An Introduction to the Ethics of Neo-Colonialism

There are many frameworks to think about and describe ethics applied to Artificial Intelligence, but my writing on this topic thus far has lacked consideration of colonialism, which at its core and in practice is completely void of ethics. Colonialism is a deeply rooted world system of power and control that plays out in ways that become normal, yet are far from anything that would be considered ethical. In today’s world that relies so heavily on technology, colonialism within data and the digital world is a fundamental problem.

There is a strong separation between the dominant powers and the people and communities that they profit from. This is often framed by seeing the Global North as separate from the Global South. In reality, there is a separation between urban centers which are largely in the Global North, and everyone else, with those in the Global South bearing the brunt of the power imbalance. We use the terminology of Global North and Global South broadly, but this review references examples not specific to this framework. One such instance regarding digital colonialism affecting Inuit communities in Northern Canada is key to our exploration. This case study will appear in a future article.

There are two ways neo-colonialism is being discussed in sociotechnical language: digital colonialism and data colonialism. These are parallel terms and may be considered one and the same, however, we will look at how they have been described independently.

When digital technology is used for social, economic, and political domination over another nation or territory, it is considered digital colonialism. Dominant powers have ownership over digital infrastructure and knowledge, which perpetuates a state of dependency within the hierarchy, situating Big Tech firms at the top and hosting an extremely unequal division of labor, which further defines digital colonialism. (Kwet, 2021)

Data colonialism addresses Big Data in the context of the predatory practices of colonialism. Capitalism depends on the data from the Global South, which represents a new type of appropriation attached to current infrastructures of connection. (Couldry and Mejias, 2019 P1) We see a pulley system of interdependence, however, the concentration of power is clear.

We cannot address colonialism without also addressing capitalism. Colonialism came first, and historical colonialism, with its violence and brutality, paved the way for capitalism. In order to decolonize, we need to fully overhaul the systems of capitalism and consumerism. We cannot add on little bits of law or regulations to govern data and the digital world in an attempt to decolonize. We need a full system change, and it is going to take a lot of work.

We are at the dawn of a new stage of capitalism, following the path laid out by data colonialism, just as historical colonialism paved the way for industrial capitalism. We can’t yet imagine what this will look like, but we know that at its core is the appropriation of human life through data. (Couldry and Mejias, 2019 P1–2)

Not only is this a problem because it creates global inequality, capitalism notably threatens the natural environment. Its structural imperative is based on an insatiable appetite for growth and profit, causing overconsumption of Earth’s material resources, not to mention overheating the planet. (Kwet, 2020) Mining cobalt in the Congo has detrimental effects not just on the earth, but on people’s lives, utilizing harsh child labor (Lawson , 2021). The Congo is where we get over 50% of the world’s cobalt, an essential raw mineral found in cell phones, computers, and electric vehicles, as well as in lithium batteries, which will see an increase in demand alongside renewable energy systems. (Banza Lubaba Nkulu et al., 2018). Not only is data mining causing harm to people and the environment in how it is being collected but also how it is being stored long-term. Data centers alone account for 2% of human carbon emissions, rivaling airlines. There are plans and efforts to lower emissions from data centers, which need to be done across industries, alongside efforts to address the underlying issues of dependence due to capitalism and consumerism.

“What decolonial thinking, in particular, can help us grasp is that colonialism — whether in its historic or new form — can only be opposed effectively if it is attacked at its core: the underlying rationality that enables continuous appropriation to seem natural, necessary, and somehow an enhancement of, not a violence to, human development.’’ (Couldry and Mejias, 2019 P16)

Conclusion

This is merely an introduction to the topics of data colonialism and digital colonialism. In future posts, we will provide many examples that explore various corners of the world and the impact of digital and data colonialism in different ways, including data mining, and case studies in the African indigenous context as well as the scenario topical to most, contact tracing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Within data mining, we will discuss how or even if data mining is different from data sharing, as well as contextualize data mining alongside resource mining from the Earth.

Further examples include the impact of internet usage in indigenous communities such as the Inuit as well as in South America, where their local knowledge is waning due to the influence of digital colonialism. In order to have a truly ethical AI, there needs to be a large shift in the ethics of society, and the decolonization of data and the digital world is a good starting point.

References

Abebe, R., Aruleba, K., Birhane, A., Kingsley, S., Obaido, G., Remy, S. L., & Sadagopan, S. (2021). Narratives and Counternarratives on Data Sharing in Africa. Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 329–341. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445897

Banza Lubaba Nkulu, C., Casas, L., Haufroid, V., De Putter, T., Saenen, N. D., Kayembe-Kitenge, T., Musa Obadia, P., Kyanika Wa Mukoma, D., Lunda Ilunga, J.-M., Nawrot, T. S., Luboya Numbi, O., Smolders, E., & Nemery, B. (2018, September). Sustainability of artisanal mining of cobalt in DR Congo. Nature sustainability. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6166862/

Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject. Television & New Media, 20(4), 336–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476418796632

Data Centers. Data Centers | Better Buildings Initiative. (2021). Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/sectors/data-centers

Fendos, J. (2020). How surveillance technology powered South Korea’s COVID-19 response. Brookings.

Kwet, M. (2021, May 6). Digital colonialism: The evolution of us empire. Longreads. 08/02/2022https://longreads.tni.org/digital-colonialism-the-evolution-of-us-empire

Lawson , M. F. F. (2021). The DRC mining industry: Child labor and formalization of small-scale mining. Wilson Center. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/drc-mining-industry-child-labor-and-formalization-small-scale-mining#:~:text=Of%20the%20255%2C000%20Congolese%20mining,own%20tools%2C%20primarily%20their%20hands.

Walter, M., Kukutai, T., Carroll, S. R., & Rodriguez-Lonebear, D. (2020). Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy (M. Walter, T. Kukutai, S. R. Carroll, & D. Rodriguez-Lonebear, Eds.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429273957

Young, J. C. (2019). The new knowledge politics of digital colonialism. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(7), 1424–1441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19858998