2021, July 13) AI will have a bigger impact than fire, says Google boss Sundar Pichai
Academic Sexual Misconduct Database (2021, June 1) Incident 8720 & 8725 of Walter Lasecki
Harry, S. (2021, Jan. 11) Listening to Black Women: The Innovation Tech Can’t Crack
Data for Black Lives (n.d.) Data Capitalism : The fight begins here
Zimmermann, A., Rosa, E.D., & Kim, H. (2020, Jan. 9) Technology Can’t Fix Algorithmic Injustice
Ovide, S. (2021, June 16) Amazon Is Brilliant. Why Not at H.R.?
Fempower.Tech (2020, Dec. 20) A Call for Respect, Inclusion, Fairness, and transparency in SIGCHI
Su, J. (2019, May 16) Why Amazon is Always Listening to your Conversations: Analysis
Metz, C. (2021, Mar. 15) Who Is Making Sure the A.I. Machines Aren’t Racist?
Johnson, K. (2021, Apr. 10) Black women, AI, and overcoming historical patterns of abuse
Reuters (2021, Feb. 26) Google to change research process after uproar over scientists’ firing
Johnson, K. (2021, Mar. 2) AI ethics research conference suspends Google sponsorship
Google Walkout For Real Change (2021, Mar. 8) The Future Must Be Ethical: #MakeAIEthical
Holtz, J. (2021, Mar. 10) Large computer language models carry environmental, social risks
Correia, L.E. (2023, June 13) Writers to the Front, AI to the Back
Lerman, R. (2021, Mar. 9) Biden to nominate Big Tech critic Lina Khan to Federal Trade Commission
Strickland, E. (2019, Apr. 2) How IBM Watson Overpromised and Underdelivered on AI Health Care
O’Carroll, Lisa (2023, December) EU agrees ‘historic’ deal with world’s first laws to regulate AI
GIDA (2023) GIDA Global Indigenous Data Alliance Promoting Indigenous Control of Indigenous Data
Tonkin, C. (2019, August 20). Tech giants admit to eavesdropping. Information Age.
Roose, K. (2024, July 19). The Data That Powers A.I. Is Disappearing Fast. The New York Times.
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Basu, T. (2021, Dec. 16). The metaverse has a groping problem already
Briquelet K. & Cartwright, L. (2021, May 7) Melinda Gates warned Bill Gates about Jeffrey Epstein
Naughton, J. (2021, Apr. 3). Why Silicon Valley's most astute critics are all women
Sim, K. (2020, June 12). Can we address sexual violence by collecting more data?
Fowler, S. (2017, Feb. 19) Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber.
Melendez, S. (2018, Aug. 9). Uber driver troubles raises concerns about transgender face recognition
Daub, A. (2021, Apr. 26) How Sexism Is Coded Into the Tech Industry
Jen Stirrup (2020, June 24) I have stepped down as a Microsoft MVP.
Danzico, M. (2012, Jan. 12). BBC News - 'Booth babes' stir controversy at 2012 CES
Simonite, T. (2018). AI is the future - but where are the women?
Kolhatkar, S. (2017). The Tech Industry’s Gender Discrimination Problem
Dastin, J. (2018). Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women
Bensinger, G. (2018, July 16). Uber Faces Federal Investigation Over Alleged Gender Discrimination
Tiku, N. (2017, Sept. 14). Bias Suit Could Boost Pay, Open Promotions for Women at Google
Colby, L. and Huet, E. (2018, Mar. 15). Google’s Equal-Pay Claim for Women Comes With an Asterisk
Matsakis, L. (2018, Feb. 16) Labor Board Rules Google’s Firing of James Damore Was Legal.
Waraich, S. (2022, Sept. 9) Cal Poly Humboldt president: Keep Title IX claims behind closed doors
Bernard, Z. (2023, Dec. 27) Silicon Valley's very masculine year
Lepore, J. (2019, Feb. 25) Are Robots Competing For Your Job?
Griffith, E. (2022, Sept. 24) Silicon Valley Slides Back Into ‘Bro’ Culture
Morgan, K. (2024, Mar. 13) ‘The extra shift’: The unpaid emotional labour expected of women at work
Smith, A. (2023, February 22). Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Women Harder. Here’s How to Push Back.
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Illing, S. & Bernstein, J. (2021, Oct. 25). How big tech benefits off the disinformation panic.
Popli, N. (2021, Oct. 25). The 5 Most Important Revelations From the 'Facebook Papers'
Bernstein, J. (2021, Sep.) Bad News: Selling the story of disinformation.
Orr, C. (2021, May 12) The Facebook Oversight Board is itself an Information Operation
Hao, K. (2021, March 11). How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation
Mcnamee, R. (2021, Jan. 7). Platforms Must Pay for Their Role in the Insurrection
Johnson, K. (2020, Dec. 11). What Big Tech and Big Tobacco research funding have in common
Kafka, P. (2019-2021). Apple’s China Problem, Land of the Giants.
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Pangburn, D. (2014, April 21). Turns Out Google Glass Is Good for Breastfeeding
Elliot, V. (2022, July 1) Meta Was Restricting Abortion Content All Along
Riley, T. (2022, June 30) Post-Roe reproductive privacy goes beyond period trackers, experts say
Cox, J. (2022, June 27) Tech Companies Won’t Say If They’ll give Cops Abortion Data
Schaffer, A. (2022, July 5) Abortion bans heighten scrutiny on Google and its user data
Riley, T. (2023, Apr. 12) White House proposes stronger abortion data privacy protections
Zernike, K. (2022). How a Year Without Roe Shifted American Views on Abortion
Jones, A. (2024, Feb. 15) Can a Chatbot Help People Access Abortion Care?
Bhuiyan, J. (2022, Nov. 29) Googling abortion? Your details aren’t as private as you think
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Dave, P. (2021, July 1). Google reports soaring attrition among Black women
Johnson, K. (2021, April 10). Black women, AI, and overcoming historical patterns of abuse
HBCU Connect (2021, Feb. 9). WATCH: April Curley Isn't Afraid to Take on Google
Harry, S. (2021, Jan. 1). Listening to Black Women: The Innovation Tech Can't Figure Out
Animashaun, C. (2020, Feb. 18). Why algorithms can be racist and sexist.
Noble, S. (2018, March 26). Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls.
Schiffer, Z. (2020, Dec. 1). Pinterest shareholders sue over ‘toxic’ work culture.
Peptione, J. (2013, Mar. 18). Black, Female, and a Silicon Valley ‘trade secret’
Daub, A. (2021, Apr. 26) How Sexism Is Coded Into the Tech Industry
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Fussell, S. (2021, March 8). Black Tech Employees Rebel Against ‘Diversity Theater’
Feathers, T. (2021, Jan. 11). Google Has 'Shattered' Its Pipeline To Black Talent
Raji, D. (2020, Dec. 10). How our data encodes systematic racism.
Ovide, S. (2020, June 9). A Case for Banning Facial Recognition.
Stempeck, M. (2019, Nov. 11). See Big Tech’s terrible diversity record, visualized using its logos.
Pao, E. (2019, April 12). Ellen Pao on how to make tech more diverse
Schwartzapfel, B. (2019, July, 9). Can Racist Algorithms Be Fixed?
Singer, N. (2019, Jan. 24) Amazon Is Pushing Facial Technology That a Study Says Could Be Biased
Angwin, J., Larson, J., Mattu, S., & Kirchner, L. (2016, May 23). Machine Bias
Crawford, K. (2016, June 25). Artificial Intelligence’s White Guy Problem
Hoffmann, A.L. (2018, Apr. 30). Data Violence and How Bad Engineering Choices Can Damage Society
Gutman, R. (2018, Feb. 3). The Origins of Diversity Data in Tech
Conger, K. (2018, Feb. 21).Google Fired and Disciplined Employees for Speaking Out About Diversity
Samudzi, Z. (2019, Feb. 8). Bots Are Terrible at Recognizing Black Faces. Let’s Keep it That Way
Reuters. (2018, June 6). Alphabet shareholders reject diversity proposal back by employees
Kahn, J. & Bass, D. (2017, Oct. 20). Black AI Workshop Becomes Latest Flashpoint in Tech Culture War
Williams, B.A. (2017, Oct. 16). Tech’s Troubling New Trend: Diversity Is in Your Head
Tiku, N. (2018, Jan. 26). The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google
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Bender, E. M. (2022, April 16). On NYT Magazine on AI: Resist the Urge to be Impressed.
Knowles, T. (2021, July 13). AI will have a bigger impact than fire, says Google boss Sundar Pichai
Powles, J. (2018, Dec. 7). The Seductive Diversion of ‘Solving’ Bias in Artificial Intelligence.
Sharpe, A. & Raj, S. (2017). Using AI to determine queer sexuality is misconceived and dangerous
Griffin, A. (2022, June 13) What Google AI said to convince an engineer that it is ‘sentient’.
Whittaker, M, Ongweso, E., & West, S. (2023, June 25) AI Dig Hype with Meredith Whittaker.
Verma, P. (2023, Dec. 18) The rise of AI fake news is creating a ‘misinformation superspreader’
Rahman, E. (2023, Dec. 11) Amok & Coding Back: A Decolonial Epistemic Framework
Burrell, J. (2023, June 6) Artificial Intelligence and the Ever-Receding Horizon of the Future
Morozov, E. (2023, June 30) The True Threat of Artificial Intelligence
Knight, W. (2023, June 27) Meet the Humans Trying to Keep Us Safe From AI
Bellan, R. (2023, Mar. 13) Microsoft lays off an ethical AI team as it doubles down on OpenAI
Leufer, D., Steinbrück, A., Liptakova, Z., & Mueller, K. (n.d.) AI Myths
Bogost, I. (2022, Dec. 7) ChatGPT Is Dumber Than You Think (Treat it like a toy, not a tool)
Kelly, S. (2023, Jan. 28) Real estate agents say they can’t imagine working without ChatGPT now
Gillard, C. & Rorabaugh, P. (2023, Feb. 3) You’re Not Going to Like How Colleges Respond to ChatGPT
Villaume, G. (2018, Dec.) Policy Elements of Decision-making Algorithms
McQuillan, D. (2023, Feb. 9) Chat GPT Is a Bullshit Generator Waging Class War
McQuillan, D. (2023, Feb. 6) We come to bury ChatGPT, not to praise it
Bender, E. & Shah, C. (2022, Dec. 13) All-knowing machines are a fantasy
Xiang, C. (2023, Mar. 16) OpenAI’s GPT-4 Is Close Source and Shrouded in Secrecy
UNESCO (2024) Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Global Forum on the Ethics of AI 2024
Heikkliä, M. (2022, Dec. 12) The Viral AI avatar app Lensa undressed me–without my consent
Reuters (2021, Oct. 25) Controversial technology : Pushback against AI policing in Europe heats Up
Ortiz, K. (2022, Dec. 7) Why AI Models are not inspired like humans
Wolfram, S. (2023, Feb. 14) What Is ChatGPT Doing… and Why Does it Work?
Unknown Author (2023, Feb. 3) Artisanal Intelligence: What’s the deal with AI art
University of Toronto (2022) Centre for Ethics Examining the Ethics in AI
Concept Art Association (2023, Mar. 10) AI/ML Media Advocacy Summit Keynote: Steven Zapata
Bogost, I. (2024, March 19). Universities Have a Computer-Science Problem
Maravegias, J. (2024, May 28). Google’s AI Search Results Are Going to Kill Us
Associated Press (2024, June 25). Music Labels Sue AI Song-Generators for Copyright
Wong, M. (2024, January 10). What If We Held ChatGPT to the Same Standard as Claudine Gay?
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Del Rey, J. & Galloway, S. (2019, Sep.). ‘I love Amazon. Let’s break it up,” Land of the Giants.
Akbar, A. (2021). The Cost of Convenience, Land of the Giants.
Kafka, P. & Molla, R. (2020, August). World War Stream, Land of The Giants.
Kafka, P. & Molla, R. (2020, July). Netflix is Hollywood | Part 1, Land of The Giants.
Kafka, P. & Molla, R. (2020, July). Netflix is Hollywood | Part 2, Land of The Giants.
Del Rey, J. (2019 August). Is Amazon Too Big? We Ask Sellers, Land of the Giants.
Ghaffary, S. (2021, February). The Search Begins, Land of the Giants.
Ghaffary, S. (2021, February). Chrome and the Android Wars, Land of the Giants.
Ghaffary, S. (2021, March). Planet YouTube, Land of the Giants.
Akbar, A. (2021, July). The Virtual Future of Restaurants, Land of the Giants
Kafka, P. (2021, Oct.). One App Store to Rule Them All, Land of the Giants.
Kafka, P. (2021, Oct.). Apple Saved Music. Why Not TV?, Land of the Giants.
Kafka, P. (2021, Sep.). This Changes Everything, Land of the Giants.
Del Rey, J. (2019, July). Why You’ll Never Quit Amazon Prime, Land of the Giants.
Kafka, P. (2021, Sept.). ‘The Apple Revolution’ is here, Land of the Giants.
Ongweso, E. (2023, Jul. 13) Silicon Valley’s Quest to Build God and Control Humanity
Baker, P.C. (2024, June 6). That Much-Despised Apple Ad Could Be More Disturbing Than It Looks
Narea, N. (2024, August 6). A historic ruling against Google could change the internet as we know it
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Isidore, C. (2022, Feb. 10). Elon Musk's [2021] US tax bill: $11 billion. Tesla's: $0
Eisenger et al. (2021, June 8) How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
BBC News. (2020, July 30). Amazon, Facebook and Apple thriving in lockdown
BBC News. (2020, July 15). Apple has €13bn Irish tax bill overturned
BBC News. (2020, Oct. 26). Facebook, Google and Microsoft 'avoiding $3bn in tax in poorer nations’
Neate, R. (2019, Dec. 2). Big six tech companies accused of ‘aggressive tax avoidance’
BBC News. (2019, Sep. 12) Google to pay €1bn to end French tax probe
Ocampo, J.A. (2019, Jan. 23). How big tech companies avoid taxes and what can be done about it
Hjelmgaard, K. (2018, Jan. 21). Vast majority of new wealth last year went to top 1%
Teicher, J. (2016, Mar. 20) The Crazy Secretive World of Tax Havens
Shaxson, M. (2015, March 18). Tax Justice Network: 10 reasons for corporate income tax
McCann, D. (2015, Dec. 16) Socially Responsible Companies Pay Lower Taxes
Hager, N. & Daorueng, P. (2013, Apr. 5). Tax Shelters and Rich's Money
Marshall, A. G. (2013, June 12). Global Power Project: Exposing the Transnational Capitalist Class
M.V. (2013, Oct. 16) Banks and tax evasion: The fallout from Falciani
Duhigg, C. and Kocieniewski, D. (2012, April 28). How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes
Tashman, Z. & Rice, W. (2024, Jan. 3) The Ultra-Wealthy’s $8.5 Trillion of Untaxed Income
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Schiffer, Z. (2021, Aug. 4). Code for America employees are unionizing.
Petcoff, A. & B. Tarnoff (2021, Feb. 6). Tech Workers at Every Level Can Organize to Build Power
Tarnoff, B. (2021, Jan. 6) Silicon Valley Workers Have Had Enough
Del Rey, J. (2019, August). Why the Robot Revolution is Our Fault, Land of the Giants.
Apple
Anguiano, D. (2021, Oct. 15). Apple fires employee Janneke Parrish, leader of #AppleToo movement
Anguiano, D. (2021, Sept. 3) #AppleToo: employees organize and allege harassment and discrimination
Mickle, T. (2023, Jan. 31) Regulators Find Apple’s Secrecy Violates Workers’ Rights
Amazon
Cassidy, B. (2022, Apr. 28) Seattle’s Worker Revolution Is Bigger This Time
Shaban, H. (2018, June 22) Amazon employees demand company cut ties with ICE.
Gurley, L. K. (2021, Jan. 15). Amazon Launches Anti-Union Website to Derail Alabama Union Drive
Del Rey, J. (2019, August). When Amazon Leaves Your Town, Land of the Giants.
Sainato, M. (2024, April 3). They are breaking the law': Inside Amazon's bid to stall a union drive
Google
Paul, A. (2020, Dec. 2) US Labor Board claims Google illegally surveilled, fired workers
Gurley, L (2021, Nov. 30) Judge Orders Google to Disclose Secret Anti-Union Documents
Statt, N. (2018, Nov. 2). Over 20,000 Google employees participated in yesterday’s mass walkout
Tiku, N. (2019, July 16) Most of the Google Walkout Organizers Have Left the Company
De Witte, M. (2022, Dec. 5) Why “Copycat” Layoffs Won’t Help Tech Companies – Or Their Employees
Schiffer, Z. (2021, Jan. 5). Here’s what we know about the Google union so far
Muthukumar, R. (2021, Jan. 4). Issue 1: Googlers Are Forming a Union
Conger, K. (2021, Jan. 4). Hundreds of Google Employees Unionize, Culminating Years of Activism.
Koul, P. & Shaw, C. (2021, Jan. 4) We Built Google. This Is Not the Company We Want to Work For
Scheiber, N. & Conger, K. (2020, Feb. 18). The Great Google Revolt.
Rosenblatt, J. (2021, May 27) Women suing Google over gender bias win class-action status
Netflix and Meta
Birnbaum, E. & Kern, R. (2022, Jan. 24) Tech Spent on Lobbying Last Year
Milton, L. (2003) An identity perspective on the propensity of high-tech talent to unionize
Kafka, P & Molla, R. (2020, June). “Netflix is a team, not a family,” Land of the Giants.
Microsoft
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This section demonstrates significant overlap between the investor class of Silicon Valley and human traffickers. The Valuing the Social in Computing Project inquires into the implications of these connections for both the technical workforce and its commodities that greatly influence society.
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Associated Press (2023, December). Meta Sued for Allegedly Failing to Shield Children From Predators
Bradt, S. (2020, Jan. 10). MIT releases results of fact-finding on engagements with Jeffrey Epstein
Cohen, N. (2020, May. 4). For Jeffrey Epstein, MIT Was Just a Safety School
Lopez, D. (2020, May. 1). Report Regarding Jeffrey Epstein's Connections to Harvard
Ito, J. (2019, Aug. 15). My apology regarding Jeffrey Epstein
Briquelet, K. & Cartwright, L. (2021, May. 7). Melinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey Epstein
Blanco, A. et. al (2019, Aug 2019). The layers of Jeffrey Epstein’s Connections
AP News (2023, Dec. 19). Jeffrey Epstein, the Academy and Questions about Male Dominance in Science
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Ghaffary, S. (2021, Oct. 5). Facebook’s whistleblower tells Congress how to regulate tech
Ghaffary, S. (2021, Oct. 3). Why this Facebook scandal is different
Madison, A. (2014, Sep. 25). Stop Telling Women They’re Crazy
Ghaffary, S. (2021, Dec. 29). Big Tech’s employees are one of the biggest checks on its power
Perrigo, B. (2021, Nov. 22). Inside Frances Haugen’s Decision to Take on Facebook.
Sumagaysay, L. (2021, April 26). Google Opposes Protections for Whistleblowers
Farley, A. (2020, Aug. 4). Meet the computer scientist and activist who got Big Tech to stand down.