‘Reject All’: Data, Drift and Digital Vigilance

This chapter looks at the intrusive mechanisms of surveillance inherent to corporate social software and argues that users develop obligations to develop what is termed here ‘digital vigilance’. Digital vigilance is outlined as an awareness of the value of data as being part of who we are, especially in a perpetually evolving world. It also entails a negotiation of issues around surveillance, including education about the implications of data harvesting by corporations and third party trackers, as well as the importance of privacy, the options available to people, and the value of ‘drift’ in the form of the migration across networks and platforms representing free choice. An opportunity is identified in the need for educators to inculcate young people into the digital world responsibly, so that they are aware of the implications of using platforms and networks run on corporate business models. This is presented as a dilemma and some issues and considerations for educators are raised. Ultimately, digital vigilance addresses the need for people to be more informed about and responsible for how data are used, resulting in a proposal for a charter of privacy around the ways humans' data are exploited.