Abstract
The development of networked, mobile devices has made possible anytime, anywhere access to digital information and communication resources. At the same time, thanks to the interactive capability of these devices, pervasive monitoring goes hand-in-hand with pervasive information and computing technology (PICT). As our ability to share data goes mobile, so too does the ability to track a growing range of information about our activities, our movements, our preferences, behaviour and interests. The ability to collect and sort large amounts of data about people leads to changes in the way monitoring and surveillance works. It also marks the convergence between monitoring in contexts ranging from marketing and political campaigning to policing and security. This chapter considers some of the shifts associated with surveillance in the digitally-enhanced era of so-called “big data,” and explores some of the ethical and social concerns it raises. It argues for the importance of several types of control and accountability measures related to the collection and use of personal information.
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Notes
- 1.
As of this writing, the proposed Communications Data Bill in the UK was still generating controversy, although it looked likely to be passed into law. The published version of the proposed law would not only allow data to be collected, but to be mined – sifted and sorted for emerging patterns of behavior (Burton 2012).
- 2.
The jargon of “ubiquity” seems to have fallen by the wayside, and perhaps the more accurate term is “pervasive computing,” to describe the forms of anywhere, anytime access made possible by portable, networked devices. If there is a difference between the two terms, it is that ubiquitous computing envisioned a multi-chip world in which memory and interactivity were embedded in the physical infrastructure. Pervasive computing, by contrast, allows users to access remote computing resources wherever they go – and, down the road, to add an interactive overlay upon the physical world (through forms of geographic tagging) without necessarily embedding chips throughout that world (see Chap. 5 for more on PICT and geographical information and Chap. 8 for more on potential unintended consequences of pervasive augmented reality).
- 3.
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Andrejevic, M. (2014). Surveillance in the Big Data Era. In: Pimple, K. (eds) Emerging Pervasive Information and Communication Technologies (PICT). Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6833-8_4
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