The datafied polity: Voter privacy in the age of data-driven political campaigning

Data-driven political campaigning is widely recognised as a threat to privacy and democratic processes. However, accounts of what voter privacy is, why it matters, and how it is threatened by data-driven campaigning vary. This conceptual confusion pervades Australian law. This thesis presents an updated theory of voter privacy and its democratic value for the data-driven age. It reveals the inadequate conceptions of voter privacy which underpin Australian privacy and electoral law and sets out options for law reform which are grounded in an understanding of voter privacy as a collective interest essential to the social aspects of democratic decision-making