«The surveillance economy» implies that digital services are offered for free in exchange for the collection of vast volumes of data about users. This data is subsequently used in the advertising industry in order to influence our behaviour through targeted advertising.

In this report, we aim to highlight how the surveillance economy and online tracking have entered the Norwegian public sector. By using freely available tools from the tech giants, public sector websites invite commercial actors into the innermost spheres of our lives.

Commersial tracking in the public sector

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This development is problematic, as public sector services are often sensitive and private and without alternative service providers. The public sector should therefore take particular responsibility not to share data about us with commercial players, we argue.

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