Lightbulbs and ducks: The power of tech platforms to make waste disappear

Abstract

Large technology platform companies have created data centres, filled with banks of data storage and processing equipment to collect, store and process the data created in the last two decades. These consume vast amounts of electricity and emit proportional amounts of heat as waste. This article considers the power of the big technology platforms to direct attention away from these by-products. The interaction of law and power raises novel questions about how to hold power to account. If the law is to effectively respond, it must confront the myriad ways that power is exercised