While many forms of data-driven surveillance are now a ‘fact’ of contemporary life amidst datafication, obtaining concrete knowledge of how different institutions exploit data presents an ongoing challenge, requiring the expertise and power to untangle increasingly complex and opaque technological and institutional arrangements. The how and why of potential surveillance are thus wrapped in a form of continuously produced uncertainty. How then, do affected groups and individuals determine how to counter the threats and harms of surveillance? Responding to an interdisciplinary concern with agency amidst datafication, this article explores what I term ‘anticipatory data practices’ – future-oriented practices which provide a concrete anchor and a heuristic for action amidst the persistent uncertainties of life with data. This article traces how anticipatory data practices have emerged within civil society practices concerned with countering the harms of surveillance and data exploitation. The mixed-method empirical analysis of this article draws from 50 interviews with digital security educators and technology developers; participant observation at 12 civil society events between 2016 and 2019 and the textual analysis of 100 security manuals produced by NGOs and grassroots groups.

尽管现在许多形式的数据驱动的监视已成为当今数据生活中的“事实”，但要获得有关不同机构如何利用数据的具体知识仍是一项持续的挑战，需要专业知识和力量来解决日趋复杂和不透明的技术和机构安排。因此，如何以一种潜在的不确定性来包装潜在监视的方式和原因。那么，受影响的群体和个人如何确定如何应对监视的威胁和危害？针对在数据分布化过程中与代理机构的跨学科关注，本文探讨了我所说的“预期数据实践” –面向未来的实践，为在数据生活中持续存在不确定性的情况下采取行动提供了具体的依据和启发。本文追溯了在与应对监视和数据利用的危害有关的民间社会实践中如何出现预期的数据实践。本文的混合方法实证分析来自对数字安全教育者和技术开发人员的50次采访；参与者在2016年至2019年之间的12次公民社会事件中的观察以及对非政府组织和基层组织制作的100份安全手册的文本分析