Join us for an afternoon chat with Dr. Susie Alegre exploring our most fundamental human right endangered in a digital age.
Speaker
Dr. Susie Alegre
Synopsis
Come join us for a thought-provoking and engaging discussion featuring guest Dr. Susie Alegre with host BCS IOM Chair, Kurt Roosen exploring freedom of thought in a digital age.
This is a hybrid event with limited in-person tickets available. The first 7 attendees to arrive will get the book that can be signed by Dr. Alegre at the event. Refreshments to be served. RSVP required.
About "FREEDOM TO THINK" (from the publisher)
Without a moment's pause, we share our most intimate thoughts with trillion-dollar tech companies. Their algorithms categorize us and jump to troubling conclusions about who we are. They also shape our everyday thoughts, choices and actions - from who we date to whether we vote. But this is just the latest front in an age-old struggle.
Part history and part manifesto, Freedom to Think explores how the powerful have always sought to influence how we think and what we buy. Connecting the dots from Galileo to Alexa, human rights lawyer Susie Alegre charts the history and fragility of our most important human right: freedom of thought.
Filled with shocking case-studies across politics, criminal justice, and everyday life, this ground-breaking book shows how our mental freedom is under threat like never before. Bold and radical, Alegre argues that only by recasting our human rights for the digital age can we safeguard our future.
About the speaker
Susie Alegre is a specialist in international human rights law and public international law with over twenty years experience working on human rights and the rule of law in the EU, OSCE, Council of Europe and UN Systems. In the UK she has worked as an ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service deciding cases on discrimination and vulnerable consumers that have provoked changes in the financial services industry. And internationally, her roles have included working as the Attache on Accountability and Governance for the EU in Uganda coordinating donor responses to corruption in the country and Anti-Terrorism Adviser to the OSCE ODIHR. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton. She primarily works on consultancy and advisory work but is also licensed to practise in England and Wales and would welcome opportunities to work with colleagues on potential cases, training, events and advisory work in her areas of expertise. More information is available on www.susiealegre.com.
Her recent work has been focused on the following areas:
Digital Rights, in particular the impact of technology and AI on the rights to freedom of thought and opinion. This has included advisory work for Avaaz on freedom of thought and on disinformation campaigns in the European Parliamentary elections, pre-litigation research (ongoing) thanks to a grant from the Digital Freedom Fund, and working on a book on the topic.
Children’s rights in the digital world – currently developing a global standard template for child online protection with 5Rights
Human rights in small island contexts – she founded the Island Rights Initiative – www.islandrights.org and has done research work on UK responsibilities for human rights in Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and represented the St Helena Equality and Human Rights Commission as an intervener in the Privy Council with Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Fiona Murphy. She is currently Interception of Communications Commissioner for the Isle of Man.
Human rights at borders, including advisory work for the European Parliament on the European ETIAS scheme and drafting a handbook for the UN Office on Counter Terrorism on human rights at borders in the context of counter-terrorism
Citizenship, including advisory work on EU citizenship post Brexit and research on EU law around citizenship for sale. She has also worked with Geoffrey Robertson QC on a case involving expulsion and removal of citizenship.
Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.
BCS is a membership organisation. If you enjoy this event, please consider joining BCS. You’ll be very welcome. You’ll receive access to many exclusive career development tools, an introduction to a thriving professional community and also help us Make IT Good For Society. Join BCS today
COVID-19
BCS is following government guidelines and we would ask attendees to continue to also follow these guidelines. Please go to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ for more information, advice, and instructions.
This event is brought to you by: BCS Isle of Man
