Privacy after the Agile Turn

Moving beyond algorithms and big data as starting points for discussions about privacy, the authors of Privacy After the Agile Turn focus our attention on the new modes of production of information systems. Specifically, they look at three shifts that have transformed most of the software industry: software is now delivered as services, software and hardware have moved into the cloud and software’s development is ever more agile. These shifts have altered the conditions for privacy governance, and rendered the typical mental models underlying regulatory frameworks for information systems out-of-date. After 'the agile turn', modularity in production processes creates new challenges for allocating regulatory responsibility. Privacy implications of software are harder to address due to the dynamic nature of services and feature development, which undercuts extant privacy regulation that assumes a clear beginning and end of production processes. And the data-driven nature of services, beyond the prospect of monetization, has become part of software development itself. With their focus on production, the authors manage to place known challenges to privacy in a new light and create new avenues for privacy research and practice.