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Data-Centric Technologies and the Construction of Class (Data Privacy Seminar Speaker Series Spring 2022)

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
School of Information Sciences, European Union Center
Date
Apr 20, 2022   12:00 pm  
Registration
Registration
Views
18
Originating Calendar
European Union Center Events

Data protection and privacy are growing concerns in our ever more connected world. Some believe that over the next decade, data privacy will be recognized as one of society’s most pressing problems. Therefore, the School of Information Sciences in collaboration with the European Union Center at the University of Illinois is pleased to offer this timely seminar series which brings world class privacy experts of diverse backgrounds and perspectives to share their points of view with us each month.

You will need to register in advance via this link in order to join these virtual meetings.

Data Privacy Seminar Series Spring 2022 Speakers:

  • Lecture 1, January 20, 2022, 12-1pm, Meg Leta Jones
  • Lecture 2, February 17, 2022, 12-1 pm, Anita Allen
  • Lecture 3, March 22, 2022, 12-1 pm, Helen Nissenbaum
  • Lecture 4, April 20, 2022, 12-1 pm, Michele Gilman
  • Lecture 5, May 4, 2022, 12-1 pm, danah boyd

This talk explores the ways in which data-centric technologies are producing and perpetuating class divisions within the United States. While the existing literature grapples with the social justice implications of the datafied society, it does not focus on the causal mechanisms by which data-centric technologies maintain class divisions within the United States. We have focused far more on who is being harmed by technology, rather than who is benefitting. This class blindness can be harmful. Not only does it risk pathologizing the poor by linking their economic state to personal failings, but it also screens powerful actors and entities from scrutiny, thereby permitting economic inequality to flourish as a seemingly natural outgrowth of the market. By contrast, a critical class perspective can unmask how technology, power and law operate in tandem to perpetuate disadvantage.

Michele Gilman is the Venable Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development at the University of Baltimore School of Law. She directs the Civil Advocacy Clinic, where she supervises students representing low-income individuals and community groups in a wide range of litigation, legislation, and law reform matters. Professor Gilman writes extensively about data privacy and social welfare issues, and her articles have appeared in journals including the California Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, and the Washington University Law Review, as well as in the popular media. She was a faculty fellow at Data & Society in 2019-2020. She received her B.A.from Duke University, and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

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