Here is how I think about surveillance.<p>Suppose your boss decides they want to run a quiet experiment on you.<p>They tell you to install an employee clock-in app on your personal phone and that you will be paid for your commute time if the app runs in the background.<p>Access to GPS, other sensors, etc. are required to install.<p>The privacy policy tells you that your privacy is important to your boss, and that your data will only be used for analytics purposes and will only be processed by third parties for viewing and juicy gossip purposes.<p>Your boss then can see in real time on his laptop what shops you go to, what time you go to sleep, what worknights per month you go to a bar. Where you go on your weekends.<p>If this feels a bit bad, then it shows your data has value to you.<p>(Replace boss with -coworker, -aquaintance, -online corporation(s)... )
Can anyone give me an idea of how valuable a person's personal information really is? I know companies are willing to spend a lot of money on this data, but I'm not yet convinced that that's rational. What are some examples of attempts to measure, for instance, the amount of advertising power gained by mining personal data? Does it turn out to be very lucrative? Or is it just trying to get an edge on the competition in an advertising race-to-the-bottom?
There is no legitimate use for so much surveillance. I dare anyone to prove me wrong by listing 3 reasons.<p>I've been asking myself where's the red line? It's useful for businesses to know how many people are passing by their shop, how many enter the door, how many daily purchases are there. They have NO business in recognizing people as return customers unless the aim is to provide BETTER service.<p>Online surveillance is automation of profiling with aim of extracting more money. Detecting price-sensitivity, insecurities, cognitive biases. Totally anti consumer.
The word "capitalism" is totally redundant and rather shows the authors bias.<p>> ‘Surveillance capitalism’ was the term coined in 2015 by Harvard academic Shoshanna Zuboff to describe this large-scale surveillance and modification of human behaviour for profit.<p>‘Advertising capitalism’ was the term coined in 2018 by dandare to describe this large-scale advertising and modification of human behaviour for profit.<p>‘Fashion capitalism’ was the term coined in 2018 by dandare to describe this large-scale fashion industry and modification of human behaviour for profit.<p>‘Tourism capitalism’ was the term coined in 2018 by dandare to describe this large-scale tourism industry and modification of human behaviour for profit.<p>...