Reframing Autonomy: My Data, Our Data, and the Question of Human Dignity

Abstract

Recent research argues that in order to become an efficient alternative in the current data economy, individualistic and human-centric data activism—for example, the MyData movement—needs to become more intertwined with social science perspectives that explore the socioeconomic contexts in which the new technologies are eventually embedded. Only in this way can a synthetic and more reflective citizen-centric data activism be formed. This development toward a synthesis of technology and society is already materializing in discussions and practices around data-driven initiatives and infrastructures that move beyond the individual level to think collectively for the social good. These initiatives share an “OurData” approach rather than the “MyData” approach. Emphasis is not on the individual’s right to privacy and mastery over personal data based on human-centric considerations of human dignity, but the framing of the data initiatives starts from the notion that much personal data is fundamentally social and relational in nature and therefore exceeds the individualistic and human-centric perspective at the outset. In this chapter, I argue that the contrast between MyData and OurData reflects not only differences in the social imaginaries underpinning them but also different ways of conceptualizing the basis of human dignity. More specifically, I argue that the “anthropocentric” understanding of the individualistic view of human dignity (My) needs to be complemented with the “relational” understanding of the collective view (Our) to form a synthetic “anthropo-eccentric” view capable of addressing the complex challenges to all data activism posed by constitutive data, that is, data that in some way defines us.