Video chatting may be a lifeline right now, but we still need a serious public debate over the role of big tech in shaping our collective future. And we’re not getting it from the corporate media.
Silicon Valley titans and their political allies are recasting our past weeks of physical isolation not as a painful necessity to save lives, but as a living laboratory for a permanent — and highly profitable — no-touch future.
It’s a future in which our every move, our every word, our every relationship is trackable, traceable, and data-mineable. Against a harrowing backdrop of mass death, it is being sold to us on the dubious promise that these technologies are the only possible way to pandemic-proof our lives, the indispensable keys to keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe.
As a reader-supported nonprofit, The Intercept has the editorial independence to tackle this new face of disaster capitalism — and the track record of reporting on mass surveillance to cover the uses and abuses of technology with the seriousness they deserve.
But right now, The Intercept is up against a critical fundraising deadline: Our goal is to raise $500,000 by May 31 in order to confidently plan coverage for the remainder of the year.
The Intercept is a rare oasis amid an impoverished journalistic landscape. My colleagues and I are incredibly lucky to be part of a team for which fearless journalism is supported with encouragement, patience, and the resources to do it right.
I know this is only possible because almost 60,000 people like you contribute generously as members of The Intercept, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Obviously not everyone can afford to donate right now — and I’m told that many loyal members have had to cancel their recurring donations. But that means The Intercept is now all the more dependent on those of us who still have the financial means to support the journalism we depend on.
Can you chip in today to help meet our goal?
