Fernanda Rosa’s research seeks to protect and preserve data for marginalized communities
Every time a smartphone connects to the web, that data is fair game.
People likely aren’t thinking about where that data goes or what borders it crosses.
But according to Fernanda Rosa, assistant professor in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society, it’s a concern everyone should take seriously – especially when it comes to protecting the laws surrounding data in areas where internet options are limited.
“Companies say data is the new oil,” Rosa said of businesses’ eagerness to mine personal information.
“They come and extract data for the sake of profit,” she said. “They monetize things like love, things like caring, and things like friendship for the sake of profits. And when we think about that in terms of Indigenous communities, this becomes an even bigger problem.”
Her research focuses on technology governance, design, and social justice in the Global South, which includes Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia.
Currently, Rosa is seeking solutions with communities in Latin America. She's also in the process of writing a book to better understand the ways that data circulates over the internet through the investigation of the Border Gateway Protocol – a set of guidelines that determine routes for internet data transmission.
“Depending on the route that our data takes, you may have your data circulating in countries you don’t even imagine,” she said. “And then if it is in a country that has surveillance policies, you may have your data being surveilled.”
Data and self-determination
Data sovereignty refers to the laws and regulations regarding the ways that digital data is generated, processed, and stored.
“Where is data sovereignty in a situation when someone you don’t even know is governing your data?” Rosa said.
Recognizing her work in this area, Rosa was named a Just Tech Fellow last year. The fellowship is awarded to individuals who are committed to challenging injustices created by new technologies and finding solutions to advance political, social, and economic rights. Rosa will receive $200,000 over the course of two years as well as other funding opportunities for additional expenses and collaborations.
Rosa has received several prestigious grants and awards for her work on this project and iterations of it. They include a $75,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant last year and an award from the American Sociological Association.
With the funding, Rosa is researching internet infrastructure and data sovereignty among Indigenous Tseltal and Zapoteco communities in Mexico. She said while communities have a right to communication, they should not have to compromise their values to exercise a basic human right.
It’s a struggle she witnessed firsthand in 2017 when she visited the Tseltal territory of Abasolo in Chiapas, Mexico. While there, she saw community members building internet networks from scratch using antennas, routers, and adaptive towers to connect with networks in towns and cities, where internet services are commercialized. And she saw their elation when a U.S.-based satellite internet company made their services available, an issue she wrote about.
More recently, she saw the arrival of a U.S.-based satellite internet company in numerous Indigenous territories in Latin America. But for Rosa, the commercial satellite services raised additional concerns. Suddenly, Indigenous internet access was granted by a foreign company that now had access to Indigenous data.
“Not only the community sovereignty and self-determination is affected,” Rosa said. "Their rules are the rules of sharing and are of being at peace with the earth and the nature around them. Unlike that, these commercial satellites are at the core of environmental problems, generating unprecedented space debris in the Earth's orbit. So that is a mismatch between the values that come with code and infrastructure.”
Through her project, Rosa hopes to help redesign internet interconnectivity technologies to prioritize the values of Indigenous community members, such as through the creation of intranet services, which are private and local communication networks. She plans to work with community members by holding workshops and information gathering sessions to determine what technology means to them and how it should represent their lives.
Pioneer against discrimination
Rosa, originally from Brazil, began working at Virginia Tech in 2021. She was named a Virginia Tech Juneteenth Scholar in 2022 and she used the award to examine how Indigenous communities maintained their well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rosa, in partnership with Virginia Tech's Department of Computer Science, developed a Pathways course called Algorithms and Society, which will begin in the fall. She hopes it will inspire students of all majors, but especially those pursuing a data science degree, to approach their careers with data justice in mind. The class will discuss topics such as discriminative patterns within algorithms.
“These connections between the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and the College of Engineering are truly important to act toward less discrimination in the world,” she said.
Rosa is also engaged in outreach activities, and recently started the Abya Yala (the Americas) Pluriversity initiative. Abya Yala Pluriversity is a network of Indigenous and traditional universities. Its purpose is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between Black and Indigenous individuals so that students, faculty, and staff see the importance of their knowledges and ancestral histories in academia.
The launch was marked by the Abya Yala Pluriversity Week of Science and Technology. Held in early April, the event included discussions and workshops about technology topics and building cellphone networks from scratch. Yunuen Torres Ascencio, who is building Indigenous data networks in her community in Mexico, was a special guest.
Her community of Cherán became self-governing in 2011 to escape violence and incorporate Indigenous customs into its rule. To avoid biased news spreading about the community, residents created forms of communication to tell their own stories. What began as a radio station for people to share their testimonials has evolved into an intranet system where members of the community share information.
“We say that this is a game between the knowledge and the wisdom of our ancestors and the current times that we find ourselves in,” she said.
Hope for the future
Rosa’s Just Tech project is scheduled to wrap up by the end of the fall 2025 semester. Then, Rosa said she will take a look at the next steps.
“I feel like we have hope,” Rosa said. “And the hope is that through respect and listening to Indigenous people, we can build a new way of being in society connected through technologies, but without violating the values of the communities.”
Saul Halfon, associate professor and the chair of Virginia Tech’s Department of Science, Technology, and Society, said Rosa’s work with Indigenous communities to help create and build alternative data infrastructures is pushing the boundaries of scholarship.
“She brings an amazingly collaborative spirit to this work that seeks to break down boundaries between STEM and the humanities, and between Western and Indigenous forms of knowledge and practice,” Halfon said. “It is particularly exciting for me to see the opportunities that Fernanda provides for the students and colleagues in our department as well as the wider university.”
