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Meet the Author Series: Data Cartels: The Companies That Control and Monopolize Our Information

In her book, Sarah Lamdan explains how information companies have coalesced to form sprawling data analytics and “business solutions” enterprises that act as data brokers, personal risk assessment services, and surveillance services for the government and other institutions that make decisions about our lives. Lamdan contends that privatization and tech exceptionalism have prevented us from creating effective legal regulation. This in turn has allowed oversized information oligopolies to coalesce. In addition to specific legal and market-based solutions, Lamdan calls for treating information like a public good and creating digital infrastructure that supports our democratic ideals.

Presenter

Sarah Lamdan is the Deputy Director at ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Before joining ALA, Sarah was an attorney and Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law, and a librarian in various academic and private law libraries. Her work has been featured in Library Quarterly, Georgetown Law Technology Review, and NYU's Review of Law & Social Change. Her book Data Cartels was published by Stanford University Press in 2022.

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