Automatic data collection poses a danger to autonomy at a second, deeper level, not because its actual uses are always harmful (indeed, some might be beneficial) but because the possibility of harmful use distorts the space in which individuals live and act. This is what some writers call the "chilling" effect, which is the impact that the power to collect and hold data on a large scale has on individuals' ability to think of themselves as free actors. Political theorist Quentin Skinner's comment on the Snowden revelations is decisive: "Not merely by the fact that someone is reading my emails but also by the fact that someone has the power to do so should they choose leaves us at the mercy of arbitrary power. . . . What is offensive to liberty is the very existence of such arbitrary power."

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 498