Review of Birchall's Shareveillance: The Dangers of Openly Sharing and Covertly Collecting Data

Abstract

In an era of open data and ubiquitous dataveillance, what does it mean to "share"? This book argues that we are all "shareveillant" subjects, called upon to be transparent and render data open at the same time as the security state invests in practices to keep data closed. Drawing on Jacques Rancière's "distribution of the sensible," Clare Birchall reimagines sharing in terms of a collective political relationality beyond the veillant expectations of the state. Introduction: the disunited states of sharing -- Sharing digitally -- Distribution of the (digital) sensible -- Sharing as protocological condition -- The sharing assemblage -- Open and closed government data -- Interrupting shareveillance: new cuts -- Working with opacity -- Afterword: Trumping shareveillance.