COMMENT BLOG
A remark, a critique, an opinion…
Data centres, rare earth minerals, and complacency
The impact of data centres on the environment concerns everyone. Data centres consume massive amounts of electricity – often placing considerable strain on local power grids. Data centres generate significant heat and electronic waste, and millions of gallons of water...
El Niño and the fight over what it means
El Niño is already sharpening climate disinformation. The time is now to invest in community media. It is climate action.
The beautiful game in a connected world
Due to online misinformation, the lenses through which the beautiful game is viewed are layered with factors that have nothing to do with purely football.
3 conferences, 3 contrasts: Where does digital justice go from here?
Which UN forum for digital governance will have real impact? All of us must take action for digital justice to ensure questions are raised and local voices are heard.
Language loss and AI
Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) help or hinder the survival of minority languages into the next century? According to Ethnologue, a database of the world’s 7,168 living languages, almost half are endangered. Over 88 million people speak a language that may not...
Reclaiming the beautiful game – and communication – for the common good
The FIFA World Cup has kicked off across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This year’s tournament is the largest edition in history, with 48 teams, 104 matches, and billions of people watching. For over a month, people around the world will be glued to their...
AI everything – Except humanity
“The pervasive technocratic paradigm in which we are immersed, and that is amplified by the digital revolution and AI, threatens to normalize an anti-human vision. In that vision, the fullness of life is equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating...
Digital justice – the good news
I seem to spend a lot of my working days reading, writing, and speaking about the harms and risks of our increasing digitalization, especially artificial intelligence. Granted, this all gets channelled into plans and actions to address harms and strengthen benefits:...
Reclaiming digital technology to build a fairer, safer, and more inclusive world
Is it any wonder people are in thrall to the power and vicarious thrill of digital technologies when many acclaimed films and TV series extol the apparent virtues of digital surveillance. At the same time, they fear that State surveillance has gone too far. A swift AI...
The beginning of the end of the attention economy?
On 25 March 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent for designing social media platforms that harmed a young user through addictive features, awarding $6 million in damages. Just one day earlier, a New Mexico jury had ordered Meta to pay $375 million...
When a free press comes under fire, we all suffer
The moment the press becomes an instrument of state approval, it serves no one. Defend media freedom in every way you can.
Data protection: Burden or obligation?
Reuters recently reported that US diplomats worldwide have been ordered to track and counter data localization efforts, naming the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as an example of “unnecessarily burdensome” regulation. According to Reuters,...
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance