Transgressive Tech: The Privatization of the Public Interest

This collection of essays, written by authors from diverse countries across four continents, explores the similarities and differences in technological expansionism. It examines how technology companies establish themselves in new markets and sectors and charts how technology projects increasingly capture public functions and infrastructures, raising critical concerns for democratic legitimacy and accountability.

Starting from the changes in technology politics and governance brought by the pandemic, the book charts technology firms’ entry into critical public sectors such as healthcare, welfare, and education. The chapters demonstrate how market capture and other forms of expansion—often framed as emergency measures—are facilitated by diminished ethical, legal, and sector-specific oversight, as well as weakened transparency and public contestability. These ‘sector transgressions’ have enabled technology companies to consolidate power through accelerated privatisation, reduced public sector control over digital infrastructure, and increased dependency on private actors for policymaking and regulation.

Through a series of case studies, the essays examine how this phenomenon emerges in different parts of the world, analysing its implications for data governance, public interest, and human rights. The book offers strategies for civil society and policymakers to address these challenges and ultimately argues for rethinking digital governance structures to safeguard the public interest.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license