I've benefited in the past from Link Institute feedback.
So I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on my latest attempt to save humankind
from itself. (I'm afraid I was born to windmill-tilt).
On-list or off-list, as you may prefer.
The title and abstract are below, plus a link to the paper itself.
Risks Inherent in The Digitalisation of the Individual:
A Research Agenda
Working Paper at http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/InDigR.html
The digitisation of a considerable amount about the world relevant to business
has given rise to a new phase of 'digitalisation'. This involves a substantial
shift in business models and industrial organisation, such that the
interpretation and management of the world through human perception and
cognition has been to a considerable extent replaced by processes that are
almost entirely dependent on digital data. Digitalisation is being applied by
business enterprises to many entities, including people. In addition to
opportunities, this gives rise to threats to individuals, and risks to people,
society and polity.
A review of the notions of information society, surveillance society and
surveillance capitalism provides a basis for appreciating the nature of what is
referred to here as 'the digital surveillance economy' - a new form of business
model that was initiated by Google at the beginning of the 21st century. This
model is predicated on the acquisition, expropriation and consolidation of very
large volumes of personal data, and its exploitation in order to target
advertisements, manipulate consumer behaviour, and price goods and services at
the highest level that each individual is willing to bear.
In the digital surveillance economy, not only is the consumer converted from
the customer to the product, but consumers' interests have almost no impact on
the process, and are ignored. In the words of the model's architects, users are
'bribed' and 'induced' to make their data available at minimal cost to
marketers. The industrial-era notion of a contract between producer and
consumer is no longer applicable, and the essence of the industrial-era social
contract is undermined.
The process of digitalisation of the individual, and the digital surveillance
economy that this has given rise to, harbour great threats to the interests of
individuals, and to the relationship between corporations, on the one hand, and
society and polity on the other. The new economic wave may prove to be a
tsunami that swamps the social dimension and washes away the last five
centuries' individualism and humanism. Alternatively, institutions may achieve
regulatory adaptation in order to overcome the worst of the negative impacts;
or a breaking-point could be reached and consumers might rebel against
corporate domination. A research framework is suggested, within which the
alternative scenarios can be investigated.
--
Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916 http://about.me/roger.clarke
mailto:[email protected] http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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