We don't talk anywhere near enough about how the tech industry is fucking with the general public's understanding of consent.
Fairly often I will opt out of something that would have been obviously reasonable a few years ago, and people will look at me like I drove a truck through the room.
Things like:
- I won't be appearing on camera today
- I don't wish to speak on a recording to be published on the University website
- I won't be giving my personal details to an overseas third party just to use a notepad tool in one meeting
I see this seeping through into attitudes about consent in other everyday life contexts. People are so used to being walked all over by their tech that they're increasingly shocked by boundaries.
I think a lot of this comes out of decades of norms that misunderstand how computers work, fundamentally.
From how politicians talk through how courts have grappled with addressing legal questions, we've really leaned into this abstraction of cyberspace instead of concrete ideas that yes, there is a server, and yes, it is actively processing data somewhere tangible.
It would be very healthy to address accountability in the things you mention to be able to say, Wait, wait, where exactly is your server? Who can we [figuratively] punch in the face for how it behaves?
It's a big ship to turn around, though, and I see no movement to do it.
