The digital concentration camp: on the issue of negative images of the technological future

The digital transformation, the impact of which is observed in various spheres of public life, has actualized the discussion about the future. A common technique used by researchers and publicists when trying to identify the predicted digital future is a metaphor, which acts as a succinct explanatory model that serves to name the image of the technological future. One of the images of the future that has a distinctly negative connotation is the image of a digital concentration camp as a state of total digital control over society. The purpose of the article is to identify the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the political and legal significance of the digital concentration camp metaphor in the context of constructing an image of the technological future. The paper substantiates that at the moment the metaphor is characterized by conspiracy theory (a digital concentration camp is being built consciously and purposefully) and theoretical indistinguishability (a digital concentration camp is indistinguishable from a society in which digital technologies are used). At the same time, with proper conceptual refinement, it has significant heuristic and political-legal potential as an evaluation category that allows us to comprehend the process of digital transformation from the perspective of the risks of establishing total digital control. The conclusions obtained contribute theoretically to the problem of understanding the image of the technological future and may also have practical significance in the context of the state’s legal policy in the field of digital transformation.