Privacy, Autonomy, and Internet Platforms

Privacy in the Modern Age: The Search for Solutions 165-174 (Marc Rotenberg, Julia Horwitz, and Jeramie Scott eds., New Press 2015).

U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-10

9 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2016

See all articles by Frank Pasquale

Frank Pasquale

Cornell Law School; Cornell Tech

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

To what extent will academics study data-driven firms like Facebook, and to what extent will they try to join forces with such firms’ own researchers, to study the firms’ users, clients, and suppliers? This essay, a chapter in a collection on the future of privacy law, examines the stakes of data collection, analysis, and use in an era of corporate social science. Social scientists, as users of models, may find that they can only access important data if they shift their inquiries toward the creation of “model users” (i.e., platform participants whose behavior maximizes the profits of the platform controlling the data). More disinterested or emancipatory research agendas can better promote the autonomy and well-being of platform users.

Keywords: philosophy of social science, data, big data, data ethics, corporate social science, objectivity, subliminal advertising, marketing, behavior modification, behaviorism

Suggested Citation

Pasquale, Frank A., Privacy, Autonomy, and Internet Platforms (2015). Privacy in the Modern Age: The Search for Solutions 165-174 (Marc Rotenberg, Julia Horwitz, and Jeramie Scott eds., New Press 2015)., U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2737413

Frank A. Pasquale (Contact Author)

Cornell Law School ( email )

Myron Taylor Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853

Cornell Tech ( email )

111 8th Avenue #302
New York, NY 10011
United States

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