Excessive Digital Surveillance and Data Privacy Invasion as a Creeping Crisis

Abstract

The conventional approaches in the crisis and surveillance literature posit that crisis causes increased surveillance. In this paper, we invert this relationship and instead explore how surveillance causes crises. The argument is made that excessive collection and use of personal information through for example, artificial intelligence and algorithms without clear purposes by public and private organizations must be understood as a creeping crisis. This excessive surveillance leads to vulnerabilities and complexities in organizations, making them highly susceptible to data hacks, data leaks, and cyber attacks. Consequently, organizational and political crises are bound to occur. We identify the main challenges for governments, regulatory agencies, and citizens in this creeping crisis. Explanations focusing on policy attention, policy responsiveness, and policy framing are considered for why excessive surveillance has yet to be recognized as a crisis.