| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis I investigate the moral responsibilities of people who use data-driven personal technologies (DDPTs) in relation to the increasing threats of globally used DDPTs. I do this with a focus on the existential oppression of the human potential perpetuated by surveillance capitalist by imposing a fixed consumer relation with technology on users; instilling the existential threat of becoming a user (and only a user). To this end, I model a moral conjunction concerning user responsibility in the “User” Dilemma – a dilemma between complicity or resistance to oppressive data technologies. The aim of this thesis is to analyse what position one ought to take in the “User” dilemma from a distinct, moral existential perspective, namely that of Simone de Beauvoir. The thesis I argue is that De Beauvoir’s moral framework, when applied to the “User” Dilemma, provides a perspective that acknowledges a dual reality: while many individuals have either freely chosen or been pushed into lives as “users,” they remain morally responsible for reclaiming their freedom to be more than a “user.” Resistance, not complicity, is the ethical imperative. This means breaking away from the imposed “user” identity and to actively counter the harms of DDPTs to people’s existential freedom. First, I construct the existential “User” Dilemma based on four factors concerning modern use of data surveillance technologies. Second, I introduce De Beauvoirian morality. And third, I apply De Beauvoirian morality to the “User” Dilemma. I conclude with two challenges for individuals in the digital age to keep up the De Beauvoirian moral ideal: (1) to reflect on whether the technologies they use every day, diversify or diminish their contribution in affirming the meaning of their existence, and (2) to introduce others to their freedom and responsibility to reject the marginalisation of people as “users.” | |
