Read on Twitter
1/ The announcement of @citizenlab cutting ties with @UTLaw and @IHRP_UofT is enormous. Here's some context.
@citizenlab is likely the *most* important partner that the @IHRP_UofT has, internal or external to the university. https://twitter.com/RonDeibert/status/1391093762894487553
@citizenlab is likely the *most* important partner that the @IHRP_UofT has, internal or external to the university. https://twitter.com/RonDeibert/status/1391093762894487553
2/ Together @citizenlab and @IHRP_UofT collaborated on the groundbreaking report: "Bots at the Gate" coauthored by the brilliant @_PMolnar and @lex_is. It is one of the best human rights analyses of AI-facilitated decision making in migration, ever.
https://citizenlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IHRP-Automated-Systems-Report-Web-V2.pdf
https://citizenlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IHRP-Automated-Systems-Report-Web-V2.pdf
3/ Following up on that, @citizenlab and @IHRP_UofT combined for another groundbreaking report on Algorithm Policing Practices in Canada by @KateRobertson_, @Cyn_K, & @y_y_song examining predictive policing and algorithmic surveillance tech. https://citizenlab.ca/2020/09/algorithmic-policing-in-canada-explained/
4/ These industry leading reports and collaborations operate at the very edge of both law and algorithmic technologies and it is the synthesis of expertise, the collegiality of the people, and the close proximity that allows this magic to happen. It is an enormous loss.
5/ Something that floats in the background of course is that the industry-leading work of @citizenlab also produces work that is critical of Israel - particularly the human-rights abusing operations of the NSO Group, an Israeli spyware developer. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/12/cat-and-mouse-game-how-citizen-lab-shone-a-spotlight-on-israeli-spyware-firm-nso
6/ So this move is taken in the context of very practical and moral imperatives.
Not only @UofT, but in effect, the public itself, will be robbed of these wonderful, groundbreaking collaborations by an administration that has sold out human rights for money.
Not only @UofT, but in effect, the public itself, will be robbed of these wonderful, groundbreaking collaborations by an administration that has sold out human rights for money.
7/ Of course, I qualify this with the observation that @UofT could do the right thing and make this all go away tomorrow if it wanted to. But there is I think also a material possibility that they will simply refuse a LONG time b/c it is institutionally-captured by donors.
8/ @citizenlab is also not the *only* partner @IHRP_UofT lost as a result of the censure.
@ButterflyCSW and Immigration Legal Committee wrote to @UTLaw also saying they were cutting ties until the academic freedom threat was addressed.
@ButterflyCSW and Immigration Legal Committee wrote to @UTLaw also saying they were cutting ties until the academic freedom threat was addressed.
9/ Together @IHRP_UofT, @ButterflyCSW and ILC created digital guides with key information on Ontario COVID ID requirements - a practice that essentially green lighted carding again.
https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/users/vwong/05-26-20%20-%20Butterfly%20Digital%20Guide%20%28Long%20Version%29%20-%20U2.pdf
https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/users/vwong/05-26-20%20-%20Butterfly%20Digital%20Guide%20%28Long%20Version%29%20-%20U2.pdf
10/ This consortium also produced a much more detailed and comprehensive Migrant Know Your Rights Guide for folks with precarious status facing immigration arrest, detention, and deportation.
https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Butterfly%20-%20Know%20Your%20Rights%20Guide%20-%20February%202021.pdf
https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Butterfly%20-%20Know%20Your%20Rights%20Guide%20-%20February%202021.pdf
11/ This guide is particular notable because it was produced in large part by law students working in collaboration with Asian migrant massage peer leaders at @ButterflyCSW in a community based participatory approach so rarely taught in law schools.
12/ This connection became incredibly important after the Atlanta spa killings targeting Asian massage workers - as @ButterflyCSW was one of only three organizations in North America that specifically organized workers on the Asian massage industry.
13/ These collaborations are just the tip of the iceberg of what the @IHRP_UofT provided for staff, students, partners. Constantly standing on the side of the marginalized and confidently standing up to the powerful.
This is what was destroyed when @UofT caved to donors.
This is what was destroyed when @UofT caved to donors.
