The digitally extended self: A lexicological analysis of personal data

Individual’s privacy, especially with regard to their personal data, is increasingly an area of concern as people interact with a wider and more pervasive set of digital services. Unfortunately, the terminology around personal data is used inconsistently, the concepts are unclear and there is a poor understanding of their relationships. This is a challenge to those who need to discuss personal data in precise terms, for example, legislators, academics and service providers who seek informed consent from their users. In this article, we present a lexicological analysis of the terms used to describe personal data, use this analysis to identify common concepts and propose a model of the digitally extended self that shows how these concepts of personal data fit together. We then validate the model against key publications and show in practice how it can be used to describe personal data in three scenarios. Our work shows that there is no clearly delineated kernel of personal data, but rather that there are layers of personal data, with different qualities, sources and claims of ownership, which extend out from the individual and form the digitally extended self.

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