The price of connection: Privacy and freedom in the digital ecosystem

This work sets out some of the key threats to online freedom and privacy faced by the contemporary digital space. It contextualises these threats with analysis of how digital values have developed over time, identifying legal and social turning points. The work takes a global approach, utilising a series of case studies to assess the present and emerging digital ecosystem. These case studies are analysed through the lens of several theories of privacy and autonomy. The work also sets out the interplay between experiences of freedom and privacy on a person level, and the protection or rejections of these values on a structural level.