Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

Archive


  • Financial considerations for Māori and NZ Data Sovereignty

    Financial considerations for Māori and NZ Data Sovereignty

    According to this article the uncertainty with the foreign exchange and the $NZ loosing to the $USA, cloud computing has increased by 14% since September 2024. In addition to the international uncertainly with global events and the need to maintain security and budgets are all creating risks for New Zealand businesses that use cloud computing.…

    Know More

  • You don’t have to pay the Microsoft 365 price increase

    You don’t have to pay the Microsoft 365 price increase

    If you are using Microsoft Office products (most people still do) and not other free and sovereign options you likely received or will another annual increase in subscription fees by 40% this year, in addition to last years similar price rise. ConsumerNZ have a great article exposing that this price increase is actually because your…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Jurisdiction

    Māori Data Jurisdiction

    This research is a follow-on  from my previous article about Data Jurisdiction and why many Māori Data Sovereignty Principles are no longer relevant, in particular this article will look at jurisdiction. The findings of this research show that most Māori (individuals, whānau, hapū, marae, Māori Tech company and Iwi) with a web site, email and…

    Know More

  • Te Ao Māori perspective of Privacy with DNA

    Te Ao Māori perspective of Privacy with DNA

    Many Māori and others have submitted the DNA samples via web sites such as Ancestory.com and 23andMe to ascertain their whakapapa, many without realising the cultural and privacy issues of doing so. Most often, you are giving away your rights to your own DNA that has all of your information about you and your ancestors. From…

    Know More

  • X (Formerly Twitter) is allowing 3rd parties to train AI on its data starting Nov 15

    X (Formerly Twitter) is allowing 3rd parties to train AI on its data starting Nov 15

    Earlier this week X (formerly Twitter) updated its Privacy Policy to indicate that it would allow third-party “collaborators” to train their AI models on X data, unless users opt out. Thanks to TechCrunch who first published the details. If you have already locked down your Twitter Privacy, there appears no change. This is a timely reminder that your posts…

    Know More

  • Demise of the io domain name

    Demise of the io domain name

    The dot io domain name is a common General Top Level Domain Name (GTLD) for many tech companies, but also for some Māori groups in part for the tech abbreviation for input/output but also as it is the name of a disputed Māori deity called Io. The dot io domain is assigned to a country…

    Know More

  • Māori and Iwi investments in NZ data centres

    Māori and Iwi investments in NZ data centres

    In the past month, we saw for the first time, a major Iwi, Ngāti Toa announce their investment into one of New Zealand’s many geographically located data centres, while also a Trans-Tasman Indigenous regional edge datacentre provider Gambarra Kaha announced that they have expanded operations to New Zealand with a sole Māori Director. Both announcements…

    Know More

  • How AI can help Indigenous language revitalisation, and why data sovereignty is important

    How AI can help Indigenous language revitalisation, and why data sovereignty is important

    Using the interview with Michael Running Wolf at https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7290740 , I offer some commentary and key warnings for Māori language that I am already seeing occurring here in Aotearoa New Zealand.   “Indigenous language experts working in computer science say Artificial Intelligence is a useful tool in language revitalization but communities must prioritize the ownership…

    Know More

  • Jurisdictional Māori Data Sovereignty introduction

    Jurisdictional Māori Data Sovereignty introduction

    One of the 6 principals of  Māori Data Sovereignty refers to jurisdictional considerations, or the requirement to store Māori data in New Zealand when appropriate. Jurisdictional considerations for Māori Data should include Māori Data that is tapu (sacred or sensitive) including not limited to: genetic data,  personal health data and other private data about individuals,…

    Know More

  • Governance issues, Māori Data Sovereignty and Privacy Issues with Slack

    Governance issues, Māori Data Sovereignty and Privacy Issues with Slack

    Slack is a cloud-based team communication platform developed by Slack Technologies, which has been owned by Salesforce since 2020. Slack has freemium and paid subscriptions. Slack’s primary userbase is businesses, and has functionalities primarily for businesses. It is also popular among many groups including Māori. Recently and very discreetly Slack announced on their Privacy Principles: Search,…

    Know More

  • 6 Te Tiriti Based Artificial Intelligence Ethical Principles by Karaitiana Taiuru

    6 Te Tiriti Based Artificial Intelligence Ethical Principles by Karaitiana Taiuru

    These peer reviewed principles were originally written by Dr Karaitiana Taiuru, to provide a Māori and Te Tiriti perspective on Artificial Intelligence with Health, complimenting the ‘Principals section’ written by Professor James Maclaurin – Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou | The University of Otago, for inclusion into the collaborative and peer reviewed report “Capturing the…

    Know More

  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi Principles for Robotics

    Te Tiriti o Waitangi Principles for Robotics

    These principles have been adapted to general robotics for both the industry and research to better assist the industry to acknowledge Te Tiriti o Waitangi. If creating robotics for health, then there are nationally agreed Te Tiriti principles for health that should be used in stead. For researchers, these principles can be used as a…

    Know More

  • Is anonymised Māori Data a Taonga?

    Is anonymised Māori Data a Taonga?

    Anonymised Data is a western perspective for data that is anonymous as they human eye can’t see where the data came from, who the data is about and where the data originated from. From A Te Ao Māori (traditional Māori cultural perspective) anonymous Māori Data that originates from Māori Data, then that anonymous data is…

    Know More

  • Is Synthetic Data a Taonga?

    Is Synthetic Data a Taonga?

    This brief post will discuss and analyse if synthetic digital data that is used with Māori Data, is itself Māori Data and therefore a Taonga. It will use traditional Māori customary values and beliefs (tikanga) and Māori Data Sovereignty principles and applying those in an Māori perspective, resulting in a non western perspective explaining if…

    Know More

  • Artificial Intelligence and Mātauranga Sovereignty

    Artificial Intelligence and Mātauranga Sovereignty

    I was honoured to present at the prestigious Gibbon Lectures earlier this year and to be hosted by the School of Computer Science at University of Auckland. I share my thoughts about how we (Māori) are at a crossroads in human evolution, and that AI could be used to decolonise and empower Māori. I discuss how all…

    Know More

  • Te Ao Māori considerations of AI with the dead and personal Data

    Te Ao Māori considerations of AI with the dead and personal Data

    Māori Data Sovereignty is now more crucial than ever, with “Dr. Pratik Desai, a Silicon Valley computer scientist who has founded multiple Artificial Intelligence platforms, boldly predicts that a human being’s “consciousness could be uploaded onto digital devices by the end of the year [2023]”. For my regular readers, you will know I predicted this…

    Know More

  • Google Civil Rights Audit – An opportunity for a Te Tiriti audit

    Google Civil Rights Audit – An opportunity for a Te Tiriti audit

    On Friday (Saturday NZT) Google released a Civil Rights Audit that it had voluntarily contracted an external law firm WilmerHale that examines how its policies and services impact civil rights and made a number of recommendations to address misinformation and hate speech. It is too American centric and doesn’t even appear to consider the Indigenous…

    Know More

  • Indigenous versus Māori Data Sovereignty

    Indigenous versus Māori Data Sovereignty

    This article will introduce the many notions of Indigenous Data and Māori Data Sovereignty and explain the differences. It is becoming common in New Zealand that the terms Indigenous and Māori Data Sovereignty are interchangeably used by Māori Data practitioners and the Crown, removing all Te Tiriti, legal and moral rights to Māori Data and…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty in the Agriculture industry

    Māori Data Sovereignty in the Agriculture industry

    Māori Data Sovereignty with Agriculture Data and how it could assist the Agriculture industry. A perspective piece co authored with myself and my two awesome colleagues Dr Karly Burch and Dr Susanna Finlay-Smits. A real Te Tiriti approach to sharing Māori and Western perspectives for the benefit of those in the Agriculture industry. Realising the promises of agricultural…

    Know More

  • The NZ Supreme Court Judgement and the impacts to Māori Data Sovereignty

    The NZ Supreme Court Judgement and the impacts to Māori Data Sovereignty

    This is an opinion piece as a Tikanga practitioner and Māori Data expert who is not a lawyer and has no formal legal training. The recent Supreme Court judgement recognises Tikanga Māori is common law and applicable in the legal system. This gives further impact and recognition to the legal status of Māori Data Sovereignty…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty Whakataukī

    Māori Data Sovereignty Whakataukī

    The following whakataukī  summarises the whole notion and idea of Māori Data Sovereignty and the importance that Māori Data Sovereignty is a Te Tiriti right not just for Iwi, but for all of Māori society and individuals as noted in WAI 2522. The original intention of the whakataukī was not about Māori Data Sovereignty as…

    Know More

  • ReMāorification origins of Māori Data, Sovereignty and Governance

    ReMāorification origins of Māori Data, Sovereignty and Governance

    This is brief opinion piece uses traditional knowledge to show Māori Data, Māori Data Sovereignty and Māori Data Governance has existed since pre colonisation. The origins are found in mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) and in the natural and physical landscapes all over New Zealand and the Pacific. Māori Data is a living Taonga such as…

    Know More

  • Consumer Guidelines for Māori Non Fungible Tokens

    Consumer Guidelines for Māori Non Fungible Tokens

    As with any new technology there are positives and often more negatives for Māori and other Indigenous Peoples protecting their traditional knowledge from abuse, appropriation and theft. In the short time that Non Fungible Tokens have been created, traded and advertised online there is a large amount of cultural appropriation and stolen images being transformed…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty and Domain Names

    Māori Data Sovereignty and Domain Names

    Can non-Māori can use the New Zealand Domain Name maori.nz? As the primary author of the application that lobbied InternetNZ to create maori.nz domain name in 2000, I say yes. Further information about Māori Data Sovereignty is in Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty. Anyone anywhere in the world can register a maori.nz domain. But, only…

    Know More

  • Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty VERSION 2

    Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty VERSION 2

    Māori Data Sovereignty has evolved over the past 6 years while commercial and government agencies are now seeking solutions and information. This is a compilation of all of the authors writings using only updated information. DEFINITION OF MĀORI DATA Māori as with many other Indigenous Peoples are one with the land and the water. Without…

    Know More

  • Māori Covid immunisation Data to be shared and the  Sovereignty issues

    Māori Covid immunisation Data to be shared and the Sovereignty issues

    The High Court decision that the Ministry of Health must hand over Māori Data to Whānau Ora is a significant and swift stride towards Māori Data Sovereignty that has left Māori and the government exposed. Ideally, the government and academia would have been engaging with Māori groups and Iwi to recognise Māori/hapū/marae/Iwi Data Sovereignty and…

    Know More

  • Marae Data Sovereignty Data Sets

    Marae Data Sovereignty Data Sets

    This article introduces new datasets of Marae names that will form the basis of Marae data sovereignty for database administrators that recognise Marae rights and valuable information to navigate the whole Māori Data Sovereignty landscape. The data sets are available from https://github.com/ktaiuru Introduction Marae/Rūnanga Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests of Marae/Rūnanga…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty Principles – Updated

    Māori Data Sovereignty Principles – Updated

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  These widely recognised principles are from Te Mana Rauranga and have been slightly modified to recognise tikanga Māori and all of Māori societies, modern and traditional and to ensure that the principles are future proofed for…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty Commitment Statements

    Māori Data Sovereignty Commitment Statements

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  To assist organisations to make public statements that both recognise and enact the instruments that protect Māori interests with Māori Data, all organisations should create public commitment statements that are committed to by the whole organisation.…

    Know More

  • Kaitiakitanga Māori Data Sovereignty Licences

    Kaitiakitanga Māori Data Sovereignty Licences

    This article introduces six new licence to protect Māori Data and recognise Māori Data Sovereignty rights today and for the next 1000 years. Māori Data Sovereignty principles are also updated to reflect Māori society and the Social Licence is reviewed as not appropriate for Māori and Indigenous Data.     Citations This article can be…

    Know More

  • Hapū Data Sovereignty Dataset

    Hapū Data Sovereignty Dataset

    A new dataset of Iwi and hapū names that will form the basis of hapū data sovereignty for database administrators allowing hapū to regain sovereignty over their own data in this new society where data is the new currency.   Referencing This document may be referenced as: Karaitiana Taiuru (2021). Explanation and notes of the…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty Consultation Obligations

    Māori Data Sovereignty Consultation Obligations

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  This article is the most recent in a number of Māori Data Sovereignty and AI posts. My previous post is called Māori Data Sovereignty an Updated Definition. Māori Data Sovereignty consultation requires much more than only…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty an Updated Definition

    Māori Data Sovereignty an Updated Definition

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  Over the past four years there has been such a directed focus on Iwi rights with Data held by the Crown that the definition of Māori Data Sovereignty has neglected traditional and modern Māori societal hierarchy…

    Know More

  • Can the Māori Language be colonised if used with AI and other digital technologies?

    Can the Māori Language be colonised if used with AI and other digital technologies?

    This brief article looks at the idea that the Māori language will be colonised if used in speech recognition, machine learning, AI and other linguist technologies. This article makes the argument that the Māori language can not be colonised and that by making such statements will only hinder Māori Peoples and wellbeing. As technology is…

    Know More

  • Māori Cultural considerations with Facial Recognition Technology in New Zealand

    Māori Cultural considerations with Facial Recognition Technology in New Zealand

    The New Zealand Police, Customs, Ministry of Justice, DIA and other government agencies have a wide arsenal of Facial Recognition technologies with little or no regulation or consultation with Māori. This will likely lead to the likelihood of further widespread discrimination and cultural unsafe practices that will directly impact Māori as we have already seen…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty and Associated Legal Instruments

    Māori Data Sovereignty and Associated Legal Instruments

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  A new and inclusive of all Māori people and societies, not just Iwi as has been the status quo since Māori Data Sovereignty was first discussed in 2016 or thereabouts, definitions of Māori Data and Māori…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty and Digital Colonisation

    Māori Data Sovereignty and Digital Colonisation

    Presentation to the Digital Justice – Emerging Technologies, Methods and Research on September 11 2020. Presentation here. Abstract An introduction to Māori and Indigenous Data sovereignty and digital colonisation. The presentation starts with a traditional Māori society view of Data, customary ownership values, Treaty of Waitangi values and Indigenises digital data to show the importance…

    Know More

  • Govt app discriminates against Māori language in another embarrassing ICT lesson

    Govt app discriminates against Māori language in another embarrassing ICT lesson

    Another embarrassing lesson for the ICT and Digital industry when working with the New Zealand government. If you don’t consider Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti with digital projects you could unintentionally discriminate against Māori, Treaty and in this case legislation that protects and enhances the Māori Language. The New Zealand Covid app provided by the Ministry…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty Rights for Well Being

    Māori Data Sovereignty Rights for Well Being

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  In today’s modern society, Māori need to consider the impacts of colonialism upon all aspects of life, including Digital and Māori Data. The definition of Data is taken from “Data is a Taonga” . “Data that…

    Know More

  • Data is a Taonga. A customary Māori perspective

    Data is a Taonga. A customary Māori perspective

    Also see Māori Data is a Taonga Chapter Also of interest and diverse views, an interview in English with myself, Tau Henare and Ngapera Riley discussing Māori Data as a Taonga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57nFcXAycFg  2018 version (original) This paper has been written to fill a void of information about data being a taonga and why there are…

    Know More

  • New web could be Indigenous friendly

    New web could be Indigenous friendly

    Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, is leading the design of a new initiative called Solid. The project aims to radically change the way Web applications work today, resulting in true data ownership as well as improved privacy. Solid could have positive benefits for Indigenous Peoples of the world. The World Wide Web…

    Know More

  • Can te reo Māori be digitally colonised?

    Can te reo Māori be digitally colonised?

    Voice recognition of te Reo Māori and automated Maori translations via a computational device is colonisation and commercialisation no matter if by Māori or by tauiwi. Our traditional stories warn us of such recordings of the voice. Hence, I believe the reason why our learned old people shied away from recordings of the person and…

    Know More

  • Indigenous Peoples access to the new digital Terra Nullius

    Indigenous Peoples access to the new digital Terra Nullius

    This research shows that there is a lack of access to Internet and infrastructure by Indigenous Peoples of Alaska, New Mexico and Hawai’i and proves that the Internet is a digital Terra Nullius where colonizers have systemically obstructed access and denied equitable representation to Sovereign nations of: Alaska, New Mexico and the Indigenous Peoples of…

    Know More

  • Digital colonialism and the hidden issues for Maori today

    Digital colonialism and the hidden issues for Maori today

    One of the most remote Māori communities in Aotearoa gets broadband Internet says Te Karere. I suspect this will have a number of cultural implications that has yet to be considered. Ruatahuna is not unique for this as it has happened numerous times in rural and urban areas by non Māori organisations and government pushing technology into…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty: Utopia or feasible?

    Māori Data Sovereignty: Utopia or feasible?

    Recently I was asked what my long term vision of Māori Data Sovereignty would look like. Interestingly this was asked at a Māori Data Sovereignty hui where: Facebook is used to promote the group, despite Facebook claiming all IP and ownership of anything you share on it 1. By using Facebook, all New Zealand laws…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty: A definition

    Māori Data Sovereignty: A definition

    Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/  Data sovereignty is: The concept that information/Data which has been converted and stored in digital form is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located. A person’s right to control access to,…

    Know More

  • Twitter is the latest digital Indigenous risk

    Twitter is the latest digital Indigenous risk

    Section 5 of the new Twitter Terms of Service state that Twitter users are now bound to giver full worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute any information you tweet. Twitter stops short of claiming any copyright or intellectual property rights…

    Know More

  • Google Doodle of Whaea Dame Whina Cooper

    Google Doodle of Whaea Dame Whina Cooper

    Google Doodle published (in New Zealand only) on Dec 09 2015 Dame Whina Cooper which was a significant cultural step forward raising awareness of Māori land issues. A  definition of a Google Doodle “Doodles are the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of…

    Know More

  • Digital Indigenous Issues – My Ramblings

    Digital Indigenous Issues – My Ramblings

    Here are some of my ramblings of Digital Colonialism and issues of Indigenous knowledge on the Internet. When I have time, i will expand on these more. Digitising  Traditional Knowledge is like mining the earth for precious metals. With every scoop of earth there is a void. Eventually there will be no mana or tapu…

    Know More

  • Māori Data Sovereignty issues

    Māori Data Sovereignty issues

    Free services such as Google, Microsoft Office 365, Facebook, Cloud, web hosting etc, are risking Indigenous Data Sovereignty issues and ownership of their own data and knowledge. Wherever your digital information is stored, it is subject to the laws, or legal jurisdiction, of the country in which it resides. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001,…

    Know More

  • Definition: Digital Colonialism

    Definition: Digital Colonialism

    Digital colonialism deals with the ethics of digitizing Indigenous data and information without fully informed consent. Digital colonialism is the new deployment of a quasi-imperial power over a vast number of people, without their explicit consent, manifested in rules, designs, languages, cultures and belief systems by a vastly dominant power (Renata Avila, 2017).  A new…

    Know More

  • Colonisation of the Internet: Māori Comparative Literature Review

    Colonisation of the Internet: Māori Comparative Literature Review

    Introduction A review and comparison of Māori with Native American Indian rights, based on the award winning research “Uncharted Domains and the New Land Rush: Indigenous Rights to Top-Level Domain”; Miss Lucy Yan, accessed via http://www.law.asu.edu/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=67fmPnuMWEY%3d&tabid=803 . Background information about the author and her research here Yan discusses the colonisation of the Internet Domain Name…

    Know More

  • Māori online content to be archived without permission or consultation

    Māori online content to be archived without permission or consultation

    The National Library is archiving New Zealand web sites without your permission and with little or no consultation with Maori? The project is called New Zealand Web Harvest 2010. It is now seeking comments on past issues that have been raised by mainly the technical community. I see no Maori concerns or consideration. Web Harvest…

    Know More

  • The power of passive online activism

    The power of passive online activism

    After wide spread protest over FaceBook’s new Terms of Use claiming perpetual ownership of all information you place on FaceBook.com, they have reverted their Terms of use as can be seen in their latest updated below. In a recent Mashable poll  56% of users were unhappy with the new Terms of Use. Now if our politicians…

    Know More