On May 1, CITS co-sponsored two meetings with Roger McNamee, who discussed his recent book ZUCKED: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe. The Silicon Valley investor was an early supporter of Facebook, but has grown fearful of the corporation’s efforts to “hack” users’ attention and create “filter bubbles” leading users to attitude polarization. McNamee’s comments also focused on Google and other tech companies’ efforts at data harvesting and behavioral control, and the exploitation of users as they sell data to the highest bidder without concern for individuals’ right and interests. A panel of CITS faculty led discussion at a scholarly roundtable event May 1 afternoon, with Profs. Cynthia Stohl (social sciences), Jennifer Holt (humanities), and Matthew Turk (engineering) posing questions from a variety of perspectives. McNamee also addressed students and the public at an evening lecture.

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