Data-Based Utilisation Contexts

Personalised data are used in different economic contexts of utilisation to target users with the right products, information and services. The channels through which person-related data are obtained are as various as the possibilities of approaching people individually. While the extensive knowledge about users provides the topic for research looking into (government) surveillance or the loss of privacy, this chapter focuses on the significance of self-mirroring: What are the social implications of targeting every user individually when people are confronted with the economic expression of their own dispositions? Numerous examples will illustrate that such a recursive reference is possible and widely used for the majority of day-to-day activities, online as well as offline.