Elsevier Big Data's Threat to Liberty: Surveillance, Nudging, and the Curation of Information

Big Data’s Threat to Liberty: Surveillance, Nudging, and the Curation of Information covers how we are constantly under surveillance by various actors. Data is gathered from our homes, cars, smartphones, various devices around the house, in addition to general surveillance through ubiquitous camera surveillance combined with facial recognition and the gathering of data through social networks, commercial and public websites and services. Is being constantly watched compatible with liberty? Furthermore, how is the information gathered being used to influence our actions? Detailed personality profiles are employed in order to make us purchase products and services or pay our taxes through tailor-made nudges aimed at irrational and subconscious mechanisms, and delivered with a level of precision only possible with Big Data-driven algorithmic curation of data. Explanation key Big Data technologies and how they affect modern society, including explanations of surveillance technologies, nudging algorithms and how Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms are used to tailor and mold opinion Conceptualizes the term liberty, making the concept more usable as a clear understanding of various forms of liberty Provides a thorough, technical explanation of how Big Data influences individuals by way of detailed personality profiles and the algorithmic curation of information