Risks inherent in the digital surveillance economy: A research agenda

Abstract

The digitisation of data about the world relevant to business has given rise to a new phase of digitalisation of business itself. The digitisation of data about people has linked with the notions of information society, surveillance society, surveillance state and surveillance capitalism, and given rise to what is referred to in this article as the digital surveillance economy. At the heart of this is a new form of business model that is predicated on the acquisition and consolidation of very large volumes of personal data, and its exploitation to target advertisements, manipulate consumer behaviour, and price goods and services at the highest level that each individual is willing to bear. In the words of the model’s architects, users are ‘bribed’ and ‘induced’ to make their data available at minimal cost to marketers.

The digital surveillance economy harbours serious threats to the interests of individuals, societies and polities. That in turn creates risks for corporations. The new economic wave may prove to be a tsunami that swamps the social dimension and washes away the last five centuries’ individualism and humanism. Alternatively, institutional adaptation might occur, overcoming the worst of the negative impacts; or a breaking-point could be reached and consumers might rebel against corporate domination. A research agenda is proposed, to provide a framework within which alternative scenarios can be investigated.