Big Data, Political Campaigning and the Law; Democracy and Privacy in the Age of Micro-Targeting; First Edition

Présentation de l'éditeur : "In this multidisciplinary book, experts from around the globe examine how data-driven political campaigning works, what challenges it poses for personal privacy and democracy, and how emerging practices should be regulated. The rise of big data analytics in the political process has triggered official investigations in many countries around the world, and become the subject of broad and intense debate. Political parties increasingly rely on data analytics to profile the electorate and to target specific voter groups with individualised messages based on their demographic attributes. Political micro-targeting has become a major factor in modern campaigning, because of its potential to influence opinions, to mobilise supporters and to get out votes. The book explores the legal, philosophical and political dimensions of big data analytics in the electoral process. It demonstrates that the unregulated use of big personal data for political purposes not only infringes voters' privacy rights, but also has the potential to jeopardise the future of the democratic process, and proposes reforms to address the key regulatory and ethical questions arising from the mining, use and storage of massive amounts of voter data. Providing an interdisciplinary assessment of the use and regulation of big data in the political process, this book will appeal to scholars from law, political science, political philosophy and media studies, policy makers and anyone who cares about democracy in the age of data-driven political campaigning." Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of contributors 8 1. Political micro-targeting in an era of big data analytics: An overview of the regulatory issue 14 Part I: The need for a civic disposition 18 Part II: Public international and European law 21 Part III: Domestic laws in Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom 23 Conclusion 26 PART I: The need for a civic disposition 28 2. From mass to automated media: Revisiting the ‘filter bubble’ 30 I. ‘Everyone’s got their goons’ 31 II. The role of a ‘civic disposition’ 32 III. Finding filter bubbles 33 IV. Beyond content 35 V. From mass to automated media 37 VI. Neoliberal sociality 42 VII. The glut chamber 44 3. Filter bubbles, democracy and conceptions of self: A brief genealogy and a Spinozist perspective 47 I. Background problem 47 II. Neo-liberalism, behaviourism and the giant tech companies 49 III. Foucault: Homo oeconomicus and homo juridicus 51 IV. Locke: Property in the person and the ‘private’ individual 53 V. Spinoza, the passions and their political implications 56 4. Voting public: Leveraging personal information to construct voter preference 60 I. Traditional political science theories about political behaviour 61 II. Insights on voter behaviour from psychology 63 III. Constructing political choice 67 IV. Micro-targeting: Targeting to and tailoring for individual voters 71 V. Implications for democracy 76 VI. Conclusion 80 PART II: Public international and European law 82 5. International law and new challenges to democracy in the digital age: Big data, privacy and interferences with the political process 84 I. Introduction: Big-data-based threats to democracy 84 II. The power of big-data-based cyber operations: NSA surveillance, Russian troll farms and Cambridge Analytica 87 III. How is democracy being challenged? Seven elements of democracy 91 IV. The ability of international law to protect democracy 97 V. Conclusion: International law protects against violations of democracy from the inside and outside 111 6. Social media in election campaigns: Free speech or a danger for democracy? 112 I. Introduction 112 II. Old-fashioned media versus the internet 114 III. The Cambridge Analytica scandal 115 IV. Social bots 115 V. The EU Commission campaign 117 VI. Free speech and the right to vote under the European Convention of Human Rights 117 VII. Freedom of the press 120 VIII. Bloggers and private postings 122 IX. Obligations of Member States under the Convention 124 X. Conclusion 125 7. Freedom of processing of personal data for the purpose of electoral activities after the GDPR 127 I. Introduction 127 II. Regulation of the processing of personal data for electoral activities in Europe 128 III. The GDPR and the processing of personal data for electoral activities 130 IV. Derogations under GDPR 148 V. Conclusion 149 PART III: Domestic laws in Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom 152 8. From the doorstep to the database: Political parties, campaigns, and personal privacy protection in Canada 154 I. Introduction 154 II. The Canadian political arena 155 III. Data-driven elections in Canada 159 IV. The Rules and the Protections 163 V. Personal data and political parties: The privacy risks 170 VI. Conclusion 175 9. Voter privacy in an era of big data: Time to abolish the political exemption in the Australian Privacy Act 177 I. Introduction 177 II. The political exemptions in the Australian Privacy Act 180 III. Big data and micro-targeting 182 IV. The issue of political micro-targeting 183 V. Political communications and democracy 187 VI. The implied freedom of political communication 189 VII. Conclusion 197 10. Big Data and the electoral process in the United States: Constitutional constraint and limited data privacy regulations 199 I. Introduction: Some preliminary thoughts on the challenges of conducting free and fair elections in the era of Big Data 199 II. The need to define ‘voter manipulation’ with care and precision to avoid constitutional problems 209 III. A constitutionally permissible alternative: Structural reforms in the electoral process itself 211 IV. Incumbent politicians will almost certainly seek to use Big Data to their electoral advantage 216 V. Structural reforms – not content-based regulations against the use of data – clearly present the best way forward 219 VI. Conclusion 223 11. Data and political campaigning in the era of big data – the UK experience 227 I. The modern political campaign 228 II. Hiding in plain sight: Public knowledge and steps towards accountability 237 III. The existing framework and the absence of specific regulation for online political campaigning 238 IV. Data protection and regulations on communications 240 V. Further rights or better enforcement of data rights 247 VI. Conclusions 248 Index 249 Présentation de l'éditeur : "In this multidisciplinary book, experts from around the globe examine how data-driven political campaigning works, what challenges it poses for personal privacy and democracy, and how emerging practices should be regulated. The rise of big data analytics in the political process has triggered official investigations in many countries around the world, and become the subject of broad and intense debate. Political parties increasingly rely on data analytics to profile the electorate and to target specific voter groups with individualised messages based on their demographic attributes. Political micro-targeting has become a major factor in modern campaigning, because of its potential to influence opinions, to mobilise supporters and to get out votes. The book explores the legal, philosophical and political dimensions of big data analytics in the electoral process. It demonstrates that the unregulated use of big personal data for political purposes not only infringes voters' privacy rights, but also has the potential to jeopardise the future of the democratic process, and proposes reforms to address the key regulatory and ethical questions arising from the mining, use and storage of massive amounts of voter data. Providing an interdisciplinary assessment of the use and regulation of big data in the political process, this book will appeal to scholars from law, political science, political philosophy and media studies, policy makers and anyone who cares about democracy in the age of data-driven political campaigning."