Future Histories – now available in Australia

Future Histories – now available in Australia

After being released internationally a few weeks ago, my new book, Future Histories, goes on sale in Australian bookstores today! Scott Ludlam had the following kind things to say about it: “There has never been a better time to pull the politics of platform...
A guide for defending encryption

A guide for defending encryption

I was honoured to be named as a Human Rights Hero by Access Now and received the award from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. See https://www.accessnow.org/heroes-villains-awards/ This is an edited version of my acceptance speech.  I also...
Zuck’s New Scam

Zuck’s New Scam

The rhetoric at Facebook—the largest social media platform in the world—is changing. In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that privacy was no longer a “social norm.” Today, the same man is asserting that “the future is private.” This was the buzz phrase at the company’s...
Digital Privacy Is a Class Issue

Digital Privacy Is a Class Issue

When you see an ad for online gambling, it is never a matter of chance. Take, for example, the story of Sportsbet, an Australian company owned by the global gambling-industry behemoth Paddy Power. A recent investigation found that the company spent hundreds of...
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers

Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers

In the late spring of 1972, Lily Gray was driving her new Ford Pinto on a freeway in Los Angeles, and her thirteen-year-old neighbor, Richard Grimshaw, was in the passenger seat. The car stalled and was struck from behind at around 30 mph. The Pinto burst into flames,...
Publication Day

Publication Day

Today, my book Future Histories is published internationally by Verso. I would love to know what you think! When we talk about technology we always talk about the future—which makes it hard to figure out how to get there. In Future Histories, I argue that we need to...
What kind of a person does Netflix favourites think I am?

What kind of a person does Netflix favourites think I am?

I look at my algorithm-generated ‘Recommendations for Lizzie’, and I don’t like that person – or the control involved in the process Each time I scroll down to Netflix’s “Recommendations for Lizzie” feed, my heart sinks in shame. Like a house of black mirrors from a...
Large butts, big thighs: how weightlifting empowers women

Large butts, big thighs: how weightlifting empowers women

We’re always told to diet and tone – to take up less space, rather than more. Now I’m pumping iron and proud to be expanding I remember the first time I tried to pull a bar off the floor loaded with two big weights. Unease pooled in my stomach. My trainer was patient,...
Tech has become another way for men to oppress women

Tech has become another way for men to oppress women

We act as if technology were neutral but it’s not. The challenge now is to highlight and remove the gender bias “Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive, despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit,” wrote former...
White Australians Celebrate, Aboriginal People Mourn

White Australians Celebrate, Aboriginal People Mourn

With Amy McQuire – Our national holiday fails to recognize a legacy of genocide. Every year on Jan. 26, at the height of summer, Australians pull out their flags and barbecues, and raise a glass for Australia Day. But as the nationalism rises with the...