In our digital world, data is power. Information hoarding businesses
reign supreme, using intimidation, aggression, and force to maintain
influence and control. Sarah Lamdan brings us into the unregulated
underworld of these "data cartels", demonstrating how the entities
mining, commodifying, and selling our data and informational resources
perpetuate social inequalities and threaten the democratic sharing of
knowledge.
Just a few companies dominate most of our critical informational
resources. Often self-identifying as "data analytics" or "business
solutions" operations, they supply the digital lifeblood that flows
through the circulatory system of the internet. With their control over
data, they can prevent the free flow of information, masterfully
exploiting outdated information and privacy laws and curating online
information in a way that amplifies digital racism and targets
marginalized communities. They can also distribute private information
to predatory entities. Alarmingly, everything they're doing is perfectly
legal.
In this book, Lamdan contends that privatization and tech exceptionalism
have prevented us from creating effective legal regulation. This in turn
has allowed oversized information oligopolies to coalesce. In addition
to specific legal and market-based solutions, Lamdan calls for treating
information like a public good and creating digital infrastructure that
supports our democratic ideals.
