[Air-L] : question on data policy for research on extremist social media content
Fiona Bradley
fionabradleyau at gmail.com
Wed Aug 12 01:25:13 PDT 2020
Hi Catherine and all,
I agree with others that this varies greatly depending on where you are. In Australia, this is in law rather than in policy. Removing “abhorrent violent material” was included in the criminal code following the Christchurch shooting last year, although the scope of content included is quite broad. However, accessing such material for research purposes is a permitted defence.
I touched on this briefly in a conference paper last year: http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/2588 <http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/2588> and you can find the legislation here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019A00038 <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019A00038>
Thanks,
Fiona Bradley
PhD Candidate, Political Science and International Relations
University of Western Australia
Twitter: @fiona_bradley
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3622-2794 <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3622-2794>
> On 11 Aug 2020, at 9:57 pm, Shulman, Stu <stu at texifter.com> wrote:
>
> It is a nearly impossible conundrum. Whether or how we study and report the
> worst human depravity and hatred is complicated by a meta-question: what if
> the very act of examination and documentation amplifies that which we
> study?
>
> I am struggling myself with QAnon content like
> this: new(dot)qmap(dot)pub/memes [not rendering a link on purpose]
>
> It is a train wreck for civil discourse, democratic governance, and it is
> animated by race-baiting, election interference by a hostile authoritarian
> foreign power, and other problematic forms of online speech. It is also
> spreading like an ideological pandemic. There is "Q-merch" on Amazon.
>
> When a spate of news articles appeared in the major media recently about
> the growth and regulation of QAnon on social platforms, I was both relieved
> to see a wider discussion of what I see in the data as truly disturbing,
> but also lying awake at night thinking about the free publicity both the
> press, other scholars, and my own research may provide.
>
> It is a double bind: sunlight is required for transparency but it also
> fosters awareness and sometimes nurtures growth. A decade ago, it was
> unclear if University research compliance officers had the digital literacy
> to navigate these issues. The political landscape online is so vexing and
> adversarial in 2020, do any of us know what is necessary and sufficient to
> protect research subjects as well as democratic norms underlying systems of
> representative government?
>
> On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 5:53 AM Maura Conway <maura.conway at dcu.ie> wrote:
>
>> Hi Catherine (and All),
>>
>> This is actually a legal issue that's heavily dependent on the jurisdiction
>> in which you find yourself. In the EU, probably the most restrictive
>> context--or the one in which one needs to be most mindful--is the UK. A
>> useful perspective on holding and accessing extremist and terrorist content
>> within that jurisdiction is this Universities UK document:
>>
>> https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/security-sensitive-research-material-UK-universities-guidance.aspx
>> .
>>
>> The Researcher Resources section of the VOX-Pol website may also be useful,
>> esp. if you're interested also in some of the broader ethics issues
>> pertaining in this area; see https://www.voxpol.eu/researcher-resources/.
>>
>> Best,
>> Maura
>>
>> *Prof. Maura Conway*
>> School of Law and Government
>> Dublin City University
>> Glasnevin
>> Dublin 9
>> Ireland
>>
>> Tel. +353 1 700 6472
>> E-Mail. maura.conway at dcu.ie
>> Skype. galwaygrrl
>>
>> Twitter: @galwaygrrl
>>
>> Website: http://doras.dcu.ie/view/people/Conway=3AMaura=3A=3A.html
>>
>> **********
>>
>> VOX-Pol Project on Violent Online Political Extremism
>>
>> Website: http://www.voxpol.eu
>>
>> Twitter: @VOX_Pol
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 10 Aug 2020 at 20:23, Kolina S Koltai <koltai at utexas.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> You might find this piece by data & society helpful.
>>>
>>> https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM Tarleton L. Gillespie <
>> tlg28 at cornell.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Not a policy, but this research will be of interest to you:
>>>>
>>>> Banchik, A. V. (2020). Disappearing acts: Content moderation and
>> emergent
>>>> practices to preserve at-risk human rights–related content. New Media &
>>>> Society.
>>>> https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820912724
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 8/10/20, 3:06 PM, "Air-L on behalf of cbouko" <
>>>> air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of catherine.bouko at ugent.be>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I have often had informal conversations with peers about the
>> problem
>>> of
>>>> sharing (violent) extremist content extracted from social media
>>>> between us,
>>>> insofar as one could be considered as purveyors of extremist
>>>> propaganda in
>>>> doing so, even if one shares such data for scientific purposes. I
>>>> haven't
>>>> found any policy of that kind on the internet, though. Do you have
>>> some
>>>> links to such policies or documents, please?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks very much!
>>>>
>>>> Wishing you a lovely summer,
>>>>
>>>> Catherine
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Catherine Bouko
>>>>
>>>> Ghent University
>>>> Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
>>>> Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45
>>>> 9000 Gent
>>>> Belgium
>>>> Bureau: B2.06
>>>> http://research.flw.ugent.be/en/catherine.bouko
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kolina Koltai, PhD
>>> The University of Texas at Austin
>>> School of Information
>>> kolinakoltai.com
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Dr. Stuart W. Shulman
> Founder and CEO, Texifter
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