The Journal of Global Ageing, published by Bristol University Press, has released, in volume 3, issue 1 of 2026, a special issue titled “Digital surveillance in later life”, edited by Avi Marciano and Wendy Martin. The special issue examines how older people perceive, experience and respond to different forms of digital surveillance in their everyday lives.
Researchers from the CNSC (TRÀNSIC-UOC) group, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol and Sara Suárez-Gonzalo, contribute to this special issue with three articles focused on the intersections between ageing, privacy, data protection, digital surveillance and digital inequalities.
The first article, “Privacy apathy in later life? Online surveillance perception and privacy protection among older internet users”, is co-authored by Vera Gallistl, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Sara Suárez-Gonzalo and Alexander Peine. Based on a sample of 3,030 participants, the study examines older people’s perceptions of online surveillance by commercial corporations and their privacy protection practices. The findings challenge the idea of a supposedly widespread “privacy apathy” in later life: although around half of the respondents reported being unaware of corporate surveillance, those who did perceive it, whether positively or negatively, were more likely to adopt digital protection measures.
The article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1332/29767202Y2025D000000040
The second article, “‘Don’t look up!’ Older adults’ views on digital state surveillance: a cross-sectional multi-country study”, by Dennis Rosenberg, Avi Marciano, Sara Suárez-Gonzalo, Loredana Ivan and Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, analyses the perceptions of 1,495 older adults regarding digital surveillance by states. The study shows that state surveillance is part of everyday life for many older people: half of the respondents considered themselves to be subject to some form of state surveillance. The findings also show that factors such as conspiracy thinking, privacy-related technostress, gender, age, educational level, income, self-perceived health and country of residence influence how this surveillance is assessed.
The article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1332/29767202Y2025D000000045
The third article, “Older adults’ perception of digital surveillance by civil society organisations: disappointment and protective practices”, by Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Sara Suárez-Gonzalo and Unmil Karadkar, focuses on a less explored actor in digital surveillance studies: civil society organisations. The study shows that although older people perceive less surveillance from these organisations than from other actors, they evaluate it more negatively. In addition, perceived surveillance is positively associated with the adoption of digital protection practices. The findings also indicate that digital practices, conspiracy mentality and technostress are more relevant for understanding these perceptions than sociodemographic variables such as age, gender or educational level.
The article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1332/29767202Y2025D000000041
The participation of our researchers in this special issue is linked to the CNSC research line on communication, digital transformation, inequalities, digital rights and everyday life in digital societies.