the age of surveillance capitalism review

So what makes the collection of my data “extraction”, or “appropriation”, as opposed to a fair exchange? Why does it “abandon long-standing organic reciprocities with people”? It’s hard to say. I, for one, would pay thousands of dollars if necessary to continue using the digital products that are currently free because they’re funded by advertising. In return, those users get access to a wide variety of high-quality software for free. On data: I agree that big companies collect a lot of data about their users. Ultimately, this will lead to “a form of tyranny” comparable to (but quite different from) totalitarianism, which Zuboff calls instrumentarianism. They use this for “the instrumentation and instrumentalisation of behaviour for the purposes of modification, prediction, monetisation, and control.” Her argument proceeds in three stages, which I’ll address in turn:Ĭompanies like Google and Facebook have an “extraction imperative” to continually “expropriate” more personal data about their users. And she neglects to account for the benefits of technology, or explain how we should weigh them against the harms. I do believe that there are significant problems with the technology industry - but mostly different problems from the ones she focuses on. The result is far more polemical than persuasive. Zuboff spends much of the book outraged at the behaviour of big tech corporations, but often neglects to explain what’s actually bad about either the behaviour itself or the outcomes she warns it’ll lead to. It’s received glowing reviews, but left me disappointed.

I recently finished Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

The age of surveillance capitalism review