Do algorithms dream of ‘data’ without bodies?

ABSTRACT

The question whether algorithms dream of ‘data’ without bodies is asked with the intention of highlighting the material conditions created by wearables for fitness and health, reveal the underlying assumptions of the platform economy regarding individuals’ autonomy, identities and preferences and reflect on the justifications for intervention under the General Data Protection Regulation. The article begins by highlighting key features of platform infrastructures and wearables in the health and fitness landscape, explains the implications of algorithms automating, what can be described as ‘rituals of public and private life’ in the health and fitness domain, and proceeds to consider the strains they place on data protection law. It will be argued that technological innovation and data protection rules played a part in setting the conditions for the mediated construction of meaning from bodies of information in the platform economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Data protection
• wearables
• platforms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 See Kingsfund, The Future is now. Available at https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/reports/thefutureisnow/ .Accessed December 3 2016.

2 See generally European Union Committee Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldselect/ldeucom/129/12902.htm. Accessed December 3 2016).

3 See http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/news/moorfields-announces-research-partnership.Accessed December 3 2016.

4 See Guidance issued by Article 29 Working Party for DPO’s http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/document/2016-51/wp243_en_40855.pdf

5 See, for example, privacy concerns with NHS Health’s free apps library http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0444-y and data-sharing concerns raised by mobile apps http://techscience.org/a/2015103001/. Accessed December 3 2016.