71–78 of 78 posts
There is no publicly traded company that is even close to the value of some non-publicly traded companies, ie Saudi Aramco.
Perhaps 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.
> genuine needs
Capitalism reflects genuine greed, not genuine need.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because using DDG and having friends are mutually exclusive.
Your friends are on google mail, maybe hidden behind their own domain. Your friends post stories and pictures involving you on G+. If you hang with them...and their android phones. You can get rid of them or you can accept being google data.
> 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.
The important part for me it is to create up to date laws - and enforce them - that protect citizens for mass surveillance, public or private, while allowing for useful use of data like for making easier to file taxes or to store your personal contacts.
> 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.
> Governments have guns, Google does not. I'm not saying we should ignore corporate surveillance but there is a big difference. That's a misleading analogy. Problem is that Google/ebay/Microsoft/Silicon Valley cooperate closely with the law enforcement and employ a lot of former LEO people who still have close connections with law enforcement. Check out some of the Yasha Levine's articles. He's one of the best invest…
Any writer that says something similar to Google or Apple are "the world’s most highly valued company" should be ignored. If they are going to twist the truth on this what ever else they say is unreliable. There is no publicly traded company that is even close to the value of some non-publicly traded companies, ie Saudi Aramco.
Silicon Valley engineers need to seriously ask themselves if its OK to be enabling a future like this.
What is absolutely necessary is an awareness for what is happening, ethical guidelines and probably even governmental control.
What scares me most are the techy self optimizers, with every step obedient to their fitness tracker (so far from knowing what they really want) and believing that tech will get us out just in time before life on earth collapses (well, humanity on earth, nature finds its way).