Stevens Marthe, Kraaijeveld Steven R, Sharon Tamar
Department of Ethics and Political Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Hub for Digitalization and Society, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Department of Ethics, Law & Medical Humanities, Amsterdam UMC, VU Location.
Inf Commun Soc. 2024 Jun 4;27(15):2587-2599. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2024.2353782. eCollection 2024.
The rapid expansion of Big Tech companies into various societal domains (e.g., health, education, and agriculture) over the past decade has led to increasing concerns among governments, regulators, scholars, and civil society. While existing theoretical frameworks-often revolving around privacy and data protection, or market and platform power-have shed light on important aspects of Big Tech expansionism, there are other risks that these frameworks cannot fully capture. In response, this editorial proposes an alternative theoretical framework based on the notion of sphere transgressions, which draws on political philosopher Michael Walzer's theory of justice. The editorial not only introduces the sphere transgressions framework, but it also highlights its potential to generate novel research questions. Furthermore, this editorial introduces eight articles and one commentary from a group of interdisciplinary scholars that critically examine Big Tech expansionism by reflecting on this expansionism from the perspective of different societal spheres or by engaging with the sphere transgressions framework itself.
在过去十年中，大型科技公司迅速扩张至各个社会领域（如医疗、教育和农业），这引发了政府、监管机构、学者和民间社会越来越多的担忧。虽然现有的理论框架——通常围绕隐私和数据保护，或市场和平台权力——揭示了大型科技公司扩张主义的重要方面，但这些框架无法完全涵盖其他风险。作为回应，这篇社论提出了一个基于领域越界概念的替代性理论框架，该框架借鉴了政治哲学家迈克尔·沃尔泽的正义理论。这篇社论不仅介绍了领域越界框架，还强调了其产生新研究问题的潜力。此外，这篇社论介绍了一组跨学科学者撰写的八篇文章和一篇评论，这些文章通过从不同社会领域的角度反思这种扩张主义，或通过与领域越界框架本身进行互动，对大型科技公司扩张主义进行了批判性审视。
