ABSTRACT
New forms of data collection—online and offline—make surveillance more common and even its own industry. Surveillance can be by a single actor, such as an employer or government agency. However, surveillance is also the byproduct of the systematic collection, aggregation and use of individual data. Companies that buy and sell consumer data create a destructive demand where their thirst for consumer data pressures consumer-facing firms to collect and sell increasing amounts of information without regard to how the collection breaches privacy expectations. Surveillance is important for the ethics of data and analytics since companies collecting, aggregating, selling, and using consumer data create a negative externality when they contribute to a larger system of surveillance. As our readings will illustrate, surveillance is all about power. Surveillance is the persistent tracking of individuals—tracking that cannot be avoided—to control the surveilled. The readings include David Lyon on surveillance and the panopticon and Julie Cohen on surveillance as different than privacy. The two related cases provided are on location data aggregators and Clearview AI, a facial recognition company.
