Science / Technology

The summer of 2021 in Iran was marked by frequent, dangerous power outages.

Schoolchildren fall through the digital divide.

A public-health emergency requires a degree of monitoring people. All the more reason to be especially vigilant on privacy, argues Nick Dowson.

We got our attention back?

Data-snatching, AI and eye-spy: some of the new technologies undermining migrants’ rights.

Should I delete my Facebook account? Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. Seems like we’re all in need of a New Internationalist perspective. Enter stage: Agony Uncle.

Jacob Ohrvik-Stott from Doteveryone on how to do it.

Exploitation by tech firms is not inevitable, suggests Vanessa Baird.

The high-tech 'snake-oil salesman', gets a grilling.

The backlash against social media titans is in full swing. But are moves to bring them to heel, including new privacy laws, appropriate? Mike Morel investigates.

We’re increasingly relying on social media companies to act like governments and censor dubious content. Jillian York on the failures of this approach – and how to fix it.

So many voices online. Surely that means more diversity and media democracy? Not really, explains Laura Basu.

There is no one magic remedy – but lots of strategies. Vanessa Baird writes.

Aid-by-drone, what’s not to like? Plenty, as Nick Dowson explains.

Hazel Healy investigates the challenges facing 21st century humanitarian action.

If job-killing robots will play a big role in our future, inequality could get turbo-charged. The counter-proposals on the table barely scratch the surface, argues Nick Dowson.

Industrial robots are being put to work on a massive scale in China. Taking the case of electronics giant Foxconn, Jenny Chan considers what an automated future holds in store for human workers.

Robots aren’t likely to replace postal workers in Japan, but they may soon be looking after grandma – or sharing the bed. Christopher Simons explores some of their unique impacts.

We urgently need to slam the brakes on automated violence. Noel Sharkey dispels some myths about the newest arms race. Illustrations by Simon Kneebone.

Think of computer code as a new and powerful accomplice to legal code – the rules by which society finds itself governed. Who gets to enforce it? asks Audrey Watters.