Hi All, A friendly final reminder of today's book talk, accessible by Zoom (free registration here<https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUoce-hqDIiGtLjzd6PH8FPFNQxqhiPMqmv>). It's worth mentioning that Dr. Kokas's work extensively explores and contextualizes the debate around the proposed TikTok ban that has been in the news for the past week, and so may be of particular interest to students. Dr. Aynne Kokas, Associate Professor of Media Studies, C.K. Yen Chair, and Director of the East Asia Center at the University of Virginia will be speaking on her new book, Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/trafficking-data-9780197620502?cc=us&lang=en#> (Oxford University Press, 2022) here at UMass Amherst. The talk will take today, March 20th from 11am to 12:15pm Eastern and will be livestreamed on Zoom for anyone who is interested (free registration required). The registration link is here<https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUoce-hqDIiGtLjzd6PH8FPFNQxqhiPMqmv> and book details are below. In Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty, Dr. Aynne Kokas looks at how technology firms in the two largest economies in the world, the United States and China, have exploited government policy (and the lack thereof) to gather information on citizens. Kokas argues that US government leadership failures, Silicon Valley's disruption fetish, and Wall Street's addiction to growth have fueled China's technological gold rush. In turn, American complacency yields an unprecedented opportunity for Chinese firms to gather data in the United States and quietly send it back to China, and by extension, to the Chinese government. Drawing on case studies from rapidly growing areas of global media investment like social media apps TikTok, WeChat, and Grindr, and gaming platforms like Fortnite, Trafficking Data explains how China is fast becoming the global leader in internet governance and policy, and thus of the data that defines our public and private lives. This free event is co-sponsored by the UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Journalism Department, the Department of Communication, the School of Public Policy, the Public Interest Technology Initiative, and the Public Engagement Project. All the Best, Josh Braun and Emily West -- Josh Braun, Ph.D. Associate Professor // Journalism Department University of Massachusetts Amherst Mastodon: @josh@sciences.social Distribution Matters series @ The MIT Press https://mitpress.mit.edu/search-result-list/?series=distribution-matters "Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more." William Least Heat-Moon