Nathan Mladin on the role of dignity in our modern data–driven society 26/01/2023

It’s becoming old news: we are continually tracked, analysed, and profiled by private companies and governmental agencies. Our data is hoovered up and used to predict and manipulate our behaviour. Indeed, the use of big data and algorithmic systems is on the rise in our world. A new cultural and economic order is here: surveillance capitalism or what this essay calls the “surveillance system”.

The first three chapters of the essay describe this system, looking at social media, facial recognition, and predictive policing.

Of the many concerns raised, privacy is never far from the top. But what is privacy? Most often, it is seen as an individual’s right to control their data. But this is not enough. If it is to serve us well in resisting dehumanising applications of technology, privacy must be re–imagined around a truer, more rounded view of what it means to be human.

Drawing on Christian thought – though anticipating overlap with other religious and philosophical traditions – the second half of the essay sketches a conception of privacy rooted in the notion of dignity and based on the sort of creatures human beings are: embodied (with limits and susceptibilities to be honoured rather than violated for gain); relational (made for relationships of trust and mutual care rather than exploitation); agential (with a capacity for intentional action to be upheld rather than undermined).

Privacy is not dead, nor should it be allowed to die. Privacy is a form of neighbour love in the digital age.

Read the full essay here.

Read Nathan’s summary of Data and Dignity here.

Interested in this? Share it on social media. Join our monthly e–newsletter to keep up to date with our latest research and events. And check out our Supporter Programme to find out how you can help our work.