The untamed and discreet role of data brokers in surveillance capitalism: a transnational and interdisciplinary overview

Abstract

Data brokers have a significant role in data markets and, more broadly, in surveillance capitalism. Due to increasingly sophisticated techniques, data brokers allow for pervasive datafication. This not only seriously threatens privacy, but also national security and the necessary trust for data markets to function properly. The data broker industry, however, is an underresearched and under-regulated subject. Thus, this article provides an up-to-date critical literature review, highlighting innovative policy proposals and elaborating further research questions. Overall, apart from strengthening privacy protection, the article makes a case for further research on data brokers and a more inclusive international discussion that may eventually lead to a new social contract for data that is focused, above all, on data standardisation, economic incentives, data brokers’ legal definitions, and the creation of an oversight authority.