Dataveillance

Article summary

Dataveillance is the practice of monitoring and collecting online data as well as metadata. The word is a portmanteau of data and surveillance. Dataveillance is concerned with the continuous monitoring of users' communications and actions across various platforms. For instance, dataveillance refers to the monitoring of data resulting from credit card transactions, GPS coordinates, emails, social networks, etc. Using digital media often leaves traces of data and creates a digital footprint of our activity. Unlike sousveillance, this type of surveillance is not often known and happens discreetly. Dataveillance may involve the surveillance of groups of individuals. There exist three types of dataveillance: personal dataveillance, mass dataveillance, and facilitative mechanisms. Unlike computer and network surveillance, which collects data from computer networks and hard drives, dataveillance monitors and collects data (and metadata) through social networks and various other online platforms. Dataveillance is not to be confused with electronic surveillance. Electronic surveillance refers to the surveillance of oral and audio systems such as wire tapping. Additionally, electronic surveillance depends on having suspects already presumed before surveillance can occur. On the other hand, dataveillance can use data to identify an individual or a group.…

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