Making sense of our connected world
Owning platforms – cooperatives in the digital economy
Digital trading platforms like Amazon or Uber generate billions in turnover, yet their success has been overshadowed by their drawbacks for platform users. Could cooperative models ameliorate the flaws of…
The coronavirus pandemic and its impact on cybersecurity
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted cybersecurity in several ways. The challenges range from the infrastructure of the internet itself to the spread of disinformation online. Nevertheless, not all is lost,…
State-sponsored cyber activities in Coronavirus times
The coronavirus pandemic has created a gold mine for cybercriminal activities, including those sponsored by states, generating digital chaos. However, amid this chaos, a light at the end of the…
Seeing Without Being Seen: The Map as a Medium for Simulated Surveillance
An illuminated, 170 square meter satellite photograph of Berlin covers floor and walls of the exhibition space of the former Stasi-prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen – it visualises the surveillance network of…
Social Scoring – a Chinese invention?
Chinas Social Scoring System ist in aller Munde, wenn es um totale Überwachung geht. Die „westliche Welt“ distanziert sich. Zu Recht? Ohne Frage. Allerdings wäre eine ausführliche Reflexion über hiesige…
Konfuzius im 3. Jahrtausend: Chinas „Social Credit System“ als Turbo zur Selbstvervollkommnung?
Ein Interview mit dem China-Bildungsexperten Jürgen Henze The social credit system in China: What looks like a dystopia in Germany, in contrast, is treated as an utopia in China. In…
Surveillance
The state monitors its citizens, Internet companies monitor their users – and finally we monitor ourselves and each other. Who is monitoring whom and why? What positive effects can surveillance have and when does it become a danger for a democratic society? Questions like these were posed by students of the Humboldt University of Berlin in the seminar “Tracing Surveillance – On the Trace of Surveillance” led by HIIG researcher Thomas Christian Bächle. In the contributions to this dossier they discuss their views on state and economic power and surveillance technologies.
How COVID-19 impacts digital technologies
The current lockdown is boosting online activity – everything is increasingly shifting to the digital sphere. In this dossier we ask if, how and why the Corona pandemic will affect key subjects of digital technologies. What does this mean for the regulation of content on digital platforms? How is Covid-19 activating the digital society? How does it transform our online culture? How safe are tracing apps? What lessons can be learned regarding cyber security? Busy times for our researchers!
