The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law

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Human Rights in the Digital Age

One of the 20th century’s most profound advances was the emergence and global uptake of human rights – promising a world remade by universalized humanity, where protected individual agency could flourish.

Digital data’s proliferation (i.e. “datafication”) presents stark challenges to the essential human values which have defined human experiences and rights to this point. Coupled with AI and data’s “stickiness,” our conception of irreducible values (like autonomy, dignity, equality and community) stand to be profoundly impacted. It is a human rights approach to these changes which poses our best hope for developing technology without unravelling what matters most to stable society and law.

During this conversation, Professor of Political Science, Principal’s Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, and author Wendy H. Wong will discuss her latest book “We, The Data” and the urgency of a human right to data privacy with Promise Institute Assistant Director and ICLP Director Jess Peake.