The information age has brought about a growing conflict between proponents of a data-driven society on the one side and demands for protection of individual freedom, autonomy, and dignity by means of privacy on the other. The causes of this conflict are rooted in the modern Western opposition of individual and society and a self-understanding of the human as an autonomous rational subject with an inalienable right to informational self-determination. Andréa Belliger and David J. Krieger propose a theory of information as a common good and redefine the individual as an informational self who exists in networks made up of both humans and nonhumans. Privacy is replaced by publicy and issues of data use and data protection are described in terms of governance instead of government.

Andréa Belliger (Prof. Dr.) is co-director of the institute for Communication & Leadership, in Lucerne, and pro-rector of Pädagogische Hochschule Zentralschweiz. She is on the board of directors of various organizations in Switzerland and Germany in the areas of healthcare, finance and banking, social services administration, energy, and education. She is an expert consultant for business and government in all aspects of digital transformation. For many years she has done research on the social and cultural changes and challenges of the digital transformation. 2018/19 she was named among the Top 100 Women in Business in Switzerland and was nominated for the Female Digital Leader Award. David J. Krieger (Prof. Dr. habil. habil.), social scientist and philosopher, is a co-founder and co-director of the institute for Communication & Leadership, a private research and training institution, in Lucerne. He is author of many scientific articles and books and director of various MAS and MBA programs. His main areas of research are communication theory, systems theory, theories of new media, intercultural communication, network theory, organization theory, and digital ethics and philosophy. In 2000 he co-founded the institute for Communication and Culture at Universität Luzern, where he was also awarded the habilitation in science of religions and in communication science.