Today’s links Wellness surveillance makes workers unwell: As ever, the important thing isn’t what the gadget does, it’s who it does it for and who it does it to. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Podcasts, events and more. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Wellness surveillance makes workers unwell (permalink) “National conversation” sounds like one of those meaningless buzzphrases – until you live through one. The first one I really participated in actively was the national conversation – the global conversation – about privacy following the Snowden revelations. This all went down when my daughter was five, and as my wife and I talked about the news, our kid naturally grew curious about it. I had to literally “explain like I’m five” global mass surveillance: https://locusmag.com/2014/05/cory-doctorow-how-to-talk-to-your-children-about-mass-surveillance/ But parenting is a two-way street, so even as I was explaining surveillance to my kid, my own experiences raising a child changed how I thought about surveillance. Obviously I knew about many of the harms that surveillance brings, but parenting helped me viscerally appreciate one of the least-discussed, most important aspects of being watched: how it compromises being your authentic self: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2014/may/09/cybersecurity-begins-with-integrity-not-surveillance As I wrote then: There are times when she is working right at the limits of her abilities – drawing or dancing or writing or singing…Pluralistic: Wellness surveillance makes workers unwell (15 Mar 2024)