Digital Person

Book. The Digital Person. Daniel Solove.

Description

"Daniel Solove suggests that privacy concerns that emerge in contemporary digital culture are not simply a matter of total surveillance by a malevolent overseer; instead, they are a matter of data disclosure to “objective” machines. Each user builds for herself a “digital dossier,” personal data connected to an IP address or username, that can easily be recalled by a machine. For instance, Amazon’s “recommend” feature, or YouTube’s personal statistics or private channels, or even automatic forms, are silently customized through everyday use. In essence, the machine is watching our every move, recording it and then playing it back for us. Solove argues that instead of looking to Orwell’s 1984 as a descriptive metaphor for digital surveillance, it is more accurate to look to Kafka’s The Trial. We are being watched, but by whom and for what reason is unclear, even for those doing the watching. If, in fact, privacy is no longer a matter of fortifying one's person, but controlling the mechanisms by which machine's understand persons, than how can "responsible" governments support citizen privacy while taking advantage of new digital tools?" (remarks from Eric Gordon)