Technology-Facilitated Mind Hacking

This week CIGI released policy briefs from Emily Laidlaw and Alexa Raad as part of its Legitimate Influence or Unlawful Manipulation? project.

In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the inner freedoms of thought, belief and opinion are known as “forgotten freedoms”; indeed, Laidlaw writes, they are empty ones in Canada, given their complicated legal status. In the Charter, protection of these rights only applies against actions government might take, yet present threats via subtle forms of “mind hacking” come primarily from corporate actors.

Laidlaw contributes a step-by-step analysis of the legal chokepoints that must be untangled and the actions government must take to breathe life into these rights.

It has been said that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Platform business models that capitalize on capturing attention have introduced powerful technological enablers that are supercharging the travel of false information online, and influence operators have been quick to leverage these tools.

Raad describes frameworks that can be used to analyze influence operations, as well as remediation efforts that must be taken to both prevent amplification of harmful content and increase the risk, cost and complexity to the influence operator.

Feb. 22 – 4:00 p.m. EST (UTC–05:00) – Waterloo, Canada: The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) and CIGI invite you to join us, in person or via Zoom, for a discussion featuring speakers Shoshana Zuboff and Jim Balsillie on the urgent topic of “surveillance capitalism,” its threat to our information civilization, and how its trajectory undermines democratic norms and the centuries-long evolution of market capitalism. BSIA Director Ann Fitz-Gerald and CIGI President Paul Samson will moderate.

Find out more and register here.

In this op-ed first published in The Globe and Mail, Angela Mondou and Paul Samson note Canada’s world-class achievements in research, education and innovation, including in the area of artificial intelligence (AI). But, they say, “Canada has been good at letting go of the very ingenuity we cultivate.…Canada can’t let history repeat itself with AI.”

Mondou and Samson write that the window to seize strategic opportunities is closing fast: if Canada aspires to lead in AI, it needs a dedicated minister to drive industrial strategy from the top.

As the space domain grows more accessible, small and developing countries and private actors are transforming this ecosystem and a new dynamic of relative parity between states and corporations is emerging, raising uncertainty as to whether international space law can achieve just outcomes.

In this opinion, Timiebi Aganaba says that “while defining responsible behaviour in space may be complex, due to varied perspectives and intentions, there are precedents and standards for responsible innovation that may help point a way forward.”

Will 2024 be a make-or-break year for Ukrainian resistance? As Ukraine enters year three of a brutal war, Wesley Wark says that Canada has an important role to play, and a promise to keep, in ensuring that 2024 is not the year that Ukrainian resistance was broken.

In this op-ed first published by the Toronto Star, Wark reminds readers of the promise Canada made to use “all tools at our disposal to support Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” where things stand now, and what more can and should be done.