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Cited by 31Digitalization, Law, and RegulationEthics and Social Impacts of AILegal and Labor Studies

We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age

Open access
Wong, Wendy H.·2023·The MIT Press eBooks
DOI 10.7551/mitpress/14703.001.0001
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Abstract

A rallying call for extending human rights beyond our physical selves—and why we need to reboot rights in our data-intensive world. Our data-intensive world is here to stay, but does that come at the cost of our humanity in terms of autonomy, community, dignity, and equality? In We, the Data, Wendy H. Wong argues that we cannot allow that to happen. Exploring the pervasiveness of data collection and tracking, Wong reminds us that we are all stakeholders in this digital world, who are currently being left out of the most pressing conversations around technology, ethics, and policy. This book clarifies the nature of datafication and calls for an extension of human rights to recognize how data complicate what it means to safeguard and encourage human potential. As we go about our lives, we are co-creating data through what we do. We must embrace that these data are a part of who we are, Wong explains, even as current policies do not yet reflect the extent to which human experiences have changed. This means we are more than mere “subjects” or “sources” of data “by-products” that can be harvested and used by technology companies and governments. By exploring data rights, facial recognition technology, our posthumous rights, and our need for a right to data literacy, Wong has crafted a compelling case for engaging as stakeholders to hold data collectors accountable. Just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights laid the global groundwork for human rights, We, the Data gives us a foundation upon which we claim human rights in the age of data.

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Crossref · 10.7551/mitpress/14703.001.0001

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Authors
Wong, W. H.
Corresponding author
Wong, Wendy H.
Venue
The MIT Press eBooks
Publisher
The MIT Press
Published
2023-10-10
DOI
10.7551/mitpress/14703.001.0001
OpenAlex
W4382600626
Semantic Scholar
98997a07f7ccd4f7b1db05a868189245c42c040f
Cited by
31
References
274
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 1
FWCI
31.13
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
Locations
The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Legal and Labor Studies
Keywords
data rights, human rights, datafication, data collection, data tracking, data literacy, facial recognition technology, posthumous rights, digital rights, data ethics, data policy, autonomy, human dignity, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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