Your car is spying on you. The California-based Mozilla Foundation analyzed the twenty-five most popular models and concluded that all, without exception, “collect more personal data than is necessary.” In fact, the car constitutes “the worst product for non-protection of personal data” among all the connected gadgets analyzed, including watches, speakers, headphones and dating applications.
Car software captures information, even that provided by passengers’ phones, and transmits it to manufacturers who can in turn send it to partners. Tesla comes last on the list of thieves. Only manufacturers Renault and Dacia allow motorists to request the deletion of information collected by their tracking cars.
The Mozilla Foundation was created “to ensure that the Internet remains a common, open and accessible good.” Was the Web ever? And first of all, have we really chosen to live in this globalized Web?
“In our democratic countries, would we say that we have consciously moved into the digital age? Was there a specific moment when our society dove headfirst into the world of hyperconnection and massive production of digital data? » asks Cécile Petitgand in the first paragraph of her essay Personal data. Let’s take back the power!
The work, concentrated in some 70 tightly packed pages, reminds us that our lives, our actions and our virtual interactions generate Himalayan masses of information captured by technological giants and governments. The essay argues that citizens should take part in decisions about the collection and management of this information that fundamentally concerns them.
“This book is a project that I have had for a long time due to my activities as a trainer and my academic profile,” explains Cécile Petitgand in an interview. I give a lot of training on citizen engagement in health around data and on artificial intelligence. I want the data to be truly accessible to everyone and understandable by everyone. So I designed this little self-defense manual for both citizens and public organizations in Quebec. »
Another world
Mme Petitgand arrived in Montreal a few years ago for a postdoctoral fellowship on the human challenges of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospital sector. His doctorate defended in Brazil in joint supervision with France dealt with “entrepreneurship with emancipatory aims” in the field of textiles, drawing on the theories of the great educator Paulo Freire. She worked in China as an advisor in technological innovation and as coordinator of the data access initiative of the research department of the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec.
She founded and now chairs Data Lama, which advocates the democratization of digital technology and AI. She provides training to promote citizen engagement in these areas. In September, she will even continue this educational approach in a primary school in Montreal, in particular to teach students to protect their identity online.
A child of school age can very well grasp the dizziness that can overwhelm us when faced with the wealth of signs produced by everyone. “We have moved into another society, into another world,” summarizes M.me Petitgand. I try to analyze what I call the mercantile and transactional movement, which means that we share a lot of data because our society has made it a currency of exchange. »
This lucrative model is becoming more and more widespread. Everyone has become accustomed to free digital services and actually expects services to be free. In return, companies request information that is then used for commercial operations.
Certain practices also generate a feeling of loss of control. Mme Petitgand cites international studies showing the clear expectations of citizens that their data be kept in secure locations, preferably in their country. They want to decide on uses and above all want one that is favorable to the common good.
Follow the money
The specialist, however, refuses to explain the capture of information solely by the search for profit. She points out that not all companies collect personal information to resell it and that the majority of them largely comply with the Quebec law of September 2022 on the protection of personal information, Law 25.
That said, she is concerned about our collective capacity to limit the flow of capture from large global groups, like Google or Facebook. She speaks of a “shortfall” for organizations that could benefit enormously from this flow with different intentions for the common good.
I try to analyze what I call the mercantile and transactional movement, which means that we share a lot of data because our society has made it a currency of exchange.
Paradoxically, the population often voluntarily submits to the influence of Web giants. Mme Petitgand cites the example of the geographical positions of users of connected devices. When governments have proposed apps to track citizens’ movements and contacts during the pandemic, some have become extremely wary, as they accept the same practice from large private companies.
The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence adds concerns. Here again, the uses are for the benefit of a few industrial groups, but the debates remain confined to a handful of experts. “I therefore say that we must democratize the discourse and multiply the actions to better inform on what we do with the information, but also to consult people on what they expect, engage them in the projects and give them power in governance bodies. »
Its fundamental recommendations boil down to four axes: inform, consult, collaborate and empower. “There are interesting initiatives, for example in health, where I work the most. There are digital advisory committees, but we really lack an orientation focused on citizen reflection and engagement. There is a huge program to be put in place to promote digital awareness. »