Jathan Sadowski
The Guardian
Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Past articles by Jathan:
Facebook is a harmful presence in our lives. It’s not too late to pull the plug on it
The company plans to tighten its grip on our everyday activities. We don’t have to just submit, says emerging technologies research fellow Jathan Sadowski → Read More
Draining the Risk Pool —
Insurance companies are using new surveillance tech to discipline customers → Read More
The Captured City —
The “smart city” makes infrastructure and surveillance indistinguishable → Read More
Amazon is running its own hunger games – and all the players will be losers
US cities are selling their souls to be chosen as the company’s second HQ site, write academics Jathan Sadowski and Karen Gregory → Read More
Google wants to run cities without being elected. Don't let it
A new initiative will see Alphabet – the parent company of Google – take charge of redeveloping a waterfront district in Toronto. Here’s why that’s troubling → Read More
Why do big hacks happen? Blame Big Data
The Equifax hack, which exposed 143 million people, is a reminder that data companies have too much power → Read More
Jathan Sadowski
Jathan Sadowski has a PhD in the "human and social dimensions of science and technology." He writes about social justice and the political economy of technologies. → Read More
Why Silicon Valley is embracing universal basic income
In a pilot study influential incubator Y Combinator will hand over cash monthly to 100 families in Oakland, California. What’s UBI’s payoff for tech entrepreneurs? → Read More
The Tools of Their Tools
From spell-checkers to self-driving cars, automation technologies can relieve us of difficult or tedious work. But a new book by Nicholas Carr highlights the danger of living life on autopilot. Evan Selinger and Jathan Sadowski discuss the book’s approach, and what its critics missed. → Read More
Is Uber's ultimate goal the privatisation of city governance?
The taxi app faces many obstacles to its plans for city transport, making its battles with existing cab services merely the beginning → Read More
OPINION: Stop treating citizens as consumers
When people are framed as consumers, society becomes little more than a marketplace → Read More
3-D print your way to freedom and prosperity
The “maker” movement is often lauded as the harbinger of a new industrial revolution. Thanks to 3-D printers and other tools like them, digital bits can be transformed into material atoms on the spot. “Making,” as it is known, essentially comes down to assembling discarded items, repurposing existing ones and, importantly, personal fabrication to create new objects and utensils. And it can all be… → Read More
Lessons from the 'right to be forgotten'
It's often big news when legislation is passed that aims to address technological issues such as privacy and surveillance. → Read More
The Big Business of Neo-Humanity
At the tender age of 32, Dmitry Itskov is not yet a billionaire, although a lot of respected news outlets think otherwise. He is a millionaire many times over—a survivor of the dot-com bubble who made his fortune building a media empire in Russia. Like many people who become extremely... → Read More
Drone Delivery Systems: Can I Get Extra Sauce With That?
The drones are coming! The drones are coming! But this time they’re not armed with hellfire missiles. These drones are packing a new kind of heat: steaming pizzas, fresh tacos, and cold beer. Drones—the popular term for a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles that are autonomous, semi-autonomous, or totally... → Read More
The Injustices of Open Data
We’re surrounded by data—more and more of it is created every day about every person and every topic. Accompanying this cascade is an open data movement that calls for datasets to be fully accessible. We can see this attitude in what has become an Internet activist catchphrase: “Information wants to... → Read More
Edward Snowden and the High Price of Civil Disobedience
While Edward Snowden’s on the lam from espionage charges, the case that he’s just a dodgy traitor seems to be growing. Rather than an upright practitioner of civil disobedience, he’s being portrayed as a coward who hid out in a Hong Kong hotel feasting on pizza and Pepsi. Take, for... → Read More