Earlier this week I attended at talk by Shoshana Zuboff on The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
This was based on her book on her book of the same name. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781610395694
The public talk was organised by University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose – who are worth following on Twitter @IIPP_UCL
In summary:
Too often we look at ‘technology’ as being just there – it is neutral – it is just there.
But it is not neutral – it can be used for pubic good or against the good and interests of the public.
(‘Technology’ here refers to information technology; the internet, and the information which is captured about the users by the suppliers of the technology – It annoys me that usually when talking about technology this is all many people mean – to me technology is about much more than this).
Technology should be used for the public good.
To date competition authorities have been reactive to the big technology companies – they need be become proactive.
Private human experiences are being captured and turned into commodities.
Privacy should not be traded for ‘free’ services.
We do not know what information is being collected about us, nor to what use it is being put.
The tech companies know more and more about us, but we know very little about what they know about us and what they are doing with this information.
Individual privacy should be protected and not given up to this ‘one-way mirror’.
Printing (when it was invented) was seen as a way of taking power away from the authorities – you didn’t need to be the government in order to dissemination information.
The internet and social media was seen as the ultimate means of disseminating information but they have been high-jacked without us really realising it.
It is owned by Surveillance Capitalism which threatens society and democracy.
This ownership of the technology and technology platforms is creating inequality of information – they know everything about us and we know nothing about them.
These few companies also control access to the information which is out there.
Who knows about us – who decides who knows – and who decides who decides who knows? These are important questions which require answers.
Information is being secretly captured about us in order to be sold – e.g. your voice, your location, your images, who you communicate with, etc.
All this is available to unknown bodies – anyone willing to pay Google, Facebook, etc for it.
Software is making predications about us and our behaviour – but not for us.
Selling this information has created the richest companies in history.
Artificial Intelligence and predictive data has extended this data gathering everywhere- e.g. estate agents, health services, on fitness tracking devices, on your phones.
But there is no democratic control over any of this.
‘So what?’ you may ask.
But all this power and knowledge is misdirected and is not solving or addressing real problems.
It is being used to sell us stuff – or to direct propaganda to us
The tech firms are trying to sell certainty about our behaviour to their clients – but certainty is the opposite of freedom.
But to provide certainty you need a lot of data from a lot of places. And this is what a lot of Apps are going – gathering information about you. A diabetes App is collecting data from your phone, where you are etc.
And the need for certainly is leading to nudging us to do what they want us to do – in coaxing us into doing what they want us to do.
A lot of work is going on to discover how we can be manipulated.
6.4 million young people in Australia and New Zealand were monitored and targeted to buy stuff when they were depressed, low etc. ‘Buy this – it will cheer you up and be delivered tomorrow’.
Google is now looking to capture information on everyone – including their faces – in a part of Toronto – whether you like it or not. The local government of Toronto is letting them go this.
This business practice is putting the tech firms on a collision course with democracy. Their desire to provide certainly requires control over us.
Tech has moved from ‘monitoring’ to ‘control’ for the gain of others.
Information has been secretly collected about people in order to target them during elections.
This is all doom laden – but there is hope.
All this is only 20 years old and democracy moves slowly. People are now beginning to understand what is happening and that democratic oversight is required .
But – what are the tech companies doing to stop the politicians from insisting on democratic oversight?
Finally, these massive tech companies are employing so many data scientists that it is difficult to get these scientists to work on socially or economically useful programmes and projects which use IT or ‘tech’.
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Steven Boxall
Political Education Officer