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8 - Growing Inequality and Risks to Social Rights in Our New Data Economy

from Part II - Causes and Consequences of Economic Inequalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2021

By
Carmel Williams
Edited by
Gillian MacNaughton ,
Diane Frey  and
Catherine Porter
Gillian MacNaughton
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Diane Frey
Affiliation:
San Francisco State University
Catherine Porter
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
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Summary

Since the 1970s our world has changed in irreversible ways; the combination and interdependence of the internet, the neoliberal agenda, and globalization has resulted in a new economy based on data that is owned by global conglomerates. Data (often called “big data”) generated by individuals as they use their social media apps, internet searches, fitness devices, GPS direction services, banking facilities, online purchases, emails, and messages are stored and owned by the companies that own each of those services. These companies on-sell, share, or use the data worldwide for commercial and other purposes, about which individual users of these services have no knowledge. Individuals sign away their rights to ownership of the data when they download the apps or software and click the “I agree” box, thereby granting the owners of the software or app permission to use their data, including personal information and geolocation, for any purposes (Schadt 2012, Phillips 2016).

Type
Chapter
Information
Human Rights and Economic Inequalities , pp. 193 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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