ABSTRACT
In criminological treatments of big data, artificial intelligence and automation, policy debates are traditionally framed as “privacy versus security” or “civil liberties versus anti-terrorism.” Privacy advocates say that our communications can only be secure in a world that enables pervasive encryption; authorities in both police and military roles respond that national security demands a backdoor, or some way of deciphering messages. This chapter complicates the debate by adding a third dimension to the discourse – the relative wealth and privilege of targets of surveillance. The wealthy are often prime beneficiaries of obfuscatory law and technology; the lives of others are all too often an open book. Drawing on critical theory of surveillance and an analysis of international tax evasion, this chapter sketches an egalitarian approach to data policy and governance.
