The right to remain forgotten and the data crimes of post-digital culture: A ceaseless traumatic event

Abstract

In no other manner are the ethics of spectatorship, digital surveillance and the performance of data-subjects more challenging than within the exploitation of imagery of child sexual abuse and non-consensual sexual activity on the Internet. Subjects of these practices find the original abuse to be only the beginning of a ceaseless victimization. The endless and unforgotten circulation of the images of the abuse is distributed and the original trauma is replicated, re-animated and virtually re-enacted. The past experiences are virtually performed as a present happening creating new lived-experiences of abuse, victimization and trauma. History is no longer confined to the past. What can the experiences of these victims indicate of a generalised virtual identity in digital culture?