{"id":169028,"date":"2023-09-20T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=169028"},"modified":"2023-09-20T06:21:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:21:41","slug":"ictp-270-breaking-the-shackles-of-digital-colonialism-with-ingrid-riley-and-matthew-cowen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2023\/09\/ictp-270-breaking-the-shackles-of-digital-colonialism-with-ingrid-riley-and-matthew-cowen\/","title":{"rendered":"ICTP 270: Breaking the shackles of digital colonialism, with Ingrid Riley and Matthew Cowen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Although slavery and colonialism may seem far removed from the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century and our current lives, there have been growing concerns about digital colonialism. With Ingrid Riley of Silicon Caribe and Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures, we start a conversation on digital colonialism in which, among other things, we discuss: what digital colonialism is and why we ought to give it greater attention; what is happening in the Caribbean tech entrepreneurship space and how it has evolved over the years; and how the region can better navigate and change the narrative that often fosters digital colonialism.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1620552414&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" title=\"ICT Pulse Podcast\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">ICT Pulse Podcast<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\/ictp-270-breaking-the-shackles\" title=\"ICTP 270:  Breaking the shackles of digital colonialism, with Ingrid Riley and Matthew Cowen\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">ICTP 270:  Breaking the shackles of digital colonialism, with Ingrid Riley and Matthew Cowen<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This episode is also available on <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SoundCloud<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast\/id1373550291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9pY3QtcHVsc2UtcG9kY2FzdC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3d0U4ZYX80e5lenYLdzyX4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3f727ec1-de7d-416f-8bdc-31d9a911a09e\/ict-pulse-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amazon Music<\/a>!!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Digital colonialism is most likely a concept few of us have encountered, but it is a concept that has been gaining prominence as we become more dependent on technology and the power dynamics and imbalance between the big tech firms, in particular, and consumers are becoming increasingly evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oed.com\/search\/dictionary\/?scope=Entries&amp;q=colonialism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Oxford English Dictionary<\/a>, colonialism is \u201c<em>The principle, policy, or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country and occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.<\/em>\u201d As current and former British, Dutch, French and Spanish colonies, Caribbean countries have deep experience with the trauma of colonialism, the impact of which still persists nearly 200 years after Emancipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, we now find colonialism \u2013 the capturing of land, the oppression of people and the eradication of the existing culture and societal structures \u2013 abhorrent, it still occurs especially in the digital space where is more insidious and pervasive. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/repository.law.umich.edu\/mjrl\/vol24\/iss2\/6\/\">2019<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/repository.law.umich.edu\/mjrl\/vol24\/iss2\/6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/repository.law.umich.edu\/mjrl\/vol24\/iss2\/6\/\">paper<\/a> on the subject, digital colonialism was examined in Africa where<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201clargescale tech companies extract, analyze, and own user data for profit and market influence with nominal benefit to the data source. Under the guise of altruism, large scale tech companies can use their power and resources to access untapped data on the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An area that appears to be fostering digital colonialism is social media. Through the activities and content social media users generate, the platform owners exploit users and their data for profit with little or no benefit to users. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another area that is being highlighted as a source of exploitation, as it requires large volumes of data to train the models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In both the social media and AI situations, it could be argued that users access these platforms for free, so allowing the platform owners to use all of the data that can be extracted from the platform is a fair exchange. However, very quickly a gross imbalance in the value, influence and power of the platforms versus their users, which when coupled with the onerous terms and conditions of use of the platforms, tends to point to exploitation under the guise of altruism. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introducing our guests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"169031\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2023\/09\/ictp-270-breaking-the-shackles-of-digital-colonialism-with-ingrid-riley-and-matthew-cowen\/ingrid-riley-and-matthew-cowen-i-riley-m-cowen\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?fit=1024%2C530&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,530\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ingrid Riley and Matthew Cowen (I Riley, M Cowen)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?fit=300%2C155&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?fit=1024%2C530&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?resize=604%2C313&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-169031\" style=\"width:604px;height:313px\" width=\"604\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?resize=300%2C155&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Ingrid-Riley-and-Matthew-Cowen-I-Riley-M-Cowen.jpg?resize=768%2C398&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ingridriley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ingrid Riley<\/a> <\/strong>is an award-winning Digital Media Entrepreneur, Caribbean Tech Maven, Syndicated Tech and Business Blogger Podcaster, and Event Producer. She is the Co-Founder of Rebel Ventures and the Founder of SiliconCaribe, the highly regarded digital media brand that kickstarted the tech start-up scene in Jamaica, which also has been influencing the growth of the Caribbean tech ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/matthewcowen\/\" title=\"\">Matthew Cowen<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp; is an IT Specialist, Researcher and Digital Analyst, who specialises in ICT in the Caribbean region. He is also the Founder of dgtlfutures, a consulting firm that helps small businesses across the Caribbean develop and implement their digital transformation strategies. He is also the author&nbsp;<em>of The Future is Digital<\/em>&nbsp;newsletter and is based in Martinique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Insights into our conversation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine the scene: two people of African descent and a British Caucasian, all based in the Caribbean, having a conversation on digital colonialism, who no doubt, are aware of the calls for reparations for slavery in the region, as well as the geopolitical dynamics that have resulted in terms such as developed and developing countries, Global North and Global South, to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conversation starts with a discussion of the impetus for suggesting digital colonialism as a subject, which was Worldcoin and the exploitation reported in Southeast Asia and Africa. Worldcoin uses iris biometrics and has been accused of taking advantage of consumers and using unsavoury practices to increase its user base and secure the iris biometric data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the conversation quickly covers a lot of ground and raises several issues that could only be highlighted in an hour-long session. However, the ground has been set for us to have follow-up discussions, thus to continue to explore this uncomfortable issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>We would love to hear your thoughts!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICTPulse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ict-pulse-consulting-limited\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>&nbsp;pages, or via Twitter,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICTPulse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@ICTPulse<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode,&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><em>do get in touch<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Let\u2019s make it happen!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Select Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ingridriley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ingrid Riley<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/matthewcowen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Matthew Cowen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.siliconcaribe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Silicon Caribe<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Silicon Caribe article, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siliconcaribe.com\/2021\/01\/08\/digital-colonisation-in-full-swing-the-business-case-for-high-value-caribbean-digital-real-estate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Digital Colonisation in Full Swing? The Business Case for High Value Caribbean Digital Real Estate<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Silicon Caribe article,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siliconcaribe.com\/2021\/01\/08\/off-plantations-towards-pivots-and-repositioning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Off Plantations. Towards Pivots and RePositioning<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Michigan Journal of Race and Law article, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/repository.law.umich.edu\/mjrl\/vol24\/iss2\/6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Digital Colonialism: The 21st Century Scramble for Africa through the Extraction and Control of User Data and the Limitations of Data Protection Laws<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Washington Post article,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2020\/12\/23\/google-timnit-gebru-ai-ethics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Google hired Timnit Gebru to be an outspoken critic of unethical AI. Then she was fired for it<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube video series, All Hail The Algorithm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_fC7acShZkg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Is Big Tech colonising the internet?<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube video series, All Hail The Algorithm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FrZQs25hA18&amp;t=11s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>&#8216;I Agree&#8217; &#8211; the biggest lie on the internet?<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube video series, All Hail The Algorithm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w6D-fSkcVHw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Can we trust algorithms?<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube video series, All Hail The Algorithm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rDnKl-VSalE&amp;ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Do biometrics protect or compromise our privacy?<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube video series, All Hail The Algorithm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=x8auqxXFMSc&amp;ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Trolls, bots, fake news: What&#8217;s the cost of our clicks?<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Image credits:&nbsp; I Riley;&nbsp; M Cowen; Gerd Altmann (<a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\">Pixabay<\/a>);&nbsp; lalesh aldarwish (<a href=\"http:\/\/pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pexels<\/a>); Tasha Jolley (<a href=\"http:\/\/unsplash.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Unsplash<\/a>); Pixabay (<a href=\"http:\/\/pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pexels<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Ch\u00e9rie), by Andy Narrell<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although slavery and colonialism may seem far removed from the 21st century and our current lives, there have been growing concerns about digital colonialism. With Ingrid Riley of Silicon Caribe and Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures, we start a conversation on digital colonialism in which, among other things, we discuss: what digital colonialism is and why we ought to give it greater attention; what is happening in the Caribbean tech entrepreneurship space and how it has evolved over the years; and how the region can better navigate and change the narrative that often fosters digital colonialism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[259,71,512,42,15],"class_list":["post-169028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-businesses","tag-digital-colonialism","tag-social-media","tag-trends","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Featured-Images-%E2%80%93-Digital-Colonialism.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-HYg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169028"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169063,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169028\/revisions\/169063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}