We are citizens, not mere physical masses of data for harvesting

The deal we have struck with the information society over the extent to which our lives are shaped and our privacy invaded requires urgent renegotiation

There is something profoundly unsettling and unedifying at the heart of the contemporary information economy. Captivated by shiny devices, services and apps, manipulated by information merchants, and unprotected by barnacle-encrusted law and institutions, we are losing - or have lost - control.

This is the message of American legal scholar, Julie E Cohen, a prominent thinker on networked information technologies, visiting London to give the annual Law and Media and Communications lecture at the LSE on Wednesday evening.