WPF “Privacy on the Ground” Podcast Series 1: Indigenous Data Leaders
Kate Kaye, Deputy Director
Every day it seems as though another little part of our lives is reflected in data, from the ways we sleep to the ways we get a loan, a job, a medical diagnosis, and so much more.
The interactions, decisions, and automations at work behind these everyday activities generate new data and combine it with existing data. They involve sharing that information, analyzing it, and processing it through complex algorithmic systems. All of it has new and profound effects on our privacy.
At World Privacy Forum, we see privacy through the prism of these everyday data realities. Our real-life approach is what we call privacy on the ground, and it’s what we will spotlight through talks and stories featured in our new Privacy on the Ground podcast.
As we noted in our December 2023 report, Risky Analysis, which surveyed and assessed AI Governance Tools around the world and pathways toward improving them, the rapidly evolving shifts in data collection, sharing and processing force us to reconsider previous understandings of privacy and how to protect it.
New Report: Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools
Discussions about privacy in relation to government policy, legal compliance, or technical implementation can be complicated, and even inaccessible. The Privacy on the Ground podcast aims to cut through that complexity through discussions and stories from real people that spotlight the tangible connections between privacy and real life.
Our first series of the podcast illuminates an important-yet-underexplored body of scholarly work and practice with profound implications for privacy: Indigenous Data Sovereignty. The Indigenous leaders spotlighted in these talks illuminate what Indigenous data protection really means at the ground level, and why it matters in relation to privacy.
What You’ll Hear in our First Episodes
Introduction to Privacy on the Ground: Kate Kaye.
Listeners will hear a short introduction with World Privacy Forum deputy director and podcast host and producer Kate Kaye.
Episode 1: We Have “Gifted” Enough: Dr Krystal Tsosie on Indigenous Genomic Data Sovereignty and Righting the Wrongs of Extractive Precision Medicine Research
Featuring Indigenous genetic epidemiologist and bioethicist, Dr. Krystal Tsosie
Dr. Krystal Tsosie made what she calls a “hail Mary” pass when she and colleagues pushed the genomic science research community to recognize that collection of genomic information from Indigenous peoples may not have offered much benefit to the Indigenous groups who contributed DNA — and instead perpetuated stereotypes and other harms. Today, as assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences in the Center for Biology and Society and co-founder of the Native BioData Consortium, Tsosie is doing groundbreaking work in the field of Indigenous genomic data, Indigenous data sovereignty, and bioethics, not only from a scientific research and technology standpoint, but when it comes to advocating for meaningful representation and inclusion of Indigenous peoples to ensure their interests are protected. Hear Dr. Tsosie’s story in the eye-opening inaugural episode of Privacy on the Ground in Apple or Spotify podcasts, by searching for Privacy on the Ground in another podcast platform.
Episode 2: Amy Juan on Food and Seed Sovereignty and Why the Knowledge Embedded in the Tiny Tepary Bean Is More than “Data”
Food and seed sovereignty knowledge holder and admin manager of Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Xavier Co-op Farm
Amy Juan sometimes tells a story about a little bean that grows on the Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Xavier Co-op Farm called the Tepary bean. Juan is the admin manager of that farm, which is close to Tucson, Arizona. And, through her work with the International Indian Treaty Council, an indigenous peoples’ human rights organization, Juan has traveled the world as a knowledge holder in food and seed sovereignty for the southwest and desert region. But Juan’s story of that ancient, drought-resistant bean and the knowledge embedded inside it tells us even more about what she really does and why it matters. In this episode of Privacy on the Ground, Juan tells her story of the Tepary and how it connects to food sovereignty, data sovereignty, and links her Tohono O’odham Nation to Indigenous communities around the world. Hear Juan’s story in Apple or Spotify podcasts, by searching for Privacy on the Ground in another podcast platform.
Upcoming episodes
In upcoming episodes in this Indigenous Data Sovereignty series, you’ll hear from Alex Soto and Eric Hardy, who are helping to create a new kind of home for Indigenous knowledge and storytelling guided through Indigenous-led librarianship at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University.
Expect future Privacy on the Ground episodes and series to take us in a variety of directions, from analyzing data use for AI-based emotion recognition systems, to evaluating AI-related language data collection and use from a Maori perspective, and beyond.
Find and subscribe to WPF’s Privacy on the Ground podcast in Apple, Spotify, or iHeart podcasts, or by searching for Privacy on the Ground in other podcast platforms.