Privacy or quantified collective-selves in China's pandemic?

Description

The coronavirus outbreak in China that to date infected 78000 people (BBC 27/02/2020) and stricken the whole nation is now on the mend. The containment of the pandemic has been achieved by the automated processing of big data traces of individuals movements held in the digital clouds of varied internet platforms. Peoples movements have been restricted according to their risk level of being contagious, as shown by a green, yellow or red QR code on their mobile phone, issued online and verified by the system. China's use of citizens' data has faced sustained international criticism over privacy infringements (Reuters 26/02/2020). Solove (2008) has criticised existing theories which view privacy "as a unitary concept with a uniform value that is unvarying across different situations".

China's coronavirus outbreak provides a unique observation point for Tarde's theory of "quantification of the social" (Latour 2009:150) which conceives collective developments "as the product rather than the producer of the infinitely numerous individual characters" (Tarde 1969:27-28). Observing social media, we see the mobilisation of widespread fears and bravery, information and disinformation, selfish and selfless behaviours. The dynamics change alongside the development of the fight against the pandemic, which has brought to the fore increasing solidarity including consent to deploying digital social technologies and experimentation in seeking more accurate data traces. Support for privacy rights has not gained much grounds in fighting the pandemic. We argue that if privacy holds as human value, it needs to be seen as part of a spectrum of quantified collective-selves.

Period	19 Aug 2020
Event title	4S annual conference: China, technology, planetary futures: lessons for a world in crisis 1) Governance, Big Data
Event type	Conference
Location	United StatesShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International