The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, McGill University's newly established focal point for critical research, policy activism and public outreach on addressing the democratic harms of emerging media technologies and informing fair and accountable governance systems, is proud to present:

Part II of the 2020 Beaverbrook Public Lecture with acclaimed novelist, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow.

His lecture, “How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism” will build from his recently published book of the same name, and will respond to the current state of surveillance capitalism through a critical analysis of technological and economic monopolies. 

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother. He is also the author How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about conspiracies and monopolies published in full here; and of Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults, a YA graphic novel called In Real Life; and young adult novels like Homeland, Pirate Cinema and Little Brother. His first picture book was Poesy the Monster Slayer (Aug 2020). He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles.

This event is moderated by Gabriella Coleman, Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. 

This public lecture is generously supported by the Beaverbrook Foundation. Foundation president Timothy Aitken is a McGill graduate and grandson of Canadian-born British newspaper magnate and politician Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964). The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy thanks the Beaverbrook Foundation for their support.

Click on the link above to watch the recording of the lecture.