Announcing Edgelands' Intercity Digital Pop-up Dialogue: Digital Integrity
Sophie ZermattenAfter popping up in Medellín, Cúcuta, Geneva, and Nairobi, we are now bringing the Edgelands network into an intercity dialogue guided and inspired by the Geneva vote.
Flavia Lozano (Edgelands Institute)
In June 2023, the people of Geneva voted with an overwhelming majority of 94.21% in favor of amending the canton’s Constitution to include the right to digital integrity. It was the first time such a decision was ever made.
The right to digital integrity refers to the protection against the misuse of our data, the right to security in the digital space, the right to live an offline life, and the right to be forgotten.
This is a historic landmark moment that deserves our careful attention.
The Geneva vote highlights that the concerns raised by digital technologies are not merely about the security of our online identity and data but also about how these technologies can impact our overall well-being and the responsibilities that governments should have in mitigating these impacts.
The Edgelands Institute curates conversations about the digitalization of our societies in different cities across the world.
We believe that involving citizens in these conversations is crucial in order to move these discussions forward. Since the Edgelands Institute popped up in Geneva in 2022, we’ve held several roundtable conversations with the general public, which is why we were happy to see the people of Geneva take a pioneer role in digital security.
After popping up in Medellín, Cúcuta, Geneva, and Nairobi, we are now bringing the Edgelands network into an intercity dialogue guided and inspired by the Geneva vote.
These conversations will also provide a platform to further define some aspects of this right, explore its implications in other Edgelands cities and, more broadly, deepen our reflections on the digitalization of security and our collective ability to live together in cities.
How does the digitalization of security impact our daily lives?
What are the benefits of the digital integrity law?
Should it be applied in other cities as well?
How can we collectively decide on the future of our cities?
These are some of the questions we raise in our new program “Digital Integrity and Urban Security: an Intercity Dialogue”. We hope that through these conversations, we can build a safer and more integrated urban space. And this conversation starts now.
