The Age of Surveillance Capitalism [video] | Hacker News Reader

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism [video]

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84 pointspersonlurking15 comments

HN discussion of the WSJ book review: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18908728

The talk is 29 minutes total. I'd suggest watching from the 9m40s mark when the author starts talking about smart homes.

Brilliant talk. She articulates what we already know really well. You don't even have to agree with her last thesis about privacy to oppose the commodification of your data.

Thank you for not being hosted by (Youtube)

She was the guest speaker on Le Show podcast last Sunday. If you enjoy her book or this video, the episode is worth a listen.

I can highly recommend the eponymous book by the speaker. It is a long read, but a fascinating read. Here is a link to the publisher's page on it: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/th...

*I recommend starting at 9:40 and watching at 2x speed TLDR; increased revenue by 3950%; they can influence behavior (and confirm); your private experiences are for sale; it undermines democracy; epistemic inequality; we need to fight this by using browser extensions to block ads and tracking cookies; we need to be using duckduckgo.com for our internet searches; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodification

This misnomer again? Certain companies monetizing user data has very little to do with capitalism and can barely characterize our age. Stop the dumb hate.

How exactly does it have little to do with it? They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable, especially in the advertising industry. It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something and a profitable way of doing it is discovered, industry will arise to reap those profits.

> They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable

Capitalism is an economic order, not a business model.

> It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something....

If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit.

> If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit.

Seems like the major difference here is scale. The scale of surveillance encompasses pretty much everything. Communication, travel, bodily characteristics, the sale and purchase of strawberries, etc etc.

I think it's definitely a defining characteristic of our age.

Multiple ages can coexist. Much as multiple people, religions, philosophies, states, governmental forms, or economic systems.

You may wish to reconsider your objections.

The term is useful, in that it distinguishes this (surveillance capitalism) from surveillance by governments, which (until recently) was the usual form.

How are private companies synonym for capitalism? Capitalism is an economic order (characterized by the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit).

Would you say we live in the age of rocket ship capitalism because rockets used to be the domain of governments?

Overloading the term Capitalism may sound sensational, but it is not useful in explaining the issue.

> How are private companies synonym for capitalism?

> Capitalism is an economic order (characterized by the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit).

I think you answered your own question.

> Overloading the term Capitalism may sound sensational, but it is not useful in explaining the issue.

We're not. We're using surveillance as an adjective to modify capitalism, and thereby creating a new term.

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