I have a friend who has worked in media for 4 decades. There are two things about this issue he often says:
1. "If the product is free, that means _you( are the product"
2. "Decades ago when people starting worrying about privacy, and big organizations and government knowing everything about us -- one scenario we never considered was the public
actually _voluntarily giving away_ that information"
Yesterday I overheard a conversation in the local supermarket where two customers were complaining because they couldn't register their loyalty card after the payment was complete. They knew it was possible, but the store worker did not know how. I then thought about your experience and how willing we have become to hand over our data for a minimal discount.
I'm trying to ignore that I read this because it was suggested by an algorithm that identified similar interests. The extent to which we generate data that is constantly fed back to us, shaping our behaviors, is probably more pervasive than we realize. I agree that any notion of much choice is a false one. These seem like acts of coercion that only appear innocuous because we don't fully understand them. The clerk was right though, people will get used to it, and most already have. A very thought-provoking read, thank you. I will check out that book.
Jonathon. In spite of your best intentions, you are misrepresenting capitalism. The phrase "surveillance capitalism" is a contradiction in terms. Capitalism is a social economic system based on private property. That means you and I (and everybody) owning our own stuff, including our own bodies and the product of our own effort. We individuals must retain the means of our own private production. What we see today, and what you unwittingly refer to, is fascism. This is the partnership of BIG business with the state. It ultimately reduces to state CONTROL of BIG business. Fascism is just another species of statism. Capitalism is the system of freedom, in which individual people own their stuff and control it, and the state does not.
I have a friend who has worked in media for 4 decades. There are two things about this issue he often says:
1. "If the product is free, that means _you( are the product"
2. "Decades ago when people starting worrying about privacy, and big organizations and government knowing everything about us -- one scenario we never considered was the public
actually _voluntarily giving away_ that information"
Yesterday I overheard a conversation in the local supermarket where two customers were complaining because they couldn't register their loyalty card after the payment was complete. They knew it was possible, but the store worker did not know how. I then thought about your experience and how willing we have become to hand over our data for a minimal discount.
I'm trying to ignore that I read this because it was suggested by an algorithm that identified similar interests. The extent to which we generate data that is constantly fed back to us, shaping our behaviors, is probably more pervasive than we realize. I agree that any notion of much choice is a false one. These seem like acts of coercion that only appear innocuous because we don't fully understand them. The clerk was right though, people will get used to it, and most already have. A very thought-provoking read, thank you. I will check out that book.
Jonathon. In spite of your best intentions, you are misrepresenting capitalism. The phrase "surveillance capitalism" is a contradiction in terms. Capitalism is a social economic system based on private property. That means you and I (and everybody) owning our own stuff, including our own bodies and the product of our own effort. We individuals must retain the means of our own private production. What we see today, and what you unwittingly refer to, is fascism. This is the partnership of BIG business with the state. It ultimately reduces to state CONTROL of BIG business. Fascism is just another species of statism. Capitalism is the system of freedom, in which individual people own their stuff and control it, and the state does not.