Self-Design in the Age of Personal Data

Transformations of Privacy and Autonomy in a Data-Driven Society

Abstract

This paper reexamines the contemporary significance and challenges of privacy in the context of the growing utilization of personal data enabled by the widespread adoption of online services. Focusing on the evolving notion of informational self-determination, it integrates perspectives from nudging theory and behavioral economics to analyze the extent to which individual decision-making is subject to structural design and manipulation. The study further reconceptualizes privacy as a fundamental right to live autonomously, extending beyond the mere concealment of information to encompass the active freedom necessary for self-formation and the reconfiguration of one’s life.