Digital self-determination/Digital Self-Determination bibliography

A/66/359 General Assembly Document. (2011)

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: Letter dated 12 September 2011 from the Permanent Representatives of China, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security) Russia, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan called for the international deliberations within the United Nations framework on the basic principles of responsible use of ICTs. The Code insisted on compliance with the UN Charter and universally recognized norms governing international relations protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

Alcantara C. & Dick C., Decolonization in a Digital Age: Cryptocurrencies and Indigenous Self-Determination in Canada, 2017, Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit et Société

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: In order to question the relevance of digital currencies to promote self-determination of indigenous communities, the authors study the case of MazaCoin in Canada.

Contributor: Scherrer, Jean-Baptiste

Alert: FinFisher Changes Tactics to Hook Critics. Access Now Report (2018).

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This report by the NGO Access Now investigates how German surveillance technology is covertly exported to authoritarian regimes. These regimes then use that technology to infiltrate protesters’ cellphones – by creating a replica of the social networking website used to organize the protests – and spy on them. It becomes clear how digital self-determination can also be a question of arms export control of so-called “dual use software”.

Contributor: Christian Thönnes

Adjei, J. K., Adams, S., Mensah, I. K., Tobbin, P. E., Odei-Appiah, S. (2020). "Digital Identity Management on Social Media: Exploring the Factors That Influence Personal Information Disclosure on Social Media", Sustainability. Vol. 12: 9994.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The emergence of social media platforms as a primary medium for societal discourse is increasingly raising digital identity management challenges like information privacy preservation and maintenance of user reputation. This study explored the key factors that influence how users engage on social media platforms and their information disclosure behaviors through the lenses of information privacy and self-determination theories.

Contributor: Coelho, Ana Margarida

Aho, B., & Duffield, R. (2020). Beyond surveillance capitalism: Privacy, regulation and big data in Europe and China. Economy and Society, 49(2), 187–212.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper takes a comparative approach in examining the historical background, key features and implications of two key big data policies: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the European Union and the social credit system (SCS) adopted by China. It argues that each underscores a distinct conceptualization of data and individuals, and represents a concrete governance step taken in response to the proliferation of data surveillance infrastructures and the logic of ‘surveillance capitalism’ put forward by scholar Shosana Zuboff. The paper argues while the E.U. attempts to reactively limit the power of surveillance capitalism with the GDPR, China proactively embraces its logics for further state use, putting Europe and China on contrasting paths of socio-economic development in the age of big data.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso books.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: In one of the most influential scholarly works on nationalism, Benedict Anderson proposes a theory explaining the emergence of nations and nation-states in the 19th and 20th centuries. Anderson argues that “nations” are socially constructed by communities of people. Central to the emergence of national identity is what Anderson describes as “print capitalism.” Print capitalism involves the publication of newspapers, books, and other media in the vernacular language of a region and addressed to the individuals inhabiting said region.

Contributor: Marcone, Zachary

Ávila Pinto, R. (2018). “Digital Sovereignty or Digital Colonialism? New Tensions of Privacy, Security and National Policies.” Sur: International Journal on Human Rights 27, 15-27.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article identifies and characterizes new forms of "digital colonialism" enhanced by governments’ and corporations’ growing collection of personal data. By adopting a human rights framework to analyze the problem, the author describes the ways in which digital colonialism infringes upon privacy rights. It eventually offers a series of policy recommendations on the regional, national, and community levels to restore "digital sovereignty." By drawing on Dan Schiller's work, the author connects digital sovereignty to "democratic self-government."

Contributor: Souza dos Santos, Eraldo

Belli Luca. BRICS Countries to Build Digital Sovereignty. In CyberBRICS: Cybersecurity Regulations in the BRICS Countries. Springer. January 2021.

Type of Source: Secondary

Summary: This article draws attention to digital sovereignty as it affects BRICS nations. By focusing on the challenges of data collection and processing, as well as the digital rights atmosphere of the different countries, Belli shows how interwoven the issues of cybersecurity and internet policy are.

Contributor: Temitayo Olofinlua

Blum-Ross, Livingstone (2017). Sharenting: parent blogging and the boundaries of the digital self,  Popular Communication, 2016, Vol 15 (2), p.110-125

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper investigates the blogger parent’s motivations which involves much relational self-representation and the concerns emerging from sharing of children’s lives in detail. The authors touch upon the very important point ‘transfer of digital self-determination’ which is a kind of digital self separation in terms of autonomy and agency in between children and parents. Besides these issues, the authors also point to the commercial aspects of sharenting, the children’s right to privacy, safety and children data security.

Contributor: Kula, Idil

Bozdag, E., & Van Den Hoven, J. (2015). Breaking the filter bubble: democracy and design. Ethics and information technology, 17(4), 249-265.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The authors review different conceptions of democracy (liberal, deliberative, republican/contestatory, agonistic/inclusive) and the implications of “filter bubbles” (the reduced availability of divergent opinions/realities that we encounter online as a consequence of personalization algorithms) for each of them. They argue that the current set of tools and algorithms that tech designers have adopted to guard against filter bubbles reflect the values upheld by some models of democracy (e.g., liberal democracy’s emphasis on self-determination), but not all models of democracy (e.g., the agonistic model’s call for the inclusion of minorities in the public debate.)

Contributor: Vidal Bustamante, Constanza

Bodó B. Mediated trust: A theoretical framework to address the trustworthiness of technological trust mediators. New Media & Society. July 2020. doi:10.1177/1461444820939922

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article introduces the new theoretical concept of technology-mediated trust to analyze the role of complex techno-social assemblages in trust production and distrust management. It first explains how trust as a fundamental societal value has been undergoing a crisis due to increasing globalization and digitalisation. Then, it focuses on this digital intermediation operating on a planetary scale, which tends to replace the logics of (institutional/interpersonal) trust, with this technologically-mediated trust. The article ends with putting in question the presumptions of automatically trusting these mediators, which perpetuate the myth of achieving objective knowledge through datafication and pure technological tools. The conclusion is that at best, it is impossible to establish the trustworthiness of trust mediators, and that at worst, we have no reason to trust them.

Contributor: Giannopoulou, Alexandra

Budd, B., Midzain-Gobin, L., Gabel, C., & Goodman, N. (2019). Digital Democracy and Self-Determination: Lessons from First Nations in Canada. Digitization & Challenges to Democracy. McMaster University: Institute on Globalisation and the Human Condition, pp. 14-18.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Digital technologies have been known to transform the way in which political and governance issues are dealt with across the globe. This article looks into the ways in which these tools have shaped political mobilisation for the marginalised First Nations in Canada who have suffered through a long history of exclusion and disempowerment. The authors argue that even though these communities have been drawn to online voting in their exercise of digital self-determination and to increase their political participation, yet it must not be seen as a revolutionary panacea but could very well be reinforcing the power hierarchies of the settler-colonial projects. So long as colonial power relations remain with centralising tendencies, technological advent in itself cannot result in transformative change but needs to challenge such reproduction of colonial power.

Contributor: Mushtaq, Samreen

Buitelaar, Hans (2017). Post-mortem privacy and informational self-determination, Ethics and information technology, 2017, Vol.19 (2), p.129-142

Type of Resource: Secondary (Journal Article)

Summary: The article examines if “informational self-determination” has validity in the postmortem context. It explores whether a post-mortem digital presence is entitled to privacy so that ante-mortem individuals can control the data flow of their “digital remains,” such as social network profiles. While European privacy laws do not support this, the author argues that an individual has an interest in protecting information after death, in view of the increasingly networked society and noting the intrinsic value of human dignity.

Contributor: Torres, Mary Rhauline

Buitelaar, JC (2018). Child’s best interest and informational self-determination: what the GDPR can learn from children’s rights. International data privacy law, 2018-11-01, Vol.8 (4), p.293-308

Type of Resource: Secondary (Journal Article)

Summary:  The article suggests that the principle of dynamic self determinism — where as children mature (evolving capacities), they can contribute to the outcome of a decision about their situation, and allows them to revise these decisions made for them — could be a solution to the tension between protecting children and empowering them and allows children to develop their digital identity. In developing the concept of informational privacy for children, the author emphasizes the notion of the best interest of the child. It discusses online privacy protection in view of the CRC and the GDPR: that the CRC’s right to privacy as a right to informational privacy, granting children the “opportunity to experiment in using information in order to develop their own identity,” while the GDPR sets the minimum age of 16 to no longer need parental consent, and the right to be forgotten. On the minimum age (regardless of individual capacities), the paper argues that it is not helpful for children’s self-determinism. Finally, the author suggests the use of the principle of fairness in processing children’s data.

Contributor: Torres, Mary Rhauline

Brkan, M. (2019). Do algorithms rule the world? Algorithmic decision-making and data protection in the framework of the GDPR and beyond, International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 2019, 27, 91-121.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Directive on Data Protection in Criminal Matters in the field of algorithmic data processing, including profiling and automated decision-making in the age of Big Data, and discusses a much-debated question on whether data subjects should be granted with a right to explanation of the automated decision. Also, the author aims to address the further concerns on the scope of transparency of such algorithmic data processing and the manner of presenting this information to the individuals.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Cannataci, J. A. (2008). Lex Personalitatis & technology-driven Law, Script, Volume 5, Issue 1, April 2008.

https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/17704/1/OA%20%20-%20%20Lex%20Personalitatis%20%26%20Technology-driven%20Law.pdf

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article presents a sketch of the international legal landscape in the field of identity, privacy, data protection and more generally, human rights associated with the digital sphere of human existence. The author focuses on formulating a broad concept of the right to personality (“lex personalitatis”) and draws the distinction between the postulated lex personalitatis and the concept of personality rights as understood in many of the Common Law countries. He refers to the seminal decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court establishing the right to informational self-determination, and its consequences for the further developments in the field of rights concerning the position of the individual in the digital space.

Contributore: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Carroll, S. R., Garba, I., Figueroa-Rodríguez, O. L., Holbrook, J., Lovett, R., Materechera, S., Parsons, M., Raseroka, K., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., Rowe, R., Sara, R., Walker, J. D., Anderson, J., & Hudson, M. (2020). The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. Data Science Journal, 19, 43. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-043

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: A review of a series of principles developed by a network of nation-state based Indigenous data sovereignty networks and individuals to protect Indigenous rights and interests in Indigenous data while supporting ethical uses of data. These are the ‘CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance’ (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics), which are people– and purpose-oriented, reflecting the crucial role of data in advancing innovation, governance, and self-determination among Indigenous Peoples.

Contributor: Guarna, Tomás

Chinmayi A. (2021).Facebook’s Faces, Harvard Law Review Forum, 2021 Vol 35 (forthcoming)

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Stating the strains of the Trump Ban, the paper illuminates the way Facebook interacts with states and publics. The recently established Oversight Board and human rights teams are also on stake within the discussion of legitimization of decision making processes of  the platform. Moreover, the author insists that the user profile of such big online content intermediaries shouldn’t be seen as homogenous as there are so many incidents and contradictory moments between the online platforms and media, political parties and identity based groups such as race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. To the extent of those interactions between Facebook and variety of publics, the paper sheds light into the online representation of such marginalized groups /non-influential and weak publics - especially the attitude Facebook had once in the Rohingya genocide.

Contributor: Kula, Idil

Coleman, D. Digital Colonialism: The 21st Century Scramble for Africa through the Extraction and Control of User Data and the Limitations of Data Protection Laws, 24 MICH. J. RACE & L. 417 (2019). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol24/iss2/6

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article emphasises the new scramble for Africa; this time by leading data companies in the world. It raises the questions: what happens in a world where there are lean policies guiding data? By examining the data protection laws in Kenya, the author shows what needs to be done for a policy to protect its people.

Contributor: Temitayo Olofinlua

The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (the Budapest Convention) (2001)

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: The Budapest Convention is arguably the closest multilateral agreement to the potential universal cybertreaty. It was open for signatures on November 23, 2001 and entered into force on July 1, 2004. The treaty is open for signature for the member States of the Council of Europe and for accession by other non-member States. While initiated by a regional organization, it has a potential of becoming a universal instrument. It is the first international treaty dedicated to harmonize member state’s national legislations addressing cybercrimes. The principle objective of the Convention is to harmonize the domestic criminal law on offenses committed via Internet and other networks; to provide authority necessary for the investigation and prosecution of such offences for the national criminal procedural law; and to ensure a timely and effective legal cooperation between member states concerning cybercrime.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

Davis, N. R., Vossoughi, S., & Smith, J. F. (2020). Learning from below: A micro-ethnographic account of children's self-determination as sociopolitical and intellectual action. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 24, 100373.

Type of Resource: Journal Article

Summary: The article provides a conceptualization of self-determination in its collective terms rooted in sociopolitical, cultural and historical genealogy. Specifically, the article defines self-determination as “as contestations and moves to elsewhere that shift activity and dictate future status”. The context of the study is within education, however, it can be applied to other contexts as well.

Contributor: Mawasi, Areej

De Minico, Giovanna. Towards an “Algorithm Constitutional by Design”, in Biolaw, No. 1, 2021. http://rivista.biodiritto.org/ojs/index.php?journal=biolaw&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=757

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: The article is focused on the Internet constitutional rules linked with the algorithmic decision-making: the regulatory model well tailored to the Internet and the constitutional legitimacy of different models. The article advances the discussion on digital self-determination because it makes a strong point in favour of the ‘constitutionalisation of the algorithm’, i.e. the need for new reasonable paradigms able to take into account the visibility and the intelligibility of algorithms as a way to tackle fundamental rights.

Decision on the constitutionality of the 1983 Census Act. German language version: BVerfG, Urteil des Ersten Senats vom 15. Dezember 1983 – 1 BvR 209/83 -, Rn. 1-215. ECLI:DE:BVerfG:1983:rs19831215.1bvr020983. BVerfG, Urteil des Ersten Senats vom 15. Dezember 1983 - 1 BvR 209/83, 1 BvR 484/83, 1 BvR 440/83, 1 BvR 420/83, 1 BvR 362/83, 1 BvR 269/83 - Rn. (1 - 215). http://www.bverfg.de/e/rs19831215_1bvr020983.html. English language version: the German Federal Constitutional Court’s Judgement of 15 December 1983, 1 BvR 209, 269, 362, 420, 484/83 [CODICES]. (Please note that only the German version is authoritative.)

Type of Resource: primary

Summary: This seminal decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court provides the first encounter of the concept of informational self-determination (informationelle Selbstbestimmung), issued in the context of collecting personal information during the 1983 census in Germany. The court established that this right should be construed as "the authority of the individual to decide himself, on the basis of the idea of self-determination, when and within what limits information about his private life should be communicated to others”, and should encompass a wide range of fundamental rights and freedoms, such as e.g. right to privacy and protection of personal data, freedom of speech, right to education, and right to information regarding the public sector. One of the aims of this ruling was to address the existing power and knowledge asymmetries between the individuals, and governmental or corporate bodies in the early days of digital revolution.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Delacroix, S. (2020). Social Media Manipulation, Autonomy and Capabilities. Autonomy and Capabilities. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ?abstract_id=3710786

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Delacroix uses a capability account of autonomy (drawing from Martha Nussbaum, Wilhem von Humboldt, and others) to argue that the manipulative power of social media platforms hinges on its comprehensive scope (“an all-encompassing self-transformation that leaves little or nothing of the non-manipulated self”), aided by the optimization of our online environment to maximize user engagement. Delacroix argues that social media’s optimization drive reduces the diversity of situations and worldviews encountered online, thus undermining our capacity to imagine ourselves as a different person--the transformative aspect of human agency--and therefore also our capacity for “self-realization”.

Contributor: Vidal Bustamante, Constanza

Erichsen, Leon; Prewitt, Matt; & The RadicalxChange Foundation. Solving the Social Dilemma: The Data Freedom Act. https://www.radicalxchange.org/media/blog/solving-the-social-dilemma/; https://www.radicalxchange.org/media/papers/data-freedom-act.pdf

Type of Resource: Secondary; Proposed Data Legislation Draft

Summary: The authors make the case for “data coalitions” as a solution for data privacy and management. They argue that our data shouldn’t be controlled from the top-down by state regulators because they dton’t have perfect knowledge of our data (and therefore can’t always make the right decisions), and we should also not handle our data individually because data is never really “individual”. The authors propose collective bargaining as instrumental to data management: people can spontaneously organize into groups of common interest, bargain with tech companies over their use of their data, and redistribute money and power among all the members of the coalition. The working draft of their Data Freedom Act provides a legal framework to implement data coalitions.

Contributor: Vidal Bustamante, Constanza

Fairfield, Joshua; Engel, Christoph. (2015). Privacy as a Public Good. 65 Duke Law Journal 385-457. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol65/iss3/1

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: In this article, Fairfield and Engel point out how giving consent for others to process one’s personal data, while at first glance strictly personal, is actually an act that can produce unforeseen consequences for others. They observe privacy through the prism of behavioral economics and propose ways for communities to be collectively protective of their data.

Contributor: Thönnes, Christian

Farnell, A. (2018). “Digital Self-Defense: Toward a Humanist Civic Cyber-security Syllabus.” ICICTE 2019 Proceedings, 228-241.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This paper argues for the necessity of a BA-level course on "digital self-defense" whose aim would be to introduce participants to the "technical knowledge necessary to protect citizens amidst an increasingly hostile and complex digital landscape." Different from cybersecurity, digital self-defense would take the human experience with technology seriously beyond the preoccupations of finance and warfare. In this sense, digital self-defense would be, above all, an "everyday-life skill" that could be learned and socially shared. Thinking beyond cybersecurity would make it possible for teachers and students to critically reassess "issues of technological self-determination and freedom.” This course would cover topics such as "the value of data hygiene, anonymity, cryptography, device and code authenticity, offline computing, information scepticism and verification craft."

Contributor: Souza dos Santos, Eraldo

Federal Trade commission, Big Data. A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues, ftc Report, January 2016, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/big-data-tool-inclusion-or-exclusion-understanding-issues/160106bigdata-rpt.pdf

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: The report was written by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “the Commission”) after a public multistakeholder workshop. The report focuses discusses the benefits and risks created by the use of big data analytics; the consumer protection and equal opportunity laws that currently apply to big data; research in the field of big data; and lessons that companies should take from the research. In particular, it advances the discussion because it gives a very basic account of possible (even hidden) causes of exclusion due to big data.

Ferguson, R., Gutberg, J., Schattke, K., Paulin, M., & Jost, N. (2015). Self-determination Theory, Social Media and Charitable Causes: An In-depth Analysis of Autonomous Motivation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(3), 298-307.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Ferguson et.al apply self-determination theory (as theorized by Deci & Ryan) and its understanding of autonomous motivation to determine influences on charitable giving within a social media environment. In the study, participants were exposed to Facebook event pages for charitable causes and then surveyed about whether or not they would engage in certain actions related to supporting the cause. The study concluded that integrated regulation of autonomous motivation is a strong predictor of online and offline charitable support. These findings intend to shed light on the motivational factors influencing online behaviors and engagement.

Contributor: McLauchlin, Hillary

Fischer-Hubner,  S.,  Hoofnagle,  C.,  Krontiris,  I.,  Rannen-berg,  K.,  and  Waidner,  M. (2011).  Online Privacy: Towards  Informational  Self-Determination  on  the  Internet. Manifesto  from Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 11061. Technical  report,  Schloss  Dagstuhl,  Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, Dagstuhl Publishing, Germany.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Existing conceptions of privacy typically incorporate user control as a key component, or indeed describe privacy as a form of user control over information. However, the architecture and development of the Internet have driven individuals to lose control over the collection,use and transfer of their personal data online. Instead, the fundamental value exchange underlying the Internet economy is that services are provided free of charge in return for pervasive use of individuals’ information. This business model remains opaque to many users,who willingly or unwillingly share massive amounts of personal data, with a myriad of parties online.

Contributor: Coelho, Ana Margarida

Floridi, L. (2019). Marketing as Control of Human Interfaces and Its Political Exploitation. Philosophy & Technology, 32:379-388.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: In the article, the interpretation of digital users as interfaces is presented and applied to the marketisation of political communication. It builds on Floridi’s reading of humans as informational organisms, inforgs, living in the infosphere (Floridi, The 4th revolution). Model of human as an interface is presented, which is in relationship with interfacing agents, and interfaced resources, which provide feedback assisting with users’ decisions. The relationships are context-dependent meaning that the role in the model can change. On social media, a user can be an interface between interfacing agent and interfaced resource, users’ data. The user-centric rhetoric is outlined as means of concealing the relationship between interfacing agents and resources as enabled by human interface. Then, politics as marketisation is discussed in marketisation’s move towards the sphere of politics. The article is concluded with 3 potential outcomes of marketisation of politics: collapse by itself, by external forces, and reform.

Contributor: Kalvaityte, Martyna

Galič, M., Timan, T. & Koops, BJ. Bentham, Deleuze and Beyond: An Overview of Surveillance Theories from the Panopticon to Participation. Philos. Technol. 30, 9–37 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0219-1.

Type of Resource: Secondary Source

Summary: The article situates the notion of surveillance chronologically. It begins from the primary theorization of Bentham and Foucault of the panopticon; Deleuze, Haggerty, Ericson, and Zuboff criticism and de-territorialization of surveillance; then, the focalization on data as a means of surveillance with various theorizations.

Contributor: Benharrousse, Rachid

Graham, M., Hjorth, I., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2017). “Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods.” Transfer, Vol 23 (2) 135 - 162. DOI: 10.1177/1024258916687250 journals.sagepub.com/home/trs

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: This article speaks to how digital labour impacts the lives and livelihoods of workers in the Global South. It highlights major concerns for workers of the digital economy including the bargaining power of workers, economic inclusion and worker autonomy. It lays out several strategies to reflect in relation to work autonomy in the digital sphere such as regulatory strategies and democratic control of online labour platforms to improve working conditions. As major companies recruit low-cost workers from the Global South to keep their systems running, digital platforms are transforming into algorithmic managers that both entrench deep digital divides in the Global South and erase the voices of workers in the digital economy. How can we think about the future of digital platform labour to not only include diverse voices but most importantly provide workplace autonomy for the welfare of workers.

Contributor: Nanditha Narayanamoorthy

Hartzog, W. (2018). Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the  Design of New Technologies. Harvard University Press, 2018.

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact the design of digital infrastructure mediating the interactions of humans around the world has on the fundamental human rights, such as the right to informational and decisional privacy. The author aims at addressing the current situation of the users who are forced to interact with technologies designed to undermine their digital autonomy and proposing a novel approach to privacy and data protection regulations, which should consider the seminal role of the design of software and hardware in reflecting the desired societal values, as well as protecting the users against manipulation and exploitation. The author criticizes digital determinism and tech evangelism approach, and instead he presents a stance approving more stringent regulation of the digital products themselves, not the behavior of its users. This work also emphasizes the core meaning of trust between the individuals and more powerful entities, such as digital corporations and governmental bodies.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Helbing, D., Frey, B. S., Gigerenzer, G., Hafen, E., Hagner, M., Hofstetter, Y., & Zwitter, A. (2019). Will democracy survive big data and artificial intelligence?. In Towards digital enlightenment (pp. 73-98). Springer, Cham.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Our world is radically changing with the digital revolution. We are producing more data than ever before. Everything is getting smarter and artificial intelligence technologies keep developing. All this has radical economic consequences and it is crucial to sound the alarm in order to anticipate abuses.

Contributor: Mbaye, Derguene

Herian, R. (2020) Blockchain, GDPR, and fantasies of data sovereignty, Law, Innovation and Technology, 12:1, 156-174, DOI:10.1080/17579961.2020.1727094

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The article critically approaches the purported goal of decentralised blockchains in helping individual users achieve data sovereignty. The author explores this sovereignty objective within what he calls a ‘data dysphoria’ environment that has emerged, calling for taking (back) control of one’s personal data. Herian situates this regulatory technology within its socio-economic and political context, i.e. its neoliberal capitalist ideologies, and points out that it has “nothing to do  with or no interest in reconciliation of the democratic order in terms of data sovereignty”. He concludes by critiquing efforts to overly ‘rensponsibilise’ the individual (user/citizen/data subject), as “single embodiments and digitalised economic avatars (...) whose unwavering belief belongs to and on the blockchain”.

Contributor: Giannopoulou, Alexandra

Hicks, J. (2019). “Digital colonialism: Why some countries want to take control of their people's data from big tech.” The Conversation. DOI: https://theconversation.com/digital-colonialism-why-some-countries-want-to-take-control-of-their-peoples-data-from-big-tech-123048

Type of Source:  Tertiary (Unsure)

Summary:  This article speaks to the growing rift between the expansion of new sources of data by massive corporate giants like Facebook and the location of data storage that stems from data/digital colonization. Developing countries in the Global South, including India, Indonesia and South Africa and their refusal to sign the international declaration of data flows demonstrates their desire to maintain autonomy of data generated by their citizens.

Contributor: Nanditha Narayanamoorthy

Hooghiemstra, T. (2019). Informational self-determination, digital health and new features of data protection. European Data Protection Law Review (EDPL), 5(2), 160-174.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The article examines what “informational self-determination” means in the context of technological developments in the health sector, particularly for future personalized digital health environments. The author defines informational self-determination as “the ability of a person to determine, in principle, the extent to which their personal data are used and further disclosed, with a view to achieving a self determined life.” He examines regulation in the EU on the responsibilities of the data controller, such as the right of access, right to rectification, and the right to data portability. He concludes that the right to data portability contributes to informational self-determination, recommends exploration of standardization through data protection by design, and recommends two points for regulation of data controllers: the need for patient confidentiality and right to refuse to give evidence, and ban on commercial exploitation of health data.

Contributor: Torres, Mary Rhauline

Hornung, G., Schnabel, Ch. (2009). Data protection in Germany I: The population census decision and the right to informational self-determination. Computer Law and Security Report, Vol 25, Issue 1, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2008.11.002

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article examines the groundbreaking popular census decision issued by the German Federal Constitutional Court in 1983 where the concept of the informational self-determination has been established. It outlines its underpinnings and its role in understanding privacy and data protection laws both in the continental and common law systems.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Hummel, P., Braun, M., & Dabrock, P. (2020). Own Data? Ethical Reflections on Data Ownership. Philosophy & Technology.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper analyzes the different notions of data ownership and its contested legal dimensions, and argues that all such dimensions of data ownership are vital to informational self-determination — ‘the ability of data subjects to shape how datafication and data-driven analytics affect their lives, to safeguard a personal sphere from others, and to weave informational ties with their environment’.

Contributor Ng, Carmen

Hummel, P., Braun, M., Tretter, M., Dabrock, P. (2021). Data sovereignty: A review. Big Data + Society. January-June: 1-17.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: New data-driven technologies yield benefits and potentials, but also confront different agents and stakeholders with challenges in retaining control over their data. Data sovereignty alludes to a nuanced mixture of normative concepts such as inclusive deliberation and recognition of the fundamental rights of data subjects.

Contributor: Coelho, Ana Margarida

Internet Governance Forum. Promoting Digital Self-Determination (2020). https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/index.php?q=filedepot_download/10271/2243.

Type of Resource: Secondary Source

Summary: “The Swiss network “Digital Self-Determination” includes representatives from the Swiss Federal Administration, academia, civil society and the private sector. The network was set up in response to the action plan for the Federal Council's 'Digital Switzerland' strategy of September 2018.” Their definition of digital self-determination focuses on building trustworthy, decentralized, and democratic digital spaces that cater to individuals’ needs and that equip them with the knowledge and tools required to act as empowered citizens who can make their own decisions and reap the benefits of “datafication”. They propose 4 basic principles for digital self-determination: 1) transparency and trust, 2) control and self-determined data sharing, 3) user-oriented data spaces, 4) decentralization and proximity to citizens.

Contributor: Vidal Bustamante, Constanza

Jacobi, E. (2020). Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Southeast Asia, with Pyrou Chung. [online] Digital Democracy.

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: This interview by Digital Democracy discusses the topic of Indigenous Data Governance/Sovereignty with Pyrou Chung of the Open Development Initiative (ODI), mainly around the case of indigenous communities in the Mekong region, which intersects with Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Chung highlights how indigenous data sovereignty in the Mekong region has ‘the potential to allow Indigenous communities to have digital identities that could be self-governed’.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. (2020). Kashmir’s Internet Siege: An ongoing assault on digital rights. Srinagar. https://jkccs.net/report-kashmirs-internet-siege/

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The access to digital technologies is seen in the context of human rights. However, in areas mired with an armed conflict, the digital space witnesses violations as a continuity of the general human rights violations. The JKCCS report uses the case of Kashmir to highlight consequences of the digital siege in Kashmir and how it amounts to violation of digital rights and human rights overall. The report maps the impact of internet shutdowns on livelihoods, health, education, justice, freedom of speech as well as social participation. It argues that the counter-insurgency grid in Kashmir, together with military intelligence units, indulge in monitoring and surveillance, with an absolute lack of transparency, that hampers digital rights that are already obstructed by frequent shutdowns. It refers to this architecture of control and regulation as a system of digital apartheid where Kashmiris as a whole are deprived from participating in the digital world.

Contributor: Mushtaq, Samreen

Japan Science and Technology Agency (2019). Working Group 1 Expanding human potential toward a society in which everyone can pursue their dreams Initiative Report. [online]

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: In 2019, the Japanese government proposed the vision of ‘Society 5.0’ as a human-centric, ‘super-smart society’ that ensures sustainability and enables people with diverse backgrounds and values to pursue diverse lifestyles by integrating cyber and physical space. Under this vision, the government launched a ‘Moonshot R&D Program’ which sets ambitious goals of using frontier technologies. The first goal, detailed in this report, aims to ‘expand human potential’ by freeing individuals ‘from the limitations of the body, brain, space and time’ by 2050 through cybernetic avatars technologies.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Korzak, Elena. (2017). ). UN GGE on Cybersecurity: The End of an Era? The Diplomat.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The Groups of Governmental Experts (GGEs) have examined the existing and potential threats from the cyber-sphere and possible cooperative measures to address them. Elena Korzak has followed the progress done by GGE in their attempt to come up with the regulation framework in the digital domain.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

Krahn B., Rietz C. (2018) Consumers’ Digital Self-Determination: Everything Under Control?. In Linnhoff-Popien C., Schneider R., Zaddach M. (eds) Digital Marketplaces Unleashed. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49275-8_7

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article refers to the theoretical framework provided by Mertz et al. in their report on digital self-determination (see Mertz, M., Jannes, M., Schlomann, A., Manderscheid, E., Rietz, C., Woopen, C. (2016). Digitale Selbstbestimmung. Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (CERES). Cologne.) and brings more in-depth examination on its determinants and components in the light of consumers’ behavior, their everyday experience and preferences regarding exercising digital autonomy and data sovereignty. It aims at providing a more vertical view of digital self-determination and seeks to address the need of consumer-centered adaptations in the existing business models, as well as to provide the ground for the future policy-steering consideration.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Keller, P., Tarkowski, A., Bloemen, S. and Blijden, J. (2018). Principle: Enable Self-Determination. [online] A Shared Digital Europe.

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: Shared Digital Europe is an initiative advocating for a new vision of Europe’s digital society, one that goes beyond a market-focused ‘digital single market’ and serves its public by allowing culture, innovation, privacy and civic debate to flourish. The group identifies four principles, one being ‘Enable Self-Determination’, which it describes as ‘the right to privacy and the need for more democratic models of data governance and algorithmic transparency’.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Krishen, A., Berezan, O., Agarwal, S., Kachroo, P., & Raschke, R. (2021). The Digital Self and Virtual Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Journal of Business Research, 124, 254-263.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This comparative study evaluates how individuals in the U.S. and Spain derive satisfaction from social media based on self-determination theory (emphasizing the role of competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Analyzing survey data, Krishen et. al found that accurate/realistic self-presentation online (associated with autonomy) was not related to long term satisfaction and that disingenuous self-presentation may even elicit short-term satisfaction. However, relatedness and competence were identified as the most important drivers of satisfaction with social media use.

Contributor: McLauchlin, Hillary

Kukutai. T & taylor. J. (2016). Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda. Australian National University Press, Canberra.

Type of Source:  Primary

Summary: This book argues that indigeneous communities should be able to control and manage their data and information, and secure their own rights on digital platforms. The authors speak to indigenous identity, governance and development in national and international contexts in relation to data ownership. This book introduces the reader to the concept of indigenous self-determination, data-governance, and asks how we can re-imagine digital platforms with rights and ownership of marginalized communities in mind.

Contributor: Nanditha Narayanamoorthy

Kwet, M. (2020). “People’s Tech for People’s Power: A Guide To Digital Self-Defense & Empowerment.” Right2Know Campaign.

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: This 88-page guide aims to help "empower individuals and societies to control their own digital experiences" by equipping them with the practical information necessary to protect themselves from government and corporate "spying" and "surveillance." This self-protection is conceptualized by the author as a form of "digital self-defense." The author discusses a variety of themes that are of interest to scholars and practitioners working on issues pertaining to digital self-determination, such as digital colonialism, technological empowerment, and the relationship between autonomy and privacy. In their plea for a "digital socialism," the author draws on Zwelakhe Sisulu's reflections on the struggle against apartheid and neocolonialist education: “[w]e are fighting for the right to self-determination in the education sphere as in all other spheres (…) It has become a struggle of the whole community with the involvement of all sections of the community” (“People’s Education for People’s Power,” 1986). For the guide's author, digital socialism presupposes a similar kind of community self-determination: the collective creation of "a democratic, commons-based digital ecosystem directly owned and controlled by the people."

Contributor: Souza dos Santos, Eraldo

Lehner, F., & Dzepina, A. (2018). Information Privacy in a Digitalized World: Private Issue or Public Matter?. In The Impact of Digitalization in the Workplace (pp. 183-195). Springer, Cham.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: As the world continues to be digitized, it becomes important to regulate the transfer and use of personal data by businesses to prevent misuse. At the beginning, This was more a legal issue than a technical or social challenge since the use of computers was more or less restricted to firms and governmental institutions. In addition, computing capacities were much lower than today and were rather restricted. The general goal was then to define the field of operation and clarify from a legal perspective what is allowed.

Contributor: Mbaye, Derguene

Lepore, J. (2020). IF THEN: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future. New York: Liveright.

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: This work uncovers the history of the Simulmatics Corporation, which is believed to be one of the first companies to implement predictive analytics and profiling on the mass scale. This story shows the dawn of behavioral marketing and dataveillance which has dominated the world several decades later. It outlines the urge of take decisive actions in defense of democracy, civic integrity and human dignity, and persuades to take a critical look at the consequences of functioning in a tech-saturated world where digital corporations are powerful enough to undermine democratic institutions and the social fabric forming the basis of the human existence to this day.

Contributore: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Lin, Y., Tai L., Wang, W., Zhang T. (2014). Understanding user motivation for evaluating online content: a self-determination theory perspective, Behaviour and Information Technology, 2014, Vol (34), p. 479-491

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper investigates psychological motivations and the satisfaction of needs behind the online content evaluation. It discusses the interactions between users’ autonomy, relatedness and competence in terms of self-determination theory (SDT)  and presents the layers of digitally constructed identities and online involvement of digitally represented group/community members.

Contributor: Kula, Idil

Manokha. I.(2019). “Facial Analysis AI is being used in job interviews - it will reinforce inequality.” The Conversation. DOI: https://theconversation.com/facial-analysis-ai-is-being-used-in-job-interviews-it-will-probably-reinforce-inequality-124790

Type of Source:  Tertiary

Summary:  As emotion recognition systems gain popularity, companies like Cognito, Afectiva and HireVue have introduced emotional AI systems to make decisions on hiring practices. Emotion is an ambiguous and highly feminized concept. Should emotion (that cannot be controlled) be used by facial recognition technologies, and should we allow companies to collect information using emotion algorithms to make decisions that directly or indirectly impact marginalized communities?

Contributor: Nanditha Narayanamoorthy

Mateescu. A, & Nguyen. A. (2019). “Algorithmic Management in the Workplace.” Data & Society. DOI: https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DS_Algorithmic_Management_Explainer.pdf

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: This article indirectly discusses the concept of self-determination through the discussion of algorithmic management of workforces. AI systems determine how companies manage their employees through quantifiable algorithmic metrics and performance evaluations to rate, rank and monitor employees, and manage and surveil workforces. Companies such as Uber. Lyft and Amazon surveil and control their employees using algorithmic systems by assigning, optimizing, evaluating and tracking worker data. This article can start a discussion on the right to self-determination of workers in the digital industry.

Contributor: Nanditha Narayanamoorthy

V. Mayer-Schonberger – K. Cukier, Big Data, Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt Publishing Company, 2013.

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: The book addresses big data, by explaining how they are used to make data-driven decision; namely, it addresses the techniques of data mining, highlighting the advantages and risks of such predictive analysis. It advances the discussion because it provides a clear explanation of a technically difficult phenomenon.

Contributor: Maria Francesca De Tullio

McMahon, R. (2013). Digital self-determination: Aboriginal peoples and the network society in Canada and the US (Doctoral dissertation, Communication, Art & Technology: School of Communication Simon Fraser University).

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Indigenous communities in the US and Canada are more likely to lack proper access to broadband internet service. The central governments of both Canada and the US have policies in place to extend access to broadband in rural and indigenous areas. However, only the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has recognized tribal sovereignty and established a framework for “government to government” relations with indigenous nations in the context of broadband expansion. While imperfect, the American system is ahead of its Canadian counterpart which does not yet formally define a “government to government” relationship with First Nations peoples in the extension of broadband.

Contributor: Marcone, Zachary

Mertz, M., Jannes, M., Schlomann, A., Manderscheid, E., Rietz, C., Woopen, C. (2016). Digitale Selbstbestimmung. Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (CERES). Cologne. https://ceres.uni-koeln.de/en/research/projects/digital-self-determination/

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of digital self-determination. The presented study was funded by the Deutsche Telekom AG and aimed at examining the underpinnings of the notion of digital self-determination through the use of normative and empirical methods. The authors have undertaken an explorative literature search in the aim of devising this normative concept, followed by a survey questionnaire applied to a representative sample of the German population. This analysis proposes the basic components and determinants of the digital self-determination which should be further examined in the more in-depth research.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Mittelstadt, Brett. (2017). From Individual to Group Privacy in Big Data Analytics. Philos. Technol. (2017) 30:475–494. DOI 10.1007/s13347-017-0253-7

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: In this article, Mittelstadt explores how new forms of predictive analytics challenge us to rethink our approach to privacy. In referencing, Floridi’s concept of inviolate group personalities, he makes first steps towards a more collective approach to privacy and informational self-determination.

Contributor: Thönnes, Christian

Neslihan A., Pekince, P.(2018), Children’s Perspective on the Right of Self-determination, International Electronic journal of Elementary Education(IEJEE), 2018, Vol 10(4), p 431-439.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper inspects the intersecting of the decision making processes between parent & the children and the children’s right to self-determination. Collecting data from  participants varies on age and using snowball sampling, the research draws a conclusion that children are not fully in control of decisions which  are not ‘so trivial’ and that are important for their lives. Not having a say in the decision processes poses risks on children's identities and the sense of self that are being under construction. Potential consequences of this absence of autonomy and agency will appear online and offline realms of life. (my take )

Contributor: Kula, Idil

Nyabola, N. “Politics, Predators and Profit: Ethnicity, Hate Speech and the Threat of Digital Colonialism” in Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics How the Internet Era is Transforming Politics in Kenya. Zed Books. 2018.

Type of Source: Secondary

Summary:  In this article Nanjala shows how external fingers can use the internet to pull the strings of African politics from the outside through the manipulation of political messaging. She also draws attention to the significance of platform governance, especially during elections.

Contributor:Temitayo Olofinlua

O’Shea, L. (2019). We Need Digital Self-Determination, Not Just Privacy. In Future histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune can teach us about digital technology. Verso.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: An essay that argues that digital privacy is limited as it just concerns secrecy and anonymity, but this does little to transform the power structures underlying technology. While privacy is valuable, it is not sufficient because our social interactions require to cede privacy and we constantly engage in that tradeoff. The author argues that decentralization is an effective mechanism to achieve digital self-determination. It also engages with platform governance, arguing platforms need to be designed to avoid trolling and harassment against women. It suggests that “perhaps it's time for public ownership” of digital platforms.

Contributor:Guarna, Tomás

Pohle, J & Thiel, T. 2020. Digital Sovereignty. Internet Policy Review. 9(4): 1-19.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: A review article that traces the development of political discourses surrounding the concept of digital sovereignty. The concept has now evolved to a multi-faceted concept that incorporates the digital self-determination for states, corporations and individuals. Digital self-determination for states revolves around the debate on whether states should control and regulate their own digital infrastructure. Digital self-determination for corporations involves the discussion of “digital colonialism”, where Western technology corporations dominate the digital economy in the Global South. Digital self-determination for individuals revolves around the question of the protection of consumer and individual rights in the use of digital tools.

Contributor:Chan, Kyle

Rainie, S., Schultz, J., Briggs, E., Riggs, P., & Palmanteer-Holder, N. (2017). Data as a Strategic Resource: Self-determination, Governance, and the Data Challenge for Indigenous Nations in the United States. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2017.8.2.1

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Two case studies of Indigenous communities (the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) conducted strategic engagement with data (create locally and culturally relevant data for decision making) to enhance self-determination, thereby benefiting tribal sovereignty and governance. Argues that data about Indigenous populations in the United States are inconsistent and irrelevant. Indigenous Peoples’ mistrust the government’s collection of data but depend on it to inform decision making. Reliance on data that do not reflect tribal needs, priorities, and self-conceptions threatens tribal self-determination.

Contributor: Guarna, Tomás

Ranking Digital Rights. (2020, June). 2020 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index Research Indicators.

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: The Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index evaluates the world’s most powerful digital platforms and telecommunications companies on how they perform on commitments about international human rights standards, freedom of expression and privacy. The 2020 RDR Index evaluated 26 firms using 58 indicators.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Rouvroy, A., Poullet, Y. (2009). The right to informational self-determination and the value of self-development: reassessing the importance of privacy for democracy. In Reinventing Data Protection: Proceedings of the International Conference (Brussels, 12-13 October 2007) (pp. 45-76). Springer. http://www.crid.be/pdf/public/6233.pdf

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This paper provides an analysis of the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 1983 regarding the popular census act, and its importance for the establishment and understanding of the right to informational self-determination. The authors focus on the importance of re-anchoring the rights to privacy and data protection in the fundamental ethical and political values, as well as fundamental constitutional rights, and embrace the potential of the concept of informational self-determination to address the progressing objectification of the individuals. They also underline the importance of noticing the collective aspects of the issues associated with privacy and data protection seen as social-structural tools for preserving democratic societies from exploitation and enslavement. This paper refers to the most fundamental concepts of dignity and autonomy and postulates the vision of privacy as a bidirectional principle fostering the autonomic capabilities of the data subjects which are essential both on the individual and societal level.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Schreurs, K., A. Quan-Haase, & Martin, K (2017). Problematizing the Digital Literacy Paradox in the Context of Older Adults’ ICT Use: Aging, Media Discourse, and Self-Determination. Canadian Journal of Communication, 42(2): 359-377.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The article centers on the digital literacy skills of older adults (60-plus) and provides a framework illustrating how their digital literacy depends on experience, all of which is influenced by media discourse. The interviews and surveys are conducted with older adults illustrating the importance of support in increasing their digital literacy skills. Self-determination is read in terms of adults’ technology use.

Contributor: Kalvaityte, Martyna

Singleton, G., Rola-Rubzen, M. F., Muir, K., Muir, D., & McGregor, M. (2009). Youth empowerment and information and communication technologies: A case study of a remote Australian Aboriginal community. GeoJournal, 74(5), 403-413.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The article discusses a case of using technologies within an Australian Aboriginal community as an empowering tool. Such usage shifts discussion from “digital gap” discourse to identify the creative ways Aboriginal young people share about their culture. The article uses a participatory methodological approach in doing these activities as a way of engaging young people in the process.

Skosyreva, N., Kolesnik, M. (2020). Digital self-determination in the context of economy digitalization. Revista Inclusiones Vol: 7 num Especial (2020): 321-327.

Type of Resource: Not sure

Summary: A modern person is a changing person in the changing world, who should rapidly and continuously adapt to a new reality, impregnated with digital communications and relations. Under such conditions, it is possible to raise the issue about transformation of human capital into digital capital. This article analyzes the concept of digital capital used for substantiation of necessity of new consideration of personality, which assumes market-related and intellectual approach, where personality and profession become both a brand, a product and an instrument, which allows talking about close connection between personal and professional self-determination.

Contributor: Coelho, Ana Margarida

Solove D.J., Privacy Self-Management and the Consent Dilemma, in Harvard Law Review, vol. 126, 2013, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2171018.

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: The current regulatory approach for protecting privacy involves a “privacy self-management”, allowing everyone to decide over their data by evaluating the costs and benefits of the collection, use, or disclosure of their information. People’s consent legitimizes nearly any form of collection, use, and disclosure of personal data. The author considers this self-management essential, but also thinks that this is not enough to guarantee self-determination, since this system has multiple points of failure (e.g. quantity of data processors, unawareness, disempowerment…).

Suja, J V. (2015). ‘e-Colonialism’ (Impact on Local Cultures). International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, 3(28), 1-3.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Theories such as 'e-Colonialism' and 'Electronic Colonialism' have addressed how whiteness permeates technologies such as the Internet, focussing on how ‘mass media are leading to a new concept of empire’ as well as investigate the ‘impact and control of the mind’ (Suja 2015, p. 1). The paper, as well as the concept of digital colonialism, offers counterpoints to studying and considering the emancipatory nature of the Internet as an arena for digital self determination. By understanding digital technologies as ones that can block self determination, we can further understand the strength of online communities to co-opt digital tools and techniques to champion liberation.

Contributor: Ali, Kawsar

Suter, V. (2020). Algorithmic Panopticon: State Surveillance and Transparency in China’s Social Credit System. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 1349, 42–59.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The paper assesses how China’s social credit system (SCS), a connected network of systems held together by a common ideology and state oversight, condition the connection between the government and citizens. Based on Foucault’s model of the panopticon, the study examines the directional features of transparency, transparency as a social norm and transparency as social control in the case of SCS, altogether generating implications on the ‘practices of the self’ as a concept raised by Foucault.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (2013). NATO Cyber Defense Center of Excellence

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: An outstanding work of Legal and Technology expert team on norms, regulation and standards in cyberspace.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations (2017). NATO Cyber Defense Center of Excellence

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: An outstanding work of the Legal and Technology expert team on norms, regulation and standards in cyberspace. It is worth noticing that the focus of the Tallinn manual expert team has shifted from the Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare to Law Applicable to Cyber Operations between the two editions. That indicates the shift in trends of cyber activities as the authors applied their collective experience in an attempt to clarify some of the issues, with the strong emphasis on non-state actors.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

Tischbirek,  Alexander. (2019). Artificial Intelligence and Discrimination: Discriminating Against Discriminatory Systems. In: Wischmeyer, Thomas; Rademacher, Timo, Regulating Artificial Intelligence, p.103-121

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: Alexander Tischbirek eloquently highlights the intersections and interdependencies of antidiscrimination and data protection law. In so doing, he traces what can cause algorithms to be discriminatory and even shows that in some constellations, data protection can be a hindrance to antidiscrimination law.

Contributor: Thönnes Christian

UNGA Resolution A/68/98* (2013)

Type of Resource: Primary

Summary: The third GGE (2012/2013) had achieved a huge breakthrough when it agreed that the international law is applicable to cyberspace. This was the first time Russia and China had publicly shared this position.

Contributor: Demidov, Leonid

West, S. M. (2017). Data Capitalism: Redefining the Logics of Surveillance and Privacy. Business & Society, 58(1), 20–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650317718185

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: The article examines the historical evolution of data commoditization. West argues the commercial development of surveillance technologies truly took off after the dotcom bubble burst in the 2000s, which triggered Silicon Valley to 'think beyond ecommerce' and focus on acting quickly on data, accelerating data tracking technologies such as the cookie and industry-scale data commoditization. In West’s core argument, data capitalism enables asymmetries of information and power that are masked behind narratives of transparency, democratization and personalization.

Contributor: Ng, Carmen

Westin, A. (1970). Privacy and Freedom, New York: Atheneum.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: this is one of the Westin’s pioneering works on privacy in the United States, which had a wide impact on the formation of privacy regulations globally. The author proposes a novel definition of the right to privacy as “The right of the individual to decide what information about himself should be communicated to others and under what circumstances”, which represents a different understanding to the traditional interpretation originating from Warren and Brandeis article “The Right to Privacy”, presenting it as “the right to be left alone”. This work is a cornerstone of one of the two main approaches to privacy, namely the theory of control, as opposed to the theory of access.

Contributor: Alama-Maruta, Karolina

Whitman J.Q., The Two Western Cultures of Privacy: Dignity versus Liberty, Faculty Scholarship Series, Paper 649, 2004, in http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/649

Type of Source:  Secondary

Summary: Privacy is considered as an essential human rights, but this term has a complex definition, varying across countries. The article gives a short and clear account of different approaches to privacy, and especially with regard to the difference between the US approach, based on liberty, and the EU approach, based rather on dignity. This is interesting for self-determination because it demonstrates the need to embrace relativism and complexity, while speaking of human rights.

Williams, James. The Age of Distraction: Reclaiming our attention from technology’s hands (2018). https://medium.com/rsa-journal/democracy-distracted-cf3272ceb3c4

Type of Resource: Secondary; Article on The RSA Journal’s Medium page.

Summary: Williams takes a philosophical approach to discuss the evils of the digital attention economy, where “winning means getting as many people as possible to spend as much time and attention as possible using your product or service”, and where individuals’ cognitive and emotional resources are hijacked to the point where the user becomes the product. While Williams does not use the term “digital self-determination” per se, he alludes to similar concepts by pointing out that the attention economy (or “attentional serfdom”) fundamentally undermines human will: “This militates against the possibility of all forms of self-determination at both individual and collective levels, including all forms of politics worth having.”

Contributor: Vidal Bustamante, Constanza

Zhao, Q., Chen, C., Cheng, H., & Wang, J. (2018). Determinants of Live Streamers’ Continuance Broadcasting Intentions on Twitch: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective. Telematics and Informatics, 35(2), 406-420.

Type of Resource: Secondary

Summary: This article applies self-determination theory (SDT) to understanding the motivations underlying users’ decision to live stream on the content-creation platform Twitch. Drawing from literature on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the authors test the impact of live streamers’ performance expectations and perceived attractiveness of Twitch on their desire to broadcast their video gaming. Analyzing survey data from streamers in Taiwan, the authors conclude that most SDT factors contribute to content creation on Twitch with a majority of creators heavily influenced by extrinsic motivation.

Contributor: McLauchlin, Hillary