The Future of Surveillance Capitalism

Since the turn of the 21st century, the emergence of technology has introduced new challenges to American democracy. Sociologist and Harvard Professor Shoshana Zuboff outlines in her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, how a new form of economic oppression has taken hold in society; modern technology companies such as Google and Facebook rely on “big data” for profit through mass surveillance. Although Zuboff’s book offers an in-depth history on the development of U.S. tech companies over the years, ––the dotcom boom, the rise of Apple’s success, and the adoption of surveillance practices by the US National Security Agency (NSA)–– her approach only goes so far to critique the practices that threaten individual autonomy and privacy, which ultimately leaves consumers feeling enlightened, yet undeniably powerless.

Zuboff’s research on information technology along with her analysis on current corporate surveillance led her to coin “surveillance capitalism” as the new market form that occupies society today. Compared to industrial capitalism, which relies on natural resources and labor as commodities, surveillance capitalism profits off personalized data and behavioral consumption in a way that is invisible to users. Through data analytics and programming, surveillance capitalists exploit the power of knowledge to compete in the global market. Online services such as Facebook and Google persuade users to give up their personalized data in exchange for “free” web surfing and social media networking. In effect, Zuboff reveals how the consumer becomes the product (rather than the service itself) and surveillance capitalism becomes more embedded and pervasive in society. Through a detailed account of how small tech start-ups in Silicon Valley rose to the top of global markets, Zuboff explains why the lack of concern and public discourse on matters relating to surveillance capitalism is detrimental not only to individual sovereignty but to the future of American democracy.

In her book, Professor Zuboff often compares her concept of “instrumentation power” ––a major consequence of surveillance capitalism–– to Hannah Arendt’s ideas on totalitarianism in The Origins of Totalitarianism. The academic believes there is a significant distinction between the two structures; While totalitarianism arises in states, instrumentarianism develops in companies. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the use of surveillance in the government sectors became widely prevalent. The Bush administration authorized additional funding to the military-industrial complex to protect Americans against foreign enemies. Meanwhile, small tech companies in Silicon Valley grew in economic success by using data mining practices to disrupt connections between producers and consumers. Their traction gained attention, and soon government intelligence funding was redistributed from spy agencies like the CIA and NSA to tech start-ups like Palantir and In-Q-Tel where mass amounts of data were being acquired and packaged. As the government intensified its tracking and surveillance practices, internet companies implemented the same methods to buy out competitors. The government’s investment in Silicon Valley blurred the lines between the private and public sectors, ultimately giving the government access to private domestic life.

Zuboff argues that government activity during the last years of President Clinton’s presidency does not parallel totalitarian power like that of China. Mass surveillance does not function through mechanisms of terror and fear. Unlike the dystopian future painted in George Orwell’s 1984, which depicts a totalitarian government model of coercion through seduction and consumerism, Zuboff contends that the digital infrastructure of surveillance capitalism aims to do one thing: maximize profit through behavioral modification. The instrumentarian power that tech platforms operate on guides consumers to meet their optimal commercial outcomes. Therefore, consumers are being instrumentalized and manipulated to engage with digital surroundings without individual agency. Zuboff warns the public about the negative outcomes of this: issues relating to fake news, ubiquitous tracking, social media addiction, and democratic destabilization. Although some may see the current digital landscape as a new modern form of capitalism, Zuboff argues that tech companies’ large grip on the free market for the sake of self-interest is a detriment to the future of society and politics.

Initial concern for technological misuse of power reached mainstream news outlets following the Cambridge Analytica revelations in 2016, which demonstrated the extent to which internet companies compile and collect consumer data. In this case, the British consulting firm used millions of Facebook users’ personalized data to create predictive algorithms and mathematical calculations to advertise for President Trump’s political campaign. Their actions were masked as data gathering for academic research; In reality, it was used to target consumers and shape political outcomes. Soon it was clear that Cambridge Analytica was just a small player in the big data economy. Among others are Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, all of whom trade information for profit in new markets that predict users’ future online habits. Tech companies are now the largest and most lucrative companies by market capitalization. Even more alarming, Zuboff adds, is how digital technologies have altered the way citizens interact, consume, and spend their time.

The recent docudrama film, The Social Dilemma, reveals how the rise of social media in today’s society has caused a spike in the mental health epidemic among adolescents. There is a fundamental lack of priority over the mental well-being and protection of citizen’s privacy rights. Zuboff shares in an interview with the New York Intelligencer that surveillance capitalists “don’t care what we believe. They don’t care if we’re happy, they don’t care if we’re sad. They don’t care if we’re in pain, they don’t care if we’re in love. They only care that whatever we are and whatever we do, we do it in a way that interfaces with their supply chains” (Kulwin, 2019). In essence, the driving force behind surveillance capitalism is to interfere with human behavior to increase revenue. When the best interests of the consumer are not taken into account by large internet companies, Zuboff explains that it is irrational to rely on privacy and antitrust laws to mend the damage already done.

The major theme in Professor Zuboff’s book is that the current practices in the digital space are antithetical to democracy. When the world’s most powerful entities have unlimited access to information, they make up the top 1% of the economy who dictates how society runs. The Social Dilemma’s series of interviews with former tech employees and public intellectuals disclose how online targeting practices reshape individuals' thoughts and beliefs (usually perpetuating confirmation biases) in the social and political sphere. When citizens lack individual sovereignty and equal opportunity in the market, the shift away from democracy becomes inevitable.

If it is not obvious already, American capitalism is not what it used to be. Constitutionally, it was an organic relationship between society and the free market. Now, Zuboff argues that Google and Facebook are engaging in instrumentarian engineering that most of society is blind to. The new goal is to pursue the political and economic interests of their own at the expense of society. Maybe Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism is a radical idea, but regardless, it makes consumers aware of data mining practices that frankly, are worth inciting fear. Moreover, the role of the government is to ensure a free market and protect capitalism. With its hands involved in the private sectors since 1999, the government is aiding tech companies as they gain immense power and strip the free market of its fairness and overall efficiency. Instead, we see the alarming formation of monopolies, such as in the antitrust case against Amazon, that inherently go against America’s democratic principles. This becomes a pressing issue today as the pandemic leaves citizens desperate for solutions and more trusting of the government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Citizens give access to personal data freely for the sake of contact tracing and complying with CDC guidelines. It opens more doors not only for the government to invade personalized data, but to use that information to exert control. This causes citizens to consider who they can really trust during this critical time and to question how much the government is willing to compromise its grips with power.

Professor Mack’s blog on “The Decline of the Public Intellectual” references religious critic Jean Bethke Elshtain’s point that the job of the public intellectual is to criticize and “puncture the myth-makers'' of an era. Zuboff draws out how America heads towards a dystopian future where the free markets are overthrown by digital surveillance engineering. Thus, as Mack notes, public intellectuals “should be the party poopers.” According to Zuboff, the myths of antitrust laws and privacy protection are not enough to combat misuse of power. Yet perhaps claiming this viewpoint is too easy to deserve the title of a public intellectual. As a professor whose career and work is grounded in the art of critical thinking, Zuboff's message only goes so far to spark conversation and identify terms for the current state of affairs. Her interests are to preserve the promise of democracy and individual freedom in America, but ultimately, her message is limited to the social obligation of every American citizen to make actionable change, especially those who are placed at the top of giant tech companies like Apple and Google. Zuboff’s work is relevant today and deserves to be heard, yet conversation doesn’t necessarily lead to action, and that’s where the public intellectual is limited. Zuboff cannot control how citizens interpret, act, and share the information she presents. Her work is hard to measure because it has not led to significant social change yet. Although Professor Mack argues that “the measure of public intellectual work is not whether the people are listening, but whether they’re hearing things worth talking about”, sometimes groundbreaking work such as Zuboff’s causes stagnation rather than action and progression, which leaves thoughts on surveillance capitalism solely up for discussion.

In conversation with podcast host Robert Scheer, thinker and linguist Noam Chomsky argues that citizens “don’t have to love a state and follow its policies,” but instead should “criticize what’s wrong” and “try to change the policies.” Metaphorically, Chomsky urges citizens to care about their country just like they care for a friend. If a friend were doing something to harm themselves, one would help them change their destructive ways. This is the same for Professor Zuboff. She stands in solidarity with the many whistleblowers who attack surveillance capitalist operations that threaten individual autonomy and democracy. Her challenge, then, is not to influence the public square, but to hold Silicon Valley tech companies accountable for their misuse of personalized information by provoking real social and political intervention.

---

Arendt, H. (1958). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Meridian Books.

Kulwin, N. (2019, Feb). Shoshana Zuboff on Surveillance Capitalism’s Threat to

Democracy. The New York Intelligencer.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/shoshana-zuboff-q-and-a-the-age-of-

surveillance-capital.html

Mack, Stephen. “Are Public Intellectuals a Thing of the Past? .” The New Democratic

Review, 14 Aug. 2012,

www.stephenmack.com/blog/archives/2012/08/are_public_inte.html.

Orwell, G., Pimlott, B., & Davison, P. H. (1989). Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin

Books in association with Secker & Warburg.

Scheer, R. (2020). Noam Chomsky Makes the Case for the Lesser of Two Evils. In Scheer

Intelligence. KCRW. https://scheerpost.com/2020/04/17/chomsky-the-case-for-the-

lesser-of-two-evils/

Zuboff, S., & Schwandt, K. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: the

Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.