Naslov
Beyond negative externalities and market fixing: privacy from the perspective of critical political economy

Autori
Bilić, Paško

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Beyond Privacy: People, Practices, Politics. Book writing workshop at the University of Copenhagen

Mjesto i datum
Kopenhagen, Danska, 23.03.2023. - 25.03.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Privacy, data, market fixing, negative externalities

Sažetak
Privacy intrusion is a direct consequence of the extraction, analysis and commodification of personal data as population surveillance increasingly shifts from the state(s) to the circuit of capital in digital spaces. However, while protecting privacy is important from the perspective of individual human rights, it cannot simply be resolved through legislation that only targets negative externalities created by data markets, leaving those same markets untouched. The problems of privacy in digital spaces are a far broader issue of the social form of production in which personal data generated through the internet, and auxiliary technical devices, becomes the input for commodification. In other words, the root problem is the social form of production of technological forms instrumentally merged with the personal experiences of their users. While allowing personal expression and flexibility through user-generated content, the technological form also circumscribes the range of experiential possibilities orchestrated by algorithms and conducive to generating profits. Building on recently published work (Bilić, Prug & Žitko, 2021) and using the social-form methodology outlined in New Readings of Marx and Open Marxism, I will argue that privacy abuse is not (only) a normative human-rights issue but also a direct consequence of how capitalism operates and how it captures and commodifies usage data through technological forms. While new regulatory measures are and will be created, they do not challenge the underlying premise of social benefits generated from data markets. They only aim to fix negative externalities generated by data markets and thus have a limited horizon for challenging privacy abuse at the root of its cause.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Informacijske i komunikacijske znanosti, Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA