Information is a gun: recognising information facilitated interpersonal harms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC65256Keywords:
Interpersonal harm, technology facilitated abuse, information abuse, information behaviourAbstract
Introduction. With the growing popularity of smart technologies, sensitive and personal information has never been more abundant or accessible, but this information can be readily abused to perpetrate interpersonal harms. However, discussion of the role of information in these harms is largely absent from the Library and Information Science (LIS) literature. We argue that a disciplinary belief that ‘information wants to be free’ has created a gap in LIS research about the ways in which information can be weaponised to facilitate interpersonal harm.
Method and analysis. We summarise research from privacy, cybersecurity, and other computing disciplines that examine cases of information facilitated interpersonal harm and demonstrate that access to information was an enabling factor in each case. We also performed keyword searches in the LISA database for terms relating to interpersonal harm and found few results relating to the role of information collection and access in interpersonal violence and abuses.
Conclusion. The LIS community could contribute vital expertise to the study of information facilitated interpersonal harms if we reconsider our assumption that greater access to information is a social and public good.
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