Big Data and Democracy

Kevin Macnish is visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. His research is in the ethics of AI, surveillance, privacy and technology. He has published three books and numerous articles and chapters on technology ethics, including Big Data and Democracy with EUP. Formerly an analyst and manager at GCHQ, Kevin has been interviewed by BBC national television and radio and has spoken at both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in relation to his research. Kevin was a witness to the Select Committee on Science and Technology on social media and data analysis, and to the Intelligence and Select Committee. More recently, he has briefed President Biden’s US Director of National Intelligence on ethics and AI, and was a member of the EU plenary developing the GPAI Code of Practice for the AI Act. Jai Galliott is Group Leader of Values in Defence & Security Technology at the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of New South Wales; Non-Residential Fellow at the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy, West Point and Visiting Fellow in The Centre for Technology and Global Affairs at the University of Oxford. He is a defence analyst and expert on the ethical, legal and strategic issues associated with the employment of emerging technologies, including cyber systems, autonomous vehicles and soldier augmentation. His publications include: Ethics and the Future of Spying: Technology, National Security and Intelligence Collection (Routledge 2016); Military Robots: Mapping the Moral Landscape (Ashgate 2015); Super Soldiers: The Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (Ashgate 2015); and Commercial Space Exploration: Ethics, Policy and Governance (Ashgate 2015).

• Contributors Introduction to Big Data and Democracy by Kevin Macnish and Jai GalliottPart IBig Data, Consequentialism and Privacy Kieron O’HaraPolitics, Big Data, and Opacity Respect Carl FoxA Pre-occupation with Possession: the (non-)Ownership of Personal Data Kevin Macnish and Stephanie GauttierPolicing with Big Data: DNA matching vs Crime Prediction Tom SorellPart IIDark Advertising and the Democratic Process Joe SaundersTwitter and Electoral Bias Wulf Loh, Anne Suphan and Christopher ZirnigGated Communities of the Digitised Mind Thorsten BrønholtThe Network and the Demos: Big Data & the Epistemic Justifications of Democracy Dave Kinkead and David M. DouglasPart IIIThe Technics of a Gnostic World: An Ontogeny of Big Data John MacWillieTrust and Algorithmic Opacity Steve McKinlayOpacity, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Democratic Processes Ramón AlvaradoThe Big Data Paradox and its Importance to Strategy and Military Systems Development Tim McFarland, Jai Galliott & Massimiliano CappuccioPart IVBeyond the Concept of Anonymity: What is Really at Stake? Open Access - see resources tab Björn LundgrenBig Data Analytics and the Accessibility of Public Inquiries Philip Garnett and Sarah M. HughesDeveloping an Ethical Compass for Big Data Harald Stelzer and Hristina Veljanova

This text will age well as a model application of philosophy, behavioral psychology, and social theory to current events, treating big data as an evolving phenomenon … An excellent text for a social science ethics or philosophy course focused on technology. It would also work well in a course designed around a big data or social media analysis project. Summing Up: Highly recommended.