Socio-cultural risks of "big user data" of Russian citizens

Bylevskiy Pavel Gennadievich ORCID: 0000-0002-0453-526X PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Information Culture of Digital Transformation; Department of International Information Security, Moscow State Linguistic University 119034, Russia, Ostozhenka str., 36, office 106 pr-911@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Digital transformation, the universal, ubiquitous, continuous and increasingly diverse application of computer and telecommunications technologies and Internet communications, brings many opportunities unknown before. A necessary condition for using the advantages of digital transformation is the already accomplished transformation of all Russian citizens into users of computer and telecommunications technologies and Internet communications. Almost all citizens live around the clock in the "digital environment", being both objects and subjects of digitalization, their involvement and user activity increases. However, "big user data", including data about citizens, can be used both to improve digital services and to obtain confidential information, as well as to manipulate consciousness, deceit, disinformation, and involvement in destructive activities.

The phenomenon of "big user data" clearly and prominently represents the tendency of increasing the share of socio-cultural factors of information security in comparison with technical and other aspects; the need to develop an appropriate mass culture requires scientific understanding by methods of cultural studies. In order to determine effective means of reducing the socio-cultural risks of automating the generation, collection and analysis of "big user data" of Russian citizens to an acceptable level, cultural analysis is used in this article. The purpose of the article is to establish ways to achieve an optimal balance of advantages and threats of "big user data", the current ratio of which is the object of research. The subject of the study is the current socio-cultural risks of Russian citizens as users of computer and telecommunication technologies and Internet communications.

 1. The problem of balancing the advantages and threats of "digital doubles" of citizens

"Big user data" is a kind of "digital double" of each person and social groups, material for automated analysis in real time of actions, preferences (musical ^[1], etc.) and habits, for "recognition" of emotions and moods, intentions, feelings and thoughts. The possibilities of their use are twofold, the line between the advantages and risks of digitalization can be very thin, to distinguish the essential nuances requires a high culture of information security, both professional and civil. This facet is capable of gaining momentum, changing: yesterday's advantages can quickly and unexpectedly turn into new threats reaching a critical level.

The rapid development and new applications of technologies are accompanied by large-scale socio-cultural changes and tectonic shifts both at the national level and in international relations, the destruction of unipolar globalism, including in the field of digital services ^[2]. In such modern realities, in order to maintain the necessary balance of using the advantages and minimizing the associated risks of digital transformation, in particular, "big user data", there was a need for an appropriate mass security culture. Confirmation is the "Concept of formation and development of the culture of information security of citizens of the Russian Federation", adopted on December 22, 2022 by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 4088-R.

In ensuring information security, the role of the appropriate culture of citizens, their general caution and lack of illusions about the supposedly trusted nature of the Internet environment, the absence of threats in it is great ^[3]. Projecting familiar realities onto computer and telecommunication technologies, citizens themselves first of all take care of protecting the secrets of their personal lives (the contents of correspondence and negotiations, documents, photographs, videos, location data, actions, behavior, etc.), understanding the associated risks and threats to reputation, slander, blackmail, copyright infringement, etc. As the anonymity of Internet and mobile users ends, caution increases with regard to the content of mail, voice, video, short message and file exchange, ratings, comments and own publications on the Internet, permissions for external access to applications and data on their mobile devices ^[4].

Theoretically, any computer data can be identified, directly or indirectly, as user data and personalized (correlated with one or another identified person) by cross-matching various databases. Within the framework of the available data, it is technically possible to establish and legally prove what, where and at what point in time a particular user did, groups of users with almost any statistical coverage. To do this, a study is needed (in the case of security incidents, especially crimes ? an investigation), clarifying the degree and nature of participation in data operations by developers, manufacturers, service providers, users and other people. The greater the danger of an information security incident, the more resources, including highly qualified specialists, are involved, the more detailed the details of "authorship" or involvement in the processing of specific citizens can be.

 "Big user data" is an important area of ensuring information security, both national, public and personal, including the need for a secure civil user culture. On the part of the state, the law protects the privacy of personal life, correspondence, personal financial, medical, biometric and other information, including in digital form. A consistent state policy of protecting citizens' personal data is being implemented, which so far mainly refers only to information about long-term personal social status identifiers recorded in official documents (first name, last name, patronymic, date and place of birth, permanent residence address, etc.).

However, "big user data" at the moment can be considered the most meaningful in terms of the possibilities of automated "knowledge extraction" about citizens and the least protected from the associated threats. So far, both the state and citizens have underestimated the risks associated with "big user data". At the same time, to counter such threats, it is extremely important for citizens to know about their existence, the ability to recognize them, react correctly, and report such incidents to authorized organizations ^[5]. The problem is becoming clearer as it worsens, caused by the preservation of cross-border Internet communications in new, much less favorable conditions: since 2014, international cooperation in countering cybercrime has significantly decreased, the cross-border aggressiveness of which has sharply increased ^[6]. Threats have significantly increased and the risks of cross-border fraud, psychological special operations against Russian citizens, cyber-sabotage, anti-Russian actions by unfriendly states and global digital platforms based in the United States have increased.

2. Structural and functional features of "big user data"

Automation of data generation and analysis, in particular, the actual user data, including biometric data, opens up unique, unprecedented opportunities for obtaining the necessary information. Big user data is an electronic digital representation of the parameters of a person's stay as an object and his active actions in computer and telecommunication systems. A variety of "digital footprints" form a "digital double" of the user, constantly updated in real time. Structurally, these data can be divided into two main polar types (with further detailed ranking): the results of conscious actions of users and data about people automatically generated when they are in the range of network digital sensors.

Conscious actions of users in the digital environment are their communication through mobile and Internet communications (voice and video communication, short and mail text messages, file forwarding), ratings and comments, creation and publication of content on Internet resources, social networks and through blogging services. The main equipment in this case are personal computers connected to the Internet, both desktop and mobile. User data includes not only the direct result consciously created by the user (text message, post, etc.), but also a set of recorded accompanying various technical parameters. Internet service providers, direct operators of large user data, have access to the characteristics of the type, manufacturer, software, identification number, etc. of the computer device used, as well as all user actions performed with it: the list and time of viewing Internet resources, running programs, received and sent messages, files, etc.

The second pole of user data is data about people that is automatically generated and processed (transmitted over networks, collected, analyzed and stored) without their participation, and often without their knowledge. Such data about people are generated by "input devices" of personal computers and the "Internet of things" ? wearable computerized devices (gadgets), as well as sensors of the "Internet of things", industrial and household "smart" computer equipment ^[7]. A striking example is digital video surveillance systems in public places with the possibility of automated face recognition and identification of citizens ^[8]. Digitization, including remotely, can generate any data about various human parameters that can be crucial: location ^[9], appearance, voice, speech and accompanying sounds, movements and actions, gestures and facial expressions, smells, pulse and respiratory rate, electroencephalograms and electrocardiograms, etc.

Functionally, the analysis of user data is necessary to support, optimize and improve Internet services and the computer and telecommunications equipment used. Large user data is distinguished not so much by quantitative characteristics, volumes, as by its continuous streaming nature, constant updating in real time. Automation of their analytics allows you to use the results almost without delay to reverse the impact on the user (including large social groups) in interactive real time. Summary analysis of various databases of large user data allows their operators (or buyers) to obtain statistics, which may include classified information, up to state secrets ^[10]. These possible functions can be performed both in the interests of the user and his home country, and against, in different proportions of combinations of advantages and threats. Such abuses on the part of organizations providing digital services are largely made possible due to the vulnerabilities of the users themselves, insufficient protection of their own user data.

Computer and telecommunication equipment, software and digital services are only technical means of communication of people – socio-cultural subjects. From the point of view of cultural studies, information security protects people's rights to values, and the main source of threats is violators of these rights, people and organizations seeking to benefit at the expense of harming others. Computer and telecommunication technologies are neutral in themselves, but they can be functionally used by people in a fairly wide range for equal mutually beneficial cooperation, and for exploitation, damage, destructive, illegal actions. In the same opposite way, depending on the socio-cultural context, the same "big user data", equipment for their generation and processing can be used. The state policy and the general civil culture of information security are necessary in order to take into account such risks in a timely manner, predict such threats and counteract them.

 3. The evolutionary dynamics of digital socio-cultural threats to Russian citizens

The socio-cultural threats of "big user data", as well as their previously unknown advantages, are due to the technologies of automated analysis, potential "omniscience" about everyone and everyone in the range of sensors of digital network devices. A simple dialectic is that if these technologies are used for the common good, then these are advantages, if for causing damage, then threats. A more complex dialectic is connected with the fact that some people can benefit by causing damage to others, including through digital technologies – and this is already the field of information security. That is why in popular culture there is a very thin, shaky and fluctuating line between utopian and dystopian ^[11] perception of the possibilities of "artificial intelligence" technologies based on automated analysis of "big user data". Digital "paradise", in which technology does all the work for a person, solves all problems and makes the most important decisions, easily turns into "digital totalitarianism" ^[12], inspiring false joys and illusory happiness to exploited people plunged into squalor ^[13]. Spontaneous awareness of such socio-cultural threats has contributed to various criticism and public counteraction campaigns ^[14].

To what extent, in a particular situation, the use of computer and telecommunications solutions serves mutually beneficial cooperation, and to what extent it is an instrument of destruction, subordination and exploitation, scientific analysis should determine ^[15]. Countering socio-cultural threats, preventing and minimizing damage to values belong to the culture of information security, the core science is cultural studies. Evolutionary cultural analysis allows us to identify changes in technologies, services, society and culture that have led to the creation of a new landscape of socio-cultural threats to digital transformation, in particular, the role of "big user data". Structural and functional analysis helps to determine the list of current threats, their targets and potential victims, the nature and extent of damage, security measures.

In general, the successful solution in the 2000s of organizational and technical issues of information security, including the protection of personal data, made it possible to reduce the risks of violations, damage from the actions of intruders to an acceptable level. Digital transformation, the transformation of almost all Russian citizens into users of mobile computer devices and the coverage of wireless broadband Internet access led in the 2010s to a qualitative change in the landscape of threats, especially socio-cultural ones. All citizens have become users of computer and telecommunication technologies, the use of Internet services has become one of the primary cultural needs, it turned out to be associated with high-level values, including traditional ones that define socio-cultural identity ^[16].

Databases of personal data acquired particular value for fraudsters (as well as for unscrupulous advertising and marketing specialists, including political ones) for massive attacks (phishing) ^[17], the use of which helped to better gain confidence in potential victims ^[18]. In the "Report of the Center for Monitoring and Responding to computer attacks in the credit and financial sphere of the Information Security Department of the Bank of Russia 1.09.2018 - 31.08.2019)" it was noted: the most frequent target of attackers were not technical means of Internet banking, but socio–cultural, psychological vulnerabilities of customers; the main tool of attacks, instead of the former specialized malicious software (banking "viruses"), became fraudulent tricks ("social engineering"). In social networks and messengers, scammers (also "telephone") and intruders began to act, who encouraged vulnerable users to destructive activity ^[19], involved them in groups of suicide, drug use, cyberbullying (harassment), "school shootings", extreme behavior, political extremism, etc.

At this time, the phenomenon of "big user data" was formed, automation of thorough and detailed tracking and analysis of the behavior of individuals and social groups, which can serve as a "key" to access other people's values from money to beliefs. For operators of large user data, starting with global digital platforms and services, different formats of trading "big data" of their users have become one of the main sources of profits. Automation of the analysis of political preferences and management of the behavior of employees of organizations ^[20], users in social networks has led to an increase in socio-cultural risks, becoming a powerful tool for managing political mobilization ^[21], inspiring coups known as "color revolutions" from the outside, as well as hidden external influence on the internal policy of the victim states.

The trigger that exacerbated the problem of socio-cultural threats to the security of "big user data" was the years 2020-2022. Global strict quarantine measures introduced in 2020 in connection with overestimated estimates of coronavirus threats have led to an abrupt increase in the number of users, the volume of use of financial, educational and other remote services, videoconferencing and messengers, an increase in the list and importance of associated values. The beginning of a Special military operation in Ukraine in 2022 marked an aggravation of the crisis and an increase in the conflict of international relations, the destruction of unipolar globalism, including in the field of digital services ^[22].

In addition to the anti-Russian technological sanctions of unfriendly states, a high-level socio-cultural threat also manifested itself: global digital platforms, in the spirit of "digital totalitarianism", introduced discriminatory censorship against the official Russian press, journalists and bloggers ^[23]. User data of Russian citizens and their online behavior began to be used for the production and broadcast of fake news, targeted misinformation, propaganda of gender radicalism and "childfree" ^[24], "cancellation culture" ^[25], etc.

 Results

The conducted research shows the complex dynamics of the ratio of advantages and socio-cultural threats and risks associated with the "big user data" of Russian citizens. It is revealed that the transformation of all citizens into users and objects of computer and telecommunication technologies as a result of digital transformation has led to the emergence of critical threats to socio-cultural values. The targets of the attacks were not so much technical devices as the consciousness and personalities of citizens; not only cybercriminals, but also unfriendly states, global digital platforms based in the United States began to act as intruders and violators. The abuses of foreign operators are expressed in the uncontrolled trading of "big user data" of Russians, extracting from them with the help of automated analysis of confidential information used to manipulate consciousness and hidden destructive effects (disinformation) on behavior and deformation of values, socio-cultural identity.

The main conclusion of the study is that countering socio-cultural threats, reducing the risks of "big user data" requires both targeted state measures in the field of information security and the development of a specialized civil culture. State measures include the development of federal legislation in the field of technological and infrastructural support of digital sovereignty, independence from technology imports, obligations of data operators to store and process data on the territory of Russia, as well as the empowerment of state bodies to block access to prohibited content and Internet resources, cancel the registration of domain names, and hold violators accountable.

It is predicted to strengthen the still undeveloped state regulation of the security of "big user data" of Russian citizens; it is necessary to develop legislative regulation of their turnover, initiated in 2018 by Federal Bill No. 571124-7 "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection". There is a need to improve the profile of the general civil culture of information security, the development of training and methodological materials on threats, risks and means of ensuring the security of "big user data", as well as their broadcast to a mass audience by educational organizations, the press and social advertising.

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