Digital Rights Archive

The Centre for Digital Rights and The Syllabus created the Digital Rights Archive, where the public can access essential research, analysis, and commentary on digital policy. The archive features a variety of high-quality materials, from academic papers to government reports, as well as journalism and podcasts—in English and in French.

From the Feb 22, 2021 Digital Rights Archive Press Release:

Platform governance. Cybersecurity. “Smart” cities. Facial recognition in schools. Emotion recognition at the border. These are the areas of importance for researchers and policymakers tasked with governing digital societies. At the top of the agenda are questions of governance to safeguard the rights of individuals and collectives, the democratic interest and the rule of law. These are questions of principle and practicality: Which values and beliefs drive policy? Who regulates what, when and how?

To support these efforts, the Centre for Digital Rights and The Syllabus created the Digital Rights Archive, a treasure trove of essential research, analysis, and commentary on digital policy. The archive is a resource open to the public and relevant to anyone interested in digital policy – from mayors to ministers, security analysts, architecture critics, and students of media, technology and politics. The archive features a variety of high-quality materials, from academic papers to government reports, as well as journalism and podcasts—in English and in French.

“Digital transformation has created not just a new economy but a new kind of social and political space in which private and public spheres are reshaped by technology,” says Jim Balsillie, founder of the Centre for Digital Rights. “This shift is unprecedented in degree and rapidity, which is why it’s critical to build capacity, especially with the policy communities tasked with governing today’s technology-driven forces.” This capacity is essential and a quality archive would support it. “Policymaking is hard, but policymaking about digital rights and infrastructure is particularly hard,” says Evgeny Morozov, founder of The Syllabus. “The situation is changing too fast, there are too many variables, and tech giants are doing their best to outmanoeuvre parliaments. A regularly updated archive, one that would help policymakers get rapid access to the best materials, would help address these challenges.

Our hope is to make it the go-to source for policymaking—in Canada and globally.” Digital Rights Archive is powered by the indexing, ranking and curatorial systems developed by The Syllabus—which is part-algorithmic, part-human—and the editorial vision and oversight is by experts associated with the Centre for Digital Rights. The archive was curated by Ekaitz Cancela (Editor and Curator at The Syllabus), Natasha Tusikov (Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Science at York University) and Blayne Haggart (Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University). For more information, visit www.digitalrightsarchive.net  and to peruse the archive, visit www.search.digitalrightsarchive.net