computer with consent
This strategy looks at the conditions for making an informed choice about computer use. In functional terms, without choice, there cannot be consent, which is why choice and consent are conversations to be held together.
One of the recent objects of attention regarding consent is the terms of service, the long conditions that explain the consequences of using a computer program or product. This example is narrow, but it helps illustrate how consent can become trivialized to the degree that it becomes a mockery. But this example has historical precedent, in the "fine print" of a contract or product or idea.
The purpose of using this strategy is to zoom out further than looking at consent in terms of consumer and product. The intent is to explore our agreement - or disagreement - with moving a range of relationships into the realm of computer use. For example, it is a badly kept secret in government that much of its digital transformation depends on the erosion of civic and resident rights. Consider the following examples regarding the issues of consent in the context of relationships and responsibilities:
Computer use and government procurement
In any number of public procurements of computer tools, governments and public institutions are moving decision-making power, and access to how services are designed and function, into private hands. If the public was asked directly about these decisions, it is unlikely that everyone would agree with them. And without having these conversations, consent is assumed under the mantle of modernization, offering the general public little to no formal recourse for the consequences.
Computer use in getting a job
In applying for jobs, any number of computer programs might be used to review or screen or interview you. If you don't agree to these conditions, you likely remove yourself from being able to get the job.
Computer use in a doctor's office
There is an increase in the types of computer tools that doctors are using to record and synthesize the notes they might take during an appointment with a patient. While much of the conversation about the use of these types of computer programs focuses on data privacy or service improvement, there are other consequences. How does being recorded impact the things that a doctor might say to a patient?
Exploring consent at a macro level opens the field of conversation to include a far larger number of questions that can inform more thoughtful design and consideration of computer use. Talking about consent taps into the reality that many of the paths of computer use that have normalized to date are dependent on a non-consensual culture. This helps bring computer conversations in line with older and deeper societal problems.