Internet and Surveillance

12   When Transparency Isn’t Transparent

Campaign Finance Disclosure and Internet Surveillance

Kent Wayland, Roberto Armengol and Deborah G. Johnson

12.1. INTRODUCTION

For many scholars who are concerned about surveillance of Internet users, demanding transparency (or greater transparency) in data-mining practices may seem a promising approach (Lyon 2007, 181–1833; Danna and Gandy 2002).¹ The hope is that transparency about data collection practices would serve as an antidote to the erosion of online privacy. The argument is: when data-collection practices are revealed, users become aware of how they are being watched, and adjust their behaviour accordingly. They may opt out of the activity, change their behaviour, protest, or take some other ...