This book addresses a topic of vivid public discussion at both national and international levels where an information technology revolution comes together with pervasive personal data collection. This threat to privacy is peculiar and the old tools, such as consent for personal data processing, fail to work properly in the context of online services. This was clearly seen in the case of Cambridge Analytica which uncovered how easy the procedural requirements of consent and purpose limitation can be abused on a mass scale.
The lack of individual control over personal data collected by online service providers is a significant problem experienced by almost every person using online services: it is an all or nothing choice between benefiting from modern digital technology and keeping their personal data away from the extensive corporate surveillance. If people are to have autonomous choice in respect of their privacy processes, then they need to be able to manage these processes themselves. To put individuals in the drivers seat, the book first conducts a careful examination of the economic and technical details of online services which pinpoints both the privacy problems caused by online service providers and the particular features of the online environment. Then it devises a set of measures to enable individuals
