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based on their profiles, classifications and probabilistic predictions of
their data.
The other side of the coin is use of the same data for many other
purposes: decision making, evaluation and for definition of user's rights,
access, benefits and restrictions. Data practically defines citizen's
position in a society. And from the perspective of surveillance and
censorship, the same data may be utilized to strip citizens from their
rights and benefits or even to destroy them.
It becomes less useful to discuss of censorship and data
surveillance in specific connections, within a certain institution or even
nationally, since the context of data ownership and management has
changed. There is no one Big Brother or surveilling party, but a group of
possible globally and locally networked actors, public-private
partnerships and merging of data from different sources to large data
warehouses.
Information regime and respect for the user
During the short history of internet age, cyberspace has become
colonized by powerful actors and by competing geopolitical and
commercial interests. Censorship is no more limited on publications,
books or articles or specific hot issues and totalitarian countries. Control
on the internet has become as a global, networked and multi-stakeholder
effort which enables third party involvement in data flows and
communications. And ubiquitous environment with it's hidden data
collection and management practices makes it even less transparent
(Karhula, 2008).
In this setting, it becomes unpredictable, who is going to use
citizen's data and for what purpose. There is also a growing public
awareness of conditions of data surveillance; risks of getting undesired
digital profile and possibility of become sanctioned. All these
developments will increase consumers' sense of insecurity and
vulnerability and inhibit them to engage in self-censorship and self-
monitoring to protect themselves. However, many people are not aware
of the multiplicity of agents and algorithms around personal data
collection, storing of their data for future use, possible uses of their data
- and about the dimensions of profitable personal data economy (Boyd
& Crawford, 2012)
A global shift towards personal data driven economy has already
taken place. It has proceeded mainly without public discussion on
citizen's rights to the data related to their own activities or about possible