Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal Foundation, joined a distinguished panel of UTS academics to discuss the role of technology and its impact on our shared future.
Meredith Whittaker. Photo: Oscar Colman
The Vice-Chancellor's Democracy Forum invites significant thinkers across various fields to engage in open dialogue on topics crucial to today's society and its advancement. The first speaker of the 2024 series was Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal Foundation, who joined to discuss the ethics of big tech and AI.
The Signal Foundation is an American non-profit organization founded to "protect free expression and enable secure global communication.” The organisation created the free Signal messaging app, popular for its end-to-end encryption.
In Whittaker’s keynote, she criticised big tech monopolies, particularly their business model of collecting customer data to advertise products.
“They're selling the derivatives of the toxic surveillance business model as the product of scientific innovation,” Whittaker said.
“We are conscripted to use technologies that ultimately accrue benefit to these corporations and their business model.”
Meredith Whittaker was joined by moderator Professor Ed Santow and panellists Professor Peta Wyeth, Faculty of Engineering and IT Dean, and UTS Associate Professor of Law, Ramona Vijeyarasa.
Professor Peta Wyeth recognised the need to hold big tech companies accountable.
When we're thinking about our regulatory environment, it’s not just the act of creating it. It's then how do we monitor; how do we hold those developers accountable? What recourse is there if they are found to be in breach?
Professor Peta Wyeth, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and IT
Whittaker was hopeful that, in future, consumers would be able to set the terms of technology and its place in society.
“Signal’s massive success demonstrates the tech that prioritises privacy, rejects the surveillance business model, and is accountable to the people who use it, is not only possible but it can flourish and thrive as a non-profit supported by the people who rely on it.”