Human Rights in the Age of Platforms

by Rikke Frank Jorgensen (Editor), David Kaye (Foreword by)

Overview

Scholars from across law and internet and media studies examine the human rights implications of today's platform society.

Today such companies as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter play an increasingly important role in how users form and express opinions, encounter information, debate, disagree, mobilize, and maintain their privacy. What are the human rights implications of an online domain managed by privately owned platforms? According to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted by the UN Human Right Council in 2011, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights and to carry out human rights due diligence. But this goal is dependent on the willingness of states to encode such norms into business regulations and of companies to comply. In this volume, contributors from across law and internet and media studies examine the state of human rights in today's platform society.

The contributors consider the “datafication” of society, including the economic model of data extraction and the conceptualization of privacy. They examine online advertising, content moderation, corporate storytelling around human rights, and other platform practices. Finally, they discuss the relationship between human rights law and private actors, addressing such issues as private companies' human rights responsibilities and content regulation.

Contributors
Anja Bechmann, Fernando Bermejo, Agnès Callamard, Mikkel Flyverbom, Rikke Frank Jørgensen, Molly K. Land, Tarlach McGonagle, Jens-Erik Mai, Joris van Hoboken, Glen Whelan, Jillian C. York, Shoshana Zuboff, Ethan Zuckerman

Open access edition published with generous support from Knowledge Unlatched and the Danish Council for Independent Research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262039055
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Series:	Information Policy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rikke Frank Jørgensen is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. She is the editor of Human Rights in the Global Information Society (MIT Press) and the author of Framing the Net: The Internet and Human Rights.

Rikke Frank Jørgensen is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. She is the editor of Human Rights in the Global Information Society (MIT Press) and the author of Framing the Net: The Internet and Human Rights.

Rikke Frank Jørgensen is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. She is the editor of Human Rights in the Global Information Society (MIT Press) and the author of Framing the Net: The Internet and Human Rights.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Introduction vii

Foreword David Kaye xi

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

I Datafication 1

1 "We Make Them Dance": Surveillance Capitalism, the Rise of Instrumentarian Power, and the Threat to Human Rights Shoshana Zuboff 3

2 Digital Transformations, Informed Realities, and Human Conduct Mikkel Flyverbom Glen Whelan 53

3 Data as Humans: Representation, Accountability, and Equality in Big Data Anja Bechmann 73

4 Situating Personal information: Privacy in the Algorithmic Age Jens-Erik Mai 95

II Platforms 117

5 Online Advertising as a Shaper of Public Communication Fernando Bermejo 119

6 Moderating the Public Sphere Jillian C. York Ethan Zuckerman 137

7 Rights Talk: In the Kingdom of Online Giants Rikke Frank Jørgensen 163

III Regulation 189

8 The Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors Agnès Callamard 191

9 The Council of Europe and internet Intermediaries: A Case Study of Tentative Posturing Tarlach McGonagle 227

10 The Privacy Disconnect Joris van Hoboken 255

11 Regulating Private Harms Online: Content Regulation under Human Rights Law Molly K. Land 285

Contributors 317

Index 321