About the event:
In our interaction with digital systems, we produce a large amount of data every day that can be used for economic purposes, for example, but also for political purposes. While democratic systems in Europe are looking for ways to deal with these personal traces as securely, anonymously and effectively as possible, the example of China is not the only one to show that data can also be used for political and social control.
What can data be instrumentalized for and how can citizens and societies protect themselves from it? What opportunities and dangers for democratic societies lie in the political use of data? What responsibility does the political system have to protect our data? What possibilities of deprivation exist at all on an individual level?
Whereas in the early years of the Internet there were still high expectations of its democratizing effect, dystopian surveillance scenarios like those in "1984" seem to dominate at present - "Big brother is watching you!" Through the spy software "Pegasus", which is now also widely known in journalistic circles, and increasing insights into Chinese politics, it is becoming generally clear how modern data processing brings not only positive but also negative effects. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic also brought to light the ambivalences of data-based technologies for societal governance. The focus has been on the handling of vaccination data and the "green passport" as well as cell phone data that indicate where large crowds of people are gathering. We can see from this current example that individual health protection is rapidly merging with governmental
state surveillance and regulation of citizens. The contributions and questions discussed at this year's Media Day will focus on this interface between political control and personal freedom.
The event is organized in cooperation with the Tiroler Tageszeitung, Austria Presse Agentur and ORF Tirol.