Online Data Privacy and the Justification of the Market

Abstract

In this commentary I argue that the ethical issues surrounding online data privacy are not unique and instead involve timeless features of transactions in the market. I explain how we can turn to what justifies the market most generally in analysing such issues. The use of any truncated account of the justification of the market, I argue, will mislead us into coming to either the wrong conclusions or to no conclusions about the ethics of online data privacy.