Burning Platforms

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    As we move deeper into the new phases of the internet should we be building in guardrails and redlines around this new technology? And even if we should, can we?    This week, the Burning Platform panel deep dives into the metaverse with the Founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, Dr Catriona Wallace.   Burning P...

As part of the 2022 NetThing Internet Governance Conference, Burning Platforms will ask - "Do we need to build our resilience against a worsening tech world, or should we design a better one?"   As the tech harms pile up and change us and our society, we deep dive into a new book 'Disconnect - why we get pushed to extremes online and how to stop it' which showcases online conspiracy theorists, fre...

The future of transportation is abuzz with disruption, from ride-sharing to electric vehicles to AI traffic flows.   Burning Platforms asks - will these build transport systems for the better or worse? With special guest Paris Marx, Author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation, and host of 'Tech Won't Save Us'.   Burning Platforms is brought to you b...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This episode we look at the huge data breach at Optus, and ask whether this breach is a feature or a bug of a world where mass data collection has now been normalised.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square - an initiative of Per Capita.  

Burning Platforms goes under Big Tech’s hood with new research into the increased opacity of online advertising - and the impact of that secrecy on public discourse. With special guests: Nicholas Carah, Associate Professor at University of Queensland Aimee Brownbill, Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centr...

With a proliferation of wellness technologies, the human mind is emerging as the latest frontier in the spread of tech solutionism. This week’s Burning Platforms digs deep into a new report ‘Digital Futures in the Mind’ which looks at how algorithmic solutions can have both a positive and negative impact on mental health. Our special guest is report co-author Dr. Piers Gooding from Melbourne Unive...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    On this episode Peter, Lizzie, and Dan speak with technology writer and commentator, Maria Farrell, about the power dynamics of tech advocacy and her concept of a ‘duty of hope’.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square - an initiative of Per Capita.

In this new progressive Australian government, where do the fault lines lie when it comes to digital rights?   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This week, join Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, and Dan Stinton, as they speak with NSW Greens Senator and spokesperson for Digital Rights and IT David Shoebridge.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centr...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This week, the Burning Platforms panel deep dive into the complex and exciting world of cybernetics with Associate Professor Ellen Broad from the Australian National University School of Cybernetics and member of the Australian Government's Data Advisory Council.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of th...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This week the Burning Platform's panel dive deep into the impact of home-sharing platform Airbnb on the property market with Trish Burt, convenor of Neighbours Not Strangers, who has been fighting a one-woman war against Airbnb for years, calling out policies that privilege the interests of property owners over renters...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This episode will dive deep into the risk of unfettered AI following the release of a major report regarding the use of Facial Recognition Technology in Australia.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square - an initiative of Per Capita.  

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    On this week's episode, Peter Lewis is joined by David Swan, (Technology Editor, The Australian), Samantha Floreani (Program Lead, Digital Rights Watch), to introduce ‘Civility’ - a new collaborative platform designed to create better public engagement - with its co-founder, Nicholas Davis.   Burning Platforms is brough...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    In the last Burning Platforms before the Australian Federal Election, Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, and Dan Stinton run the rule over the policies being offered up by the major parties.   Is it just Coke vs. Pepsi? Or are there bigger ideas at play?   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square...

Humans embrace technology with a child-like optimism, but what are the threats Artificial Intelligence poses our society if its impacts are not thought through?   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    This week, the Burning Platforms panel dives deep into the amorality of AI with a special discussion with Professor Toby Walsh, author of the new book ‘Machin...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    On this week’s episode, Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, and Dan Stinton dive deep into digital addiction: are we being played? And what can we do to get ourselves off the bad stuff?   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square - an initiative of Per Capita.

After turning to new technology in a public health crisis we now face critical questions in what a new surveillance normal looks like.   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.      On this week's episode Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, Dan Stinton, and guest Dr Mark Andrejevic (Monash Data Futures Institute) look at the technology of the Pandemic and what new model...

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.      This week, the Burning Platforms panel (Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, and Dan Stinton) are joined by former president of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Paul Twomey to outline how competing models of state control over online communications are challenging the very essence of the internet.  ...

As the Federal Election approaches amid heightened geo-political tensions, Burning Platforms looks at a ground-breaking attempt to understand how political actors game the social media algorithms to deliver targeted disinformation.   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public Square - an initiative of Per Capita.

Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.   On this week's episode, Peter Lewis, Lizzie O'Shea, and Dan Stinton mark 12 months from the Facebook news takedown and review the progress of the News Media Bargaining Code with guest Terry Flew (Professor of Digital Communication & Culture, University of Sydney).   Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre o...

While Australians spent the summer searching for RATs, a hastily convened federal government inquiry was holding public hearings about online safety, as the Morrison Government amps up its war with the Big Tech companies.   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    Burning Platforms is back for 2022, as Peter Lewis dissects the Senate Economics References Commi...

Western democracy has always been anchored by the idea of a public space where people gather to share ideas, mediate difference and make sense of the world. When Facebook blocked Australian users from viewing or sharing news in 2021, it sounded the alarm worldwide on our growing reliance on global tech companies to fulfil this critical role in a digital world.   The conflict sparked a new sense of...

The internet promised new ways to challenge power and privilege, so how has it become a tool to promote division and entrench despots?   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.    Join Peter Lewis, Lizzie O' Shea, and Dan Stinton, with guest, Elaine Pearson (Asia Director at Human Rights Watch), for this week's analysis of the politics of technology from around...

The dominance of Google’s data-hungry search engine is under the spotlight in Australia, with live inquiries on its role in the Ad-tech industry and anti-competitive deals which embed the search engine in smart devices.   But DuckDuckGo has proven that you can build a search engine that's not based on user surveillance.   Welcome to Burning Patforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech. ...

As the world's leaders debate the future of the planet, technology is being put forward as the solution to the earth's climate woes. But will smart energy networks, AI and Bitcoin really save us?   On this week's Burning Platforms, Peter Lewis and guests, Lizzie O'Shea (founder and the chair of Digital Rights Watch) and Benedetta Brevini (journalist and Associate Professor in the Department of Med...

Online platforms are acting like nation-states and governments are trying to become platforms, but are they both getting it wrong?   Welcome to Burning Platforms: De-Coding the Power and Politics of Big Tech.   Join Peter Lewis and guest, Jathan Sadowski, Research Fellow, Department of Human Centred Computing - Monash Data Futures Institute, for this week's analysis of the politics of technology f...