Resistance Technologies: Moving Beyond Alternative Designs

TL;DR

This paper advocates for 'Resistance Technologies' that prioritize sovereignty and protection from environmental and social harms, emphasizing anti-surveillance tools as essential for sustainable and resilient futures.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Resistance Technologies focused on sovereignty and anti-surveillance, expanding sustainability discourse beyond environmental metrics.

Findings

Anti-surveillance as a foundation for sovereignty

Resistance Technologies address social and environmental harms

Calls for inclusive discourse on core technological values

Abstract

The discourse about sustainable technology has emerged from the acknowledgment of the environmental collapse we are facing. In this paper, we argue that addressing this crisis requires more than the development of sustainable alternatives to current online services or the optimization of resources using various dashboards and AI. Rather, the focus must shift toward designing technologies that protect us from the consequences of the environmental damages. Among these consequences, wars, genocide and new forms of colonialism are perhaps the most significant. We identify "protection" not in terms of military defense as Western States like to argue, but as part of sovereignty. We seek to define the term of "Resistance Technologies" for such technologies, arguing further that anti-surveillance technologies are a foundational component of sovereignty and must be part of future conversations around sustainability. Finally, our paper seeks to open a discourse with the Computing-within-Limits community and beyond, towards defining other essential aspects or concepts of technologies that we see as core values of "Resistance Technology".