Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society: Introduction

Digital citizenship is typically defined as the (self-)enactment of people’s role in society through the use of digital technologies. It therefore has empowering and democratizing characteristics. However, as shown by this Special Section, the context of datafication and ubiquitous data collection and processing complicates this picture. The Snowden revelations have demonstrated the extent to which both state agencies and Internet companies monitor the activities of digital citizens and how the balance of power shifts accordingly. This editorial introduction outlines the challenges and transformations of digital citizenship after Snowden and formulates a set of requirements for digital citizenship in a datafied environment. Having set this thematic framework, it explains the purpose of the Special Section and outlines its contributions.