Book Review - Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff

Surveillance capital is about the monetizing the human experience through raw data. The hoarding and privatization of user data goes beyond the intrusion of privacy in forms perverse and unsettling.
 

The issue of surveillance capitalism parallels the problem of advertising where the idea of invisible coercion is disturbing in the belief that human will or beliefs can be modelled, predicted and controlled.

Most people do not realize the power of sublimal messaging where the use of targeted words, imagery can nudge them to think in a certain way. From the Cambridge Analytica Scandal which fueled Donald Trump's win in the presidential election, to dividing the public against each other.

The data which Google and Facebook brokers to geopolitical and business interests has allowed them to fracture society. The author makes use of an analogy there her house is on fire and while waiting for the firemen she was frantically rushing to save her valuable belongings. The issue with Surveillance Capitalism is that user behavior is weaponized to such an extent that, while in reality the firefighters believe that the author's own life is more important, in that situation Shoshana was trying to save something which never did matter if she were to die in the fire.

Social Media and Search platforms hijack the reptilian part of the brain to seek validation to marginalize and to hate.

In the midst of facial recognition technology, we have already seen this in practice in China's social credit system.

This book is thought provoking and has definitely convinced me to reduce my online footprint.

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