Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
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Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#2[deleted]
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#3Silicon Valley engineers need to seriously ask themselves if its OK to be enabling a future like this.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#4Perhaps surveillance capitalism is zero-sum. There's only so much buying power, and at least in the US, consumers are mostly spent out. In that situation, advertising just moves demand around; it does not increase it. So all this consumer data-mining and targeting may be a net lose, just a cost imposed by the market on all the companies using it.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#5Interesting read. But the repeated notion that surveillance capitalists are only taking from the people by selling off the behavioral surplus omits that fact they they are providing services that those people want. Yes, appearing to be free is a subterfuge for many who don't understanding what they are giving away. But for many others they feel it is a fair exchange for services they really want.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#6> Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to.
Governments have guns, Google does not. I'm not saying we should ignore corporate surveillance but there is a big difference.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#7Interesting read. But the repeated notion that surveillance capitalists are only taking from the people by selling off the behavioral surplus omits that fact they they are providing services that those people want. Yes, appearing to be free is a subterfuge for many who don't understanding what they are giving away. But for many others they feel it is a fair exchange for services they really want.
The article is going much farther than just targeted advertising - it talks about predicting and manipulating behaviour in general, and about power, power in the political and personal, such as the question of who we are and our values.
In combination with the article I read just before, the one about statehood in no-man's land, there is also the question of sovereignty raised. If our behavior can be predicted and manipulated by supranational companies, how much is a democracy - a state - still worth? (Note that state actors could of course do the same, though hopefully there is at least a semblance of legitimization.)
This is a very high price to pay, in this described world, and I don't think most are able to even start judging fairness here, or even care enough to try and see.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#8"You’re giving them information; they sell your information."
This is a common misconception about Google, so one can understand why the authors came to this conclusion. It would be very interesting to see evidence to the contrary.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#9> Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to. Governments have guns, Google does not. I'm not saying we should ignore corporate surveillance but there is a big difference.
I wonder, in the future, might Google (or similar) be able to make a government use those guns?
If we as the sovereign of democracies can be influenced massively, I can imagine that at least in tipping-point situations.
There is a lot of money in wars too, so even without state-level actors paying, motivation is not unthinkable.
Re: Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
#10> Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to. Governments have guns, Google does not. I'm not saying we should ignore corporate surveillance but there is a big difference.
Force is only one form of influence. As recently posted on HN, search engines have a strong influence over their users' thinking and decision making.
Article: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-...
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11255633