Roopa Vasudevan
Roopa Vasudevan is a new media artist and scholar making work about things we take for granted in our everyday interactions with technology. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Passive Acceptance and Our (Dis)Consent
By Roopa VasudevanIn all likelihood, we don’t actually know what, exactly, we’re signing up for when we use the internet. We do now know, in broad strokes, that technology companies build their wealth on selling user data to advertisers; as the saying goes, “if you’re not paying for it, you’re the product.” While some might find that a bit reductionist, we cannot deny that we have lost control over what we are giving up when we use digital platforms. Our passive acceptance of these terms and conditions paves the way for constant surveillance, and for the warping and shaping of our online behaviors and identities to match what is deemed profitable and usable to others.
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