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On Oct. 27, the Ford Foundation kicked off the fourth annual Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Convening at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York. The evening brought together presidents and provosts from PIT-UN member institutions, funders, supporters, and Darren Walker, Ford Foundation president, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, to discuss the state of public interest technology in higher education.
The event featured a panel discussion with Latanya Sweeney, director and founder of Harvard University’s Public Interest Tech Lab, and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen that was moderated by New York Times opinion columnist Charles M. Blow. The lively discussion centered around FBarchive.org, a (not yet launched) groundbreaking website that expands access to the Facebook Files: tens of thousands of photos of a whistleblower’s computer screen exposing that the most senior leaders inside Facebook were well aware of the harms the platform has caused, yet did nothing to adequately address them.
The panelists provided key insights into how the Facebook Files reinforce the grave need for public interest technologists in both public and private sector roles to address the ongoing threat of unchecked technology.
