The most authoritative Māori Data Sovereignty resources and expert commentary including analyses of the latest developments in Māori Data Governance.
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. … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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, … Read more
These peer reviewed Māori AI principles were originally written by Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and should be read with Māori Data Sovereignty Principles 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, … Read more
These principles should be read with Māori Data Sovereignty Principles and 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. … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more