Responding to unusual government request for user data

How tech companies make sense of human rights

Bibliographic Data

ID16899201
AuthorsIsabel Ebert (0000-0001-9080-4210, University of St.Gallen, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume11
Issue1
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBig Data & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2053-9517 • E-ISSN: 2053-9517
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/20539517241232638
OpenAlexW4393195973
LanguageEN
References cited36

Data sharing practices between governments and the private sector are characterized by a lack of transparency which has potential implications for human rights. Minimal scholarship exists investigating how companies address human rights risks stemming from government requests for user data. Understanding corporate response processes to government requests is central to advancing human rights research at the intersection of tech company conduct. This becomes even more pressing as emerging technologies gather increasing amounts of data. Scholarship demonstrates that transparency reporting cannot assist in analyzing data sharing practices between the private and the public sectors due to a variety of constraints. Using semi-structured interviews with senior staff at technology companies, this paper presents an empirical analysis of how technology company representatives and external advisors seek to align their processes when responding to government requests for user data. It describes a set of six themes using human rights terminology which company representatives aim to employ when responding to requests

Business · Computer security · Human rights · Internet privacy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access