Creating a Culture of Consent for Our Digital Future: A Conversation with Tawana Petty

I'm interested in shifting the culture around our relationship with online consent because I recognize how pervasive dominant narratives are. In this work, a lot of folks have shifted to a mindset of powerlessness. I've learned that the more you encourage people that we still have a voice in the matter, the more folks tend to push back against systems that are unjust. And it's not a given that your data is going to be extracted and weaponized against you. We still have opportunities to mount a resistance against systems that are harmful. To me, that's the general public. That's anybody who is exposed to any type of system that's extracting our data. However, I do prioritize Black folks, because we're looking at systems that are systemically racist. Our data and information is being leveraged to target us to be consumers of systems, not producers of systems, and how agencies like law enforcement have leveraged our data in the past to create predictive policing systems or to hyper surveil communities.

[Ever Bussey is a social researcher and creative media maker. The nature of their practice brings the intricacies of human social relationships into focus through storytelling and collective world-building. Tawana Petty is a mother, social justice organizer, poet, author, and facilitator. Her work focuses on racial justice, equity, privacy, and consent. She is a 2023-2025 Just Tech Fellow with the Social Science Research Council, a 2024 National LIO Yearlong Fellow with the Rockwood Leadership Institute and she serves on the CS for Detroit Steering Committee.]