Task: Produce a design brief on a topic of your choice and a research presentation that would explain the topic’s importance and provide someone with no prior understanding or experience of it with enough information and enthusiasm to begin working on it.
The first task for FMP was to design a brief and explain the topics important and why someone should focus on it. What possible social, political, environmental and global impact the topic has in our society today, or in the future, therefore backing up its importance. The aim of this task was to get others to understand the severity of this topic and provide them with enough information they would want to begin working on it. In the last blog post, I explored many aspects of surveillance through secondary research, looking at existing projects completed at university and by researchers. In the end, I decided to focus on Surveillance Capitalism, and this is what I will be presenting to the class.
During my research into Surveillance Capitalism, I came across this quote:
The world is being transformed into a large open prison.
This quote poses many questions such as: 'How is this possible?', 'What does open prison mean?', and 'What form is this transformation taking?'. I felt this was a good way to start my presentation to get everybody engaged in the topic, and then ease into the definitions of Surveillance Capitalism.
How did I get to this topic?
I got to this topic by exploring the current methods of surveillance in our society today. As I have explored in the previous unit, there's surveillance through CCTV cameras and Internet of Things devices, as well as sensors, web browsing, phone surveillance, location tracking, email surveillance, listening to conversations and etc. I learnt that all of this work together to contribute to Surveillance Capitalism. But what does this even mean?
Surveillance Capitalism
Surveillance Capitalism was a term popularised by psychologist Shoshana Zuboff in her book 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism', which was a wake-up call about how tech companies monetize every moment of our lives – and threaten our free will in the process.
Zuboff defines the term as:
A mutant form of capitalism which uses technology for its purposes
Surveillance Capitalists provide a free service that monitors the behaviour of users, often without their knowledge of consent.
It's the commodification of personal information
It's when a business claims human experience as a free raw material for translation into behavioural data which will then be used to predict how people will behave in the future
Some of the data collected is used to improve the service, however, there is a behavioural surplus, meaning so much data is collected
This surplus of behavioural data is fed into artificial intelligence and fabricated into prediction products that anticipate behaviour.
Corporations have found a way to turn human behaviour into a raw material that can be used to make predictions about our future behaviour. Surveillance Capitalism takes every aspect of the human experience, gathering information from every device that we own, and turns it into a way to predict and shape our future actions so corporations can make a profit.
Residual Data
Residual data is highlighted across many sources as being the key which allows Surveillance Capitalism to work. It's at the core of Surveillance Capitalism, and was once considered as extra, 'waste material', and 'digital exhaust' before corporations realised what they could achieve with it. Eventually, it was understood these waste materials harboured rich predictive data that could be used to surveillance individuals.
Corporations can hunt and capture bits of behavioural surplus we never indented for anyone to have. They can then piece different bits together and make inferences about us, our personalities, sexual orientation, hobbies, interest, inferences we have made a decision to share with anyone, and they claim this as a free raw material to use against us.
There were many examples of residual data being used by corporations in ways Zuboff argue is a breach of our privacy.
Google Spell Checker
'Did you mean' feature was built using data around someone issuing a query and then a corrected query after that. Whilst this may not be considered a breach of privacy, residual data lead to the creation of what can be considered a useful tool we use on a daily basis.
Target
Target, a supermarket chain in the United States, knew a girl was pregnant before she told anyone. Targets market algorithm had discovered she switched from fragrance shampoos to neutral smelling products. And as pregnant women have a stronger sense of smell, Target assumed this girl must be pregnant. Her parents kept receiving repeated offers for baby products as a result of this inference made by the algorithm.
Target was able to identify this woman was pregnant thanks to analyses of behavioural data we unwittingly leave around the digital domain. It’s really interesting how algorithms can sometimes know us better than we know ourselves, and better than those around us.
A leaked document written by Facebook executives in Australia told advertisers they had so much data on 6.6 million Australian young adults and teenagers, it allowed Facebook to predict mood shifts when they felt stressed, fatigued, anxious, inferior, frightened, all these personal feelings. Facebook could then alert these advertisers the exact moment they needed a confidence boost, therefore advertising certain products.
Zuboff argues, in order for Facebook to sell its business partners complete certainty, as this leaked document demonstrates, they must have a gargantuan amount of data, a high Economy of Scale. However, a high Economy of Scale is insufficient for higher quality predictions which Facebook has achieved. They must also have achieved this by having a high Economy of Scope, having a huge variety of data.
Zuboff also argues that the most predictive data of all comes from actually intervening in our behaviour, shaping our behaviour toward commercial outcomes. There is a shift from monitoring and collecting data to actually influencing us and modify our behaviour in specific ways.
Pokémon Go
We all know what Pokémon Go is, we've probably all played it at least once during its hype phase. What you might not know is that it was developed by Google. Niantic Labs was formed in 2010 as an internal start-up within Google and was brought to the market as if it was separate from Google, however, this isn't the case. Google is still the main shareholder in Pokémon Go so their influence has definitely rubbed off on the game as I will explore now.
You'd assume Pokémon Go was monetised through its users buying accessories and game tokens, however, this is not actually the case as Zuboff argues. It was monetised using the game itself and the incentives indigenous to the game, such as finding creatures, gaining levels, and competing with other places for 'Gyms'. These techniques were used to herd players to specific places, establishments, bars, restaurants, retail shops, establishments that had paid Niantic Labs for footfall in the real world. Theoretically, This is exactly the same as clickthrough rate in the online world which is generated for advertisers when somebody clicks on an advert they have paid to appear to you. Pokémon Go predicted footfall rate on the basis of being able to intervene in our behaviour, using the incentives of the game to reward and shape our behaviours, get us to places paying Niantic labs for our presence in their establishments, which would then hopefully get us to spend money in these establishments, making money for the businesses.
Summary
Companies have the power to follow the digital trails individuals leave behind on the internet.
The boundaries of privacy are in dispute and its future is in doubt.
Individuals are making a trade: convenience over privacy and most are willingly doing this.
Most of us have almost no understanding of what's going on as these operations are deeply designed to be hidden from us.
Keywords:
Surveillance Capitalism
Residual Data
Economies of Scale
Economies of Scope
Economies of Action
Behavioural Surplus
Prediction Products
Brief Overview
Explore Surveillance Capitalism and the techniques employed to gather data. Expose these through an engaging way.
The brief overview is structured, not to propose a solution to Surveillance Capitalism, as a clear cut solution doesn't, and will never, exist. It's meant to be explorative, thinking of engaging ways to teach the general consumer about Surveillance Capitalism and its impacts. In an interview, Zuboff states that:
Privacy is not private, privacy is social, it is societal, it is a collective action problem, not an individuals problem. And collective action problems are solved with law, democracy
Surveillance Capitalists fear the law turning against them. If all of us mobilised together, switched on with our eyes wide open, no longer pray to this bambozalation that they have become so good at in 20 years.
Reference list:
Bolton, P. (2020). Surveillance capitalism and the data harvesting that rules our lives. Available at: https://www.thecanary.co/feature/2020/02/04/surveillance-capitalism-and-the-data-harvesting-that-rules-our-lives/ (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Bridle, J. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff review – we are the pawns. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/02/age-of-surveillance-capitalism-shoshana-zuboff-review (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
CBC Radio. (2020). Businesses paid to have Pokemon Go players directed to their locations, says author. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-february-28-2019-1.5036766/businesses-paid-to-have-pokemon-go-players-directed-to-their-locations-says-author-1.5036772 (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Channel 4 News. (2019). Cambridge Analytica: Whistleblower reveals data grab of 50 million Facebook profiles. Available at: Cambridge Analytica: Whistleblower reveals data grab of 50 million Facebook profiles (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Henley, J. and Booth, R. (2020). Welfare surveillance system violates human rights, Dutch court rules. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/05/welfare-surveillance-system-violates-human-rights-dutch-court-rules (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Jongseung, K. (2019). The Crisis of Self Sovereignty in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/deframing/the-crisis-of-self-sovereignty-in-the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-142578010 (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Levin, S. (2017). Facebook told advertisers it can identify teens feeling 'insecure' and 'worthless'. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/01/facebook-advertising-data-insecure-teens (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Lin, L. (2020). China Marshals Its Surveillance Powers Against Coronavirus. Available at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1851474/china-marshals-its-surveillance-powers-against-coronavirus (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Naughton, J. (2019). 'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-google-facebook (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Tapper, J. (2020). Hiding in plain sight: activists don camouflage to beat Met surveillance. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/01/privacy-campaigners-dazzle-camouflage-met-police-surveillance (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Varghese, S. (2019). Pokémon Go was a warning about the rise of surveillance capitalism. Available at: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-facebook-shoshana-zuboff (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
vpro documentary (2019) Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary. 20 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Wagstaff, K. (2012). How Target Knew a High School Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Parents Did | TIME.com. Available at: https://techland.time.com/2012/02/17/how-target-knew-a-high-school-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-parents/ (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
Wolpin, S. (2014). HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media. [online] Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-privacy-is-a-21st-cen_b_4677713?guccounter=1 (Accessed: 9 February 2020).
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