THE TRILLION DOLLAR PLATFORM IN YOUR POCKET
HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
RE:PUBLICA, BERLIN- JUN 2022
HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
RE:PUBLICA, BERLIN- JUN 2022
Who
really owns your smartphone?
The smartphone is the most successful consumer device in history, and of course it is also one of the most addictive. We spend on average well over 5 hours a day on our smartphones. And it’s no exaggeration to say that the global digital economy is entirely dependent on us spending as much time as possible on the device we have with us wherever we go.
From day one smartphones were designed for digital platform monopolies; the business model of building digital services that reach consumers directly, but where they are also the gatekeeper for all other products and services trying to reach the same market. This model gives digital platforms unrivalled power to control markets, to maximise their profits, and to reduce consumer choice.
The workshop takes apart the smartphone to show why – and how - it is so central to the digital platform economy, and exactly how mobile platforms work to extract our data and maximise their market power.
The workshop also:
This workshop was jointly developed and presented at Re:Publica, Berlin in June 2022 with Dr Jennifer Pybus, Research Chair in Data, Democracy and AI, York University. Toronto.
It works with any group of any age from 14 up with any level of technical knowledge.
The smartphone is the most successful consumer device in history, and of course it is also one of the most addictive. We spend on average well over 5 hours a day on our smartphones. And it’s no exaggeration to say that the global digital economy is entirely dependent on us spending as much time as possible on the device we have with us wherever we go.
From day one smartphones were designed for digital platform monopolies; the business model of building digital services that reach consumers directly, but where they are also the gatekeeper for all other products and services trying to reach the same market. This model gives digital platforms unrivalled power to control markets, to maximise their profits, and to reduce consumer choice.
The workshop takes apart the smartphone to show why – and how - it is so central to the digital platform economy, and exactly how mobile platforms work to extract our data and maximise their market power.
The workshop also:
- Takes a
detailed look at app “Manifests”; the hidden agreements between
developers and mobile platforms that starkly reveal what data can be
extracted with and without our knowledge or consent
- Shows
what data is collected and how it used in the murky,
under-regulated, but astonishingly lucrative world of programmatic
advertising.
- Explores
mobile “SDK”s, the powerful toolkits produced by the tech giants
that define how apps talk to devices., and are In effect digital
platforms in their own right, albeit platforms hidden from view.
- Considers
recent developments in privacy regulation, why the tech giants are
frantically trying to re-invent themselves as privacy champions, and
whether we should believe them.
This workshop was jointly developed and presented at Re:Publica, Berlin in June 2022 with Dr Jennifer Pybus, Research Chair in Data, Democracy and AI, York University. Toronto.
It works with any group of any age from 14 up with any level of technical knowledge.
