Bound by ToS? Freedom of research and corporate interests in collecting and sharing digital trace data

In recent years, GESIS has increasingly been involved in or received requests regarding projects collecting 'digital trace data' and is in the process of developing specific archiving services and solutions for this type of data. Digital trace data can be seen as "records of activity (trace data) undertaken through an online information system (thus, digital) and can be collected from a multitude of technical systems, such as websites, social media platforms, smart-phone apps, or sensors (Stier et al. 2019)." There is an ongoing discussion concerning ethical issues of working with this type of data, and also concerning sharing it with other parties, e.g., via data repositories. In practice, researchers as well as archives are confronted with the legal situation that research is a basic freedom and, at the same time, the availability and use of digital trace data is subject to the commercial interests of the companies that run the platforms. Archives are now facing the situation that terms of services might (have to) be "bent" (or at least interpreted in a specific way) in order to collect the data necessary to answer a particular research question. This presentation aims at discussing this tension between research and commercial interests in order to contribute to the open question of how archives can address the challenge of making digital trace data available for researchers. Stier et al. (2019): Sebastian Stier et al.: Integrating Survey Data and Digital Trace Data: Key Issues in Developing an Emerging Field, in: Social Science Computer Review. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0894439319843669; access date: 06.12.2019