The Ethics of Big Data: Data Power and Democracy

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The central theme of this project is that the introduction of big data has fundamentally transformed the ways how big tech firms pursue profit-maximization. This project aims to demonstrate the increasing incompatibility between democratic politics and rising data power, especially in cases where big tech firms rely on such power to contest democratic legislative process. The project also aims at establishing a connection between data power and political theories of the public good. We argue that data power ought to be seen as a public good whose ownership should not be fell entirely in the hands of private corporations. The project also examines how private and public sectors should respond to new challenges posed by big tech firms. Ultimately, it aims at providing an empirically informed framework of principles of justice that can guide future digital activism and legal regulation against big tech firms.

Collaborator: Ngai Keung Chan

Chi Kwok
Chi Kwok
Assistant Professor

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