The Threat of Surveillance and the Need for Privacy Protections

In recent years, and since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in particular, we have seen an increased interest (and concern) about the amount of private information that is collected by the applications and services we use in our daily lives. The widespread collection and commodification of personal data has been mainly driven by companies collecting, mining, and selling user profiles for targeted advertisement, a practice also referred to as “surveillance capitalism.” However, as we detail in this chapter, this is not the only form of surveillance and can be necessary and even beneficial by increasing the safety of citizens—if it is aligned with the principles of digital humanisms in providing transparency, oversight, and accountability. We also detail mechanisms users can deploy to protect their own privacy, as well as mechanisms that help to develop more privacy-friendly technologies.