Program in Ethics and Public Affairs

ABSTRACT: In this talk, I will argue that privacy is power, and that massive losses of privacy are disempowering the citizenry, and therefore democracy. The data economy is undermining autonomy, equality and fairness. Privacy is the blindfold of justice—it is how we make sure the system treats citizens impartially. Furthermore, our current data landscape is a national security risk that makes us vulnerable at a time in which authoritarian regimes with a knack for hacking are on the rise. Personal data is not the kind of thing that should be bought and sold. I will argue that we should end the data economy because it is at odds with well-functioning liberal democracies.

Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford. She is the recipient of the 2021 Herbert A. Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy. She is the author of the highly-acclaimed Privacy Is Power (an Economist book of the year, 2020) and the editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics. She advises policymakers around the world on privacy and the ethics of AI. 

Registration is required. Click here to register.