Abstract
Living in the digital world, we have little choice but to share our personal data with big tech companies. These companies use our data to direct our attention so that they can make money from advertising. In a so-called surveillance society, we stand in an asymmetrical power relationship to these companies (and sometimes governments) and have little to no control over what happens to our data. Our dependence on these asymmetrical relationships is increasing as “big tech” uses the information it gathers about us to cater to our personal habits and desires.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dizikes, P. (2018, March 8). On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories. MIT News. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://news.mit.edu/2018/study-twitter-false-news-travels-faster-true-stories-0308
General Data Protection Regulation. (2018). Retrieved May 11, 2023, from https://gdpr.eu/tag/gdpr/
Google faces Streetview wi-fi snooping action. (2013, September 13). BBC. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24047235
Howard, J. (2017, August 10). What happened to Google’s effort to scan millions of university library books? EdSurge. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-10-what-happened-to-google-s-effort-to-scan-millions-of-university-library-books
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, New York, 16-12-1966. (1966). Overheid.nl. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBV0001017/1979-03-11#Verdrag_2
Investigations of Google Street View. (n.d.). EPIC. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://epic.org/documents/investigations-of-google-street-view/
MacDonald, C. (2007, June 4). Google’s Street View site raises alarm over privacy. The Herald. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12778601.googles-street-view-site-raises-alarm-privacy/
Naughton, J. (2019, January 20). ‘The goal is to automate us’: Welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism. The Guardian. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-google-facebook
Newman, J. (2009, December 11). Google’s Schmidt Roasted for Privacy Comments. PCWorld. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/184446/googles_schmidt_roasted_for_privacy_comments.html
Nieva, R. (2019, December 13). Google Maps has now photographed 10 million miles in Street View. CNet. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/google-maps-has-now-photographed-10-million-miles-in-street-view/#:~:text=On%20Friday%2C%20Google%20revealed%20how,Earth%20more%20than%20400%20times.&text=Since%202007%2C%20Google%20has%20expanded%20its%20Street%20View%20coverage
O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. Crown Publishing Group.
Orlowski, J. (Director). (2020). The social dilemma [Film]. Exposure Labs, Argent Pictures, Agent Pictures, The Space Program.
Palmer, M., & Barber, L. (2010, June 4). Google to hand over intercepted data. Financial Times. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.ft.com/content/db664044-6f43-11df-9f43-00144feabdc0
Serra, R. (1980). Richard Serra: Interviews 1970–1980. Archer Fields Press.
Sherman, E. (2010, March 12). Google struggles with its ‘Do first, ask for forgiveness later’ strategy. CBS News. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-struggles-with-its-do-first-ask-forgiveness-later-strategy/
Veliz, C. (2021). Privacy is power. Why and how you should take Back control of your data. Transworld Publishers Ltd.
Waarom is privacy belangrijk? (n.d.). Dutch Data Protection Authority. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl/over-privacy/waarom-is-privacy-belangrijk
Warren, S. D., & Brandeis, L. D. (1890). The right to privacy. Harvard Law Review, 4(5), 193–220. https://doi.org/10.2307/1321160
Wu, T. (2017). The attention merchants: The epic scramble to get inside our heads. Vintage.
Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: Surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2015.5
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. Profile Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Slegers, R. (2023). Privacy and Surveillance. In: Dubbink, W., Deijl, W.v.d. (eds) Business Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37932-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37932-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-37931-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-37932-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)