Is Technology Good For Human Rights?

Claire Thompson, freelance PR consultant, Waves PR

Okay, okay! I know! The event was a week ago, and I’ve been slow to blog. But quite apart from work and Twestival commitments, I needed to think about which bit to blog. There were so many issues raised.

Let me put this into context for you. I knew before I went that the answer was going to be: “It depends!” But if you have a panel like this, you know there’s going to be something worth hearing:

- Kevin Anderson, blogs editor of the Guardian

- Susan Pointer, Director of Public Policy & Government Relations, Google

- Annabelle Sreberny, Professor of Global Media and Communication, School of Oriental and African Studies (special interest Iran, bloggers & social media)

- the iPhone (otherwise known as Andrew Keen, the “antichrist of Silicon Valley”and author of ‘How the internet is killing our culture’ author, held up to a microphone because he couldn’t attend) Andrew Keen

Add to this that it was being chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Correspondent for the BBC, and you’ll know why it was a ‘must attend’ event. If I say to you that the audience was as packed with equally qualified people, like BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne (currently barred from Iran), you’ll forgive me for feeling that whatever I say won’t do justice to the debate. (Take a quick peek at who’s blogged already and you’ll understand why.)

So here’s the deal. Here are five central thoughts (there were a lot more!) to expand upon later:

- Social media support for human rights can amount to ‘slacktivism’ (Anderson) or ‘mousey activism’ (Sreberny) but still has a place

- The answer to the question (Is Technology Good For Human Rights?) depends a lot on where you live. Which raises as well the censorship issue. ( Oh – and, closer to home, there was a very broad hint (by Google, no less) that things might not be as well as we imagine on this front.)

- Google’s position on human rights (notably China) is a tough balancing act. They are still finding their way in China. (The debate threw up some other interesting points, unrelated to human rights, on what Google knows/reveals about us. Different debate.)

- The importance of the mobile phone

- Is broadband a human right? (Not as daft as it might sound)

So there we have it. One a day for the coming week.

Panel at Amnesty International Debate

The biggest take away from the event though was this. That ‘social media’ has the power to put a short intense gaze on a situation, and every little helps. But ultimately, taking the trouble to write and send a letter is a far better indication that something genuinely matters to you, and is therefore likely to have a stronger effect.

If you genuinely give a damn, a mouse click is nice, but one letter a week, a month, even a year could make a difference to a life or death issue. I dare you to click the link below and make a real difference.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1886

Great write ups:

Amy Sample Ward: http://amysampleward.org/2010/02/22/live-blog-is-technology-really-good-for-human-rights/

BitchBuzz: http://tech.bitchbuzz.com/is-technology-really-good-for-human-rights.html

Matthew Champion: http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2010/02/24/technology-both-good-and-bad-for-human-rights/

Stephen Frost: http://www.stephenfr0st.com/is-technology-good-for-human-rights-aitech

Rebecca Thompson, Computer Weekly: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/read-all-about-it/2010/02/is-technology-really-good-for.html

Judith Townsend: http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2010/02/24/technology-both-good-and-bad-for-human-rights/

We Are Social? http://wearesocial.net/blog/2010/02/technology-human-rights-amnesty/

Wired: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-02/23/does-technology-really-benefit-our-human-rights.aspx

( Please do post links to any I’ve missed!)