Major library vendors have built sophisticated, global surveillance systems and sell services based on these systems to governments.

We must confront that dollars from library subscriptions, directly or indirectly, now fund these systems. https://sparcopen.org/news/2021/addressing-the-alarming-systems-of-surveillance-built-by-library-vendors/

Last week, @samfbiddle reported on a new contract between LexisNexis and ICE to provide “the data it needs to locate people with little if any oversight.” He described LexisNexis as providing "an oceanic computerized view of a person’s existence." https://twitter.com/samfbiddle/status/1378013902273830917?s=20

This contract is just the latest in a broader trend of RELX & Thomson Reuters investing in online tracking technologies, massive aggregation of user data, and the sale of services based on this tracking to governments. Summarized here by @greenarchives1 http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2019/ice-surveillance/

LexisNexis describes its databases of personal data as containing "1.4 billion unique online digital identities from 4.5 billion devices" and enabling governments to have “a holistic, singular view of your citizens.” https://twitter.com/WolfieChristl/status/1286428727912669192?s=20

Thomson Reuters, parent of Westlaw, holds government contracts for its CLEAR database which contains massive amounts of personal data & provides similar capabilities. https://twitter.com/SheaSwauger/status/1205587676172144641?s=20

Some US lawmakers are concerned its use is “an abuse of power.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/26/ice-private-utility-data/

Both RELX & Thomson Reuters now face boycotts over their contracts with ICE: https://notechforice.com/lawletter/ 

Thomson Reuters faces a lawsuit accusing the company of illegally selling data belonging to California residents without their consent: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/18/technology-202-activists-are-suing-thomson-reuters-over-its-sale-personal-data/

These surveillance technologies may already be crossing into academic products. @WolfieChristl has reported tracking code from ThreatMetrix (part of the LexisNexis suite of tracking tech) is now embedded in the ScienceDirect website. https://twitter.com/WolfieChristl/status/1295655040741445632?s=20

The transition to online platforms for education and research—even open ones—has created new, complex, and unprecedented threats to libraries’ commitment to protecting user privacy more broadly. Some of these are well known, others much less so. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/81297/PhysicalEquivPrivacy4OA.pdf

. @LibraryFreedom's Vendor Privacy Scorecard highlights the many privacy concerns across a wide selection of library vendors. https://libraryfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Library-Freedom-Vendor-Scorecard-110719.pdf

What data may ethically be collected and what should never be, how that data should be secured & kept confidential, when it may be used, and when it should be destroyed are decisions that must be made transparently—and not governed by post-hoc privacy policies subject to change.

Strong privacy protections must be built into the foundation of all academic infrastructure at the technical & contractual levels.

Privacy should be a competitive advantage for open infrastructure, avoiding the need to gather personal data to defend paywalls, meter access, or process payments. Yet, profit-driven open platforms have an undeniable tendency to monetize user data at the expense of user privacy.

This privacy advantage for open systems must be pursued intentionally in the initiatives we chose to support and in the terms of the contracts we sign.

Libraries should consider how to recalibrate relationships with vendors that actively contribute to broader systems of surveillance—understanding that this recalibration will take different forms for different institutions.

Finally, consider following the folks who helped shape our thinking related to privacy: @greenarchives1, @LibSkrat, @WolfieChristl, @flexlibris, @LibraryFreedom, @SheaSwauger, @_falsemirror, @EFF, @lisalibrarian, @codyh, @sshreeves, @lesliekwchan, @jambina, @megwacha, & @yo_bj.