A Q&A with Michel Bauwens, as part of our focus on Platform Co-ops and the forthcoming open2017 conference.

openDemocracy offers you a 10% partner discount to the event here→

We often focus on the negative or positive impacts of algorithms. But is this a distraction from how power is actually deployed through them?

The court has ruled that the indiscriminate retention of electronic communications data by governments is incompatible with a modern democracy. But what will this mean following the Brexit vote?

After four years behind bars on hacking-related charges, journalist and activist Barrett Brown, still plans a global platform by which to generate real, cogent, viable opposition to the state of things.

Technology is forcing through a new form of conversation — even in conflicts. How will the next generation of tools transform the construction of peace?

Artist Mahwish Chishty approaches the world of military drone warfare through the language of vibrant Pakistani ‘truck art’, in a stunning new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.

A Q&A on Platform Co-ops with Nathan Schneider, as part of our focus on Platform Co-ops and the forthcoming open2017 conference.

openDemocracy offers you a 10% partner discount to the event here→

One of the frustrations within the current political system is that most people are alienated from deliberation. The founders of decision-making software Loomio want to give everyone access to that essential skill. 

If the new EU data protection regulation is enforced equally for EU and non-EU companies, supported by anti-trust and consumer protection laws, new types of data-based monopolization could be controlled.

Whatever happens over the next few years, if there is to be a storm, then it is best to prepare. It is essential that western liberal democratic societies are resilient enough to uphold their fundamental values.

In an attempt to give them a better image, the British MoD has renamed them Protector rather than Predator.

The UK agency would like to be known as on the front line defending UK interests from cyber attacks, rather than as an eavesdropping agency collecting data on individuals en masse.

What types of democratic control of movement should we be fighting for?

The evidence that these powers are all needed is thin indeed. And the cost to all of our privacy is huge.

News organisations usually owe duties of protection to their sources. The Washington Post is making history as the first paper to call for the prosecution of Edward Snowden, its own source, after accepting the Pulitzer Prize.

The tools of mass surveillance and the suspension of privacy rights are normally reserved for use by dictatorships. Is Theresa May above the regimes and belief systems she seeks to oppose?

As for Google, without a more ‘joined up’ EU legal and regulatory framework integrating digital rights and economic concerns, users may need to look to solutions outside the law.