#SurveillanceCapitalism
Spanish media entities are suing #meta for #gdpr violations.
Which is fine. #surveillancecapitalism is a slow motion car crash of humanity. It should have been declared illegal and done-with years ago.
But decades long complacency, collusion, incompetence, #digitalilliteracy of important traditional power centers such as old media and the public sector have *made* this dystopia possible.
With this track record its not clear why one should trust them in the future.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/05/spanish_media_meta_lawsuit/
Ethics as PR (or the ‘Some Very Good People Work There!’ Fallacy)
https://ar.al/2021/05/08/ethics-as-pr-or-the-some-very-good-people-work-there-fallacy/
@RyunoKi just reminded me of this piece I wrote two years ago. It seems rather timely what with the news about Harvard and Meta, and, beyond tech, Cop28, etc.
#ethics #publicRelations #pr #surveillanceCapitalism #peopleFarming #google #deepmind #harvard #meta #artificialIntelligence #ai #climateChange #Cop28 #institutionalCorruption #lobbying #revolvingDoors #followTheMoney
#Music #Streaming #Spotify #Surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism: "So we should force Spotify to pay more per stream, and problem solved, right? The problem is that while subscription numbers have been increasing, subscription fees haven’t, most people still pay around $10 USD per subscription, this is despite inflation. So there’s less money to go around. Spotify could increase fees, and lose customers, which translates into less money again.
This is where the surveillance aspect of music comes in. Subscription services are complimenting their income with some surveillance capitalism, I’ve written about this before, so there is no need to repeat most of it, but subscription services keep track of consumers in something called an inferences file, which collates data gathered about your from themselves and other sources. But this isn’t where Wrapped, and in general your music playlists, actually come in. From what I could see, Spotify doesn’t really seem to care what I listen to, or when, or where. They collect inferences from other services in a Web of Surveillance. “But hey, that’s bad!” I hear you say. Yes, but that’s the same for all of your other apps. I for one do not care that they know I like games, that’s hardly a secret. Besides, surveillance capitalism of this magnitude isn’t enough to pay the bills and cover the diminishing returns."
https://www.technollama.co.uk/spotify-surveillance-and-the-price-of-music
Zuboff’s seminal book #SurveillanceCapitalism is important to understand the sociology of social media. But her style is…ah…less than engaging. So it’s been pushed of the metaphorical night table. Graeber and Wengrow’s #TheDawnOfEverything I find fascinating, particularly in light of recent events.
I can’t escape the notion that conflicts in (not only) the Middle East today have their roots in prehistory — maybe I’m wrong about that, but it has the ring of truth to me.
Is it ethical to use ad blockers and anti-tracking technology?
Here’s my stance: in print media, was it ethical to flip past a magazine ad without reading it?
Anything that makes skipping ads harder than that—or that gives advetizers one byte more data about me than they would have had when I picked up a magazine off the newstand—is an overreach, and fair game for me to block or evade by any means necessary.
Spotify Wrapped is creepy, meaningless – and shows just how much data big tech has on you https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/30/spotify-wrapped-is-creepy-meaningless-and-shows-just-how-much-data-big-tech-has-on-you
#spotify #SurveillanceCapitalism #BrokenRecord #capitalism #surveillance #SpotifyWrapped
eHealth: Umstrittenes Unternehmen Palantir gewinnt größten Datendeal Englands
"Das für seine Spionage-Software bekannte Unternehmen Palantir bekommt einen Auftrag für das englische Gesundheitswesen. Bürgerrechtler und Ärzte sind alarmiert."
@surveillance
#Palantir #UK #Data #Privacy #Surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism
Kleine Bitte: Können wir uns angewöhnen, statt von „Datenschützern“™ einfach von Menschenrechtler*innen zu sprechen? Oder wenigstens von Bürgerrechtsaktivist*innen oder so?
Unsere Rechte sind es nämlich, die geschützt werden sollen.
Nicht die Daten.
#datenschutz #privatheit #privacy #NichtsZuVerbergen #SurveillanceCapitalism #überwachungskapitalismus #menschenrechte #grundrechte
I'm thinking about the history of phone #contactmanagerapp's and how there utility has gone down over time.
In a lot of ways social media is just a cloud hosted contact book. I want a return to #localfirst emphasis for usability. #p2p used to be the default for storage. Its kind of interesting how the more web integrated something is the less useful and robust it becomes often loosing #interoperability. The obsession of connecting all applications to the internet feeds #surveillancecapitalism.
@jollyorc This is an interesting topic, can you please post an example email? #surveillance #surveillancecapitalism
@opensourcedesign @simulo @fosdem Not while Google is its cornerstone, no.
#fosdem #whiteWashing #google #SurveillanceCapitalism #peopleFarming #foss #BigTech #PR #institutionalCorruption
"...if we’re ever going to get out of this mess, preserving individual privacy and the conditions for functional democracy, we all need to start thinking about technology the same way we think about supervillains. "
Spying on Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club Was Easy. Is Your #Privacy Safe?
The #SystemThinking road to #SurveillanceCapitalism #Hell is paved with #CustomerConvenience and competitive #corporate peer pressure.
I'm a fan of the @eff and a member.
Just reread Across the Electronic Frontier by @mkapor Mitchell Kapor and John Perry Barlow in 1990. So much in that piece still rings true today. https://www.eff.org/pages/across-electronic-frontier#main-content
One thing in this piece on the origins of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation that I think deserves a bit more discussion is this assertion:
"...One result of this is a neo-Luddite resentment of digital technology from which little good can come..."
I have been reading an excellent book by @brianmerchant called Blood in the Machine - The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech which provides a much more robust perspective and analysis on the Luddites as a movement.
Luddites were not afraid of new technology they were fighting exploitation and subjugation and trying to preserve craftsmanship and autonomy.
Not all technology is automatically adopted by society, in fact much of the technology developed does not get the funding required to scale. Technologies are not developed in a void outside of existing power dynamics and those at the top often use these new tools to further their own ends as opposed to supporting public goods for their own sake.
New frontiers are generally the tip of the sword of colonization and exploitation. The internet has helped create surveillance capitalism and what @Snowden Snowden described as "turn-key totalitarianism".
Everyone building at the cutting edge of innovation has a responsibility to consider how their tools will be used and by whom. Credible neutrality is important in some contexts but also in a sense "neutrality" is by default support for the status quo of inequity and injustice.
True disruption must fundamentally wrestle with democratization and decentralization of power. Easier said then done given we all need funding for our projects to survive and nobody likes to lose control of their inventions. How we fund new technologies and the embodiment of the values on open source technologies that are interoperable and composable are not simple philosophical decisions, they are critical decisions that will shape the world we live in in significant ways.
The internet is indeed a new frontier but it is also just a new layer on top of the real world that can either liberate us or further subjugate us. Currently it is doing both in varying degrees and the choices we make today have profound implications.
#internet #freedom #eff #rights #responsibilities #democracy #fediverse #surveillancecapitalism #totalitarianism #luddites #bloodinthemachine
"How well it will work" is in the eye of the beholder, as Meta is just another mega advertisement and mass personal data exfiltration and exploitation #SurveillanceCapitalism moloch. One of the most ruthless and least hampered by morals and ethics.
How well will they manage to break it to re-make it in their ghastly image?
There is a #Wikipedia proposal [0] to modify the 'Find general sources' template [1]. The template is used on nearly a million Wikipedia pages (esp. talk pages, not articles). Knowledge review circulates between search engines + meta-search engines, academic peer-reviewed papers, and Wikipedia - should #SurveillanceCapitalism retain its power here? This #OpenKnowledge decision-making is #transparent and #participatory.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module:Find_sources/templates/Find_general_sources
Thread:
🐘 Have you ever stopped to think about the extent of surveillance and data collection that happens every day? It's certainly a concerning issue. Imagine being constantly monitored by cameras, followed by employees, and having every action recorded.
The season of Black Friday and Christmas inevitably leads to an increase in surveillance capitalism. You can counteract this by supporting local stores as opposed to using Amazon, and making an effort to purchase privacy-focused gadgets. Alternatively, consider embracing the traditional approach and buy a book instead. #read #surveillancecapitalism
(Thread)
🧵 Why we need to move our data away from Apple and Google: The Rise of Surveillance Capitalism 📱👀
1️⃣ Welcome to the era of #surveillancecapitalism, where tech giants like #Apple and #Google have become the gatekeepers of our personal data. But have you ever stopped to think about the consequences?
Most people here know about the issues with Big Tech (TM), like privacy issues with ad tracking, data analytics, ...
But most 'normal' people out there in the neighbourhood don't. And they will never frequent the online places and sources that talk about this stuff.
Wouldn't it be good if there were some kind of 'tech awareness' forum (groups, meetups, ...), where these issues were to be discussed?
Is there something like that in NZ already?
Bosses like to watch you work. (Who knew?)
1. Photograph: With scanners, an employee's pace of movement can be tracked at work.(Getty: Alistair Berg)
2. Art #SamWallman
WTF? Now, if you want to take advantage of certain sales at the Warehouse, you MUST have the Warehouse app.
What about people who don't want to nilly-willy install all kinds of apps? What if I don't want to be tracked? What about people without compatible phones? What about people who don't have phones? What about people with disabilities unable to use such phones?
This permanent consumer tracking must stop!
Where EVERYONE gets a bargain? My arse ...
UNSOLVED: The Creepiest TV Hack in History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTuonpTAIOw
#Hacking #Hack #Privacy #Dystopia #Blackrock #SurveillanceCapitalism #TV #MaxHeadroom #Government #FBI #Conspiracy #TheWhyFiles
privacy washing is here.
"Google Chrome is terrible for privacy. [...] If you’re someone who cares about privacy improvements in Google, you should just stop using Google."
https://protonvpn.com/blog/google-ip-protection/
#surveillancecapitalism #google #privacy #enshittification
This post shows how F’d up YouTube is. My only suggestion for everyone these days is avoid YouTube, avoid Google, FB, all of them. Your life is better without them. Hard to cut out completely, but a conscious effort to avoid them *when possible* (or as often as possible) is a good idea IMO. #surveillanceCapitalism https://mastodon.world/@vsp/111451809482521824
🕵️ 🇨🇳 In #China, social media platforms #Weibo, #WeChat, #Douyin, #Zhihu, #Xiaohongshu, and #Kuaishou now require users to reveal their real names to the public. People are quitting as a result.
https://restofworld.org/2023/weibo-legal-display-name-influencers/
⚡Breaking News⚡
The #surveillance program known as Data Analytical Services (previously known as Hemisphere) has been actively collecting trillions of domestic call records from Americans including those of individuals not suspected of any crimes.🕵️ 📱
Telecom provider AT&T has been collecting and saving call data on behalf of law enforcement agencies without any legal requirement to do so. 👨⚖️
More here: https://www.wired.com/story/hemisphere-das-white-house-surveillance-trillions-us-call-records/
#privacy #surveillance #surveillancecapitalism #att #telecom
8/ To sum up, surveillance capitalism is a concerning reality, but tools like GrapheneOS provide a beacon of hope for privacy-conscious individuals. By adopting such technologies and promoting awareness, we can reclaim control over our data and protect ourselves from exploitation.
Remember, your privacy matters! 💪✨🔒 #PrivacyMatters #SurveillanceCapitalism #GrapheneOS
🔒 Thread on Surveillance Capitalism and GrapheneOS 🔒
1/ 🕵️♀️ Surveillance capitalism is a growing concern in today's digital world. It's a practice where companies exploit user data to analyze and predict behaviors, often without our consent. But fear not, there are tools like @GrapheneOS that aim to protect your privacy!
@alejandrobdn
That looks like yet another net neutrality battle to fight out.
#privacy #adtech #netneutrality #enshittification #surveillancecapitalism
Hey, maybe the good #Google folks at web.dev can write an article about how the #Firefox slow-down trick on YouTube works so other sites can implement it too.
https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/17z8hsz/youtube_has_started_to_artificially_slow_down/
#google #web #dev #firefox #antitrust #surveillanceCapitalism #siliconValley #assholes
3️⃣ With the rise of surveillance capitalism, our personal information is collected, analyzed, and sold to advertisers without our knowledge or consent. This commodification of our data undermines our privacy rights and transforms us into mere products of the digital economy. #SurveillanceCapitalism
Running Signal Will Soon Cost $50 Million a Year
"Signal’s president reveals the cost of running the privacy-preserving platform—not just to drum up donations, but to call out the for-profit surveillance business models it competes against."
https://www.wired.com/story/signal-operating-costs/
#signal #dataprotection #privacy #surveillance #surveillancecapitalism
I've just started reading Jeff Horwitz's 'Broken Code' about Facebook and their nefarious ways: https://bookrastinating.com/user/pivic/quotation/319301#anchor-319301
#books #book #reading @bookstodon #JeffHorwitz #facebook #SurveillanceCapitalism #genocide #Philippines
Google, Amazon, Microsoft make the Mozilla naughty list for Christmas shopping https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/11/15/google_amazon_microsoft_mozilla/
'Mozilla has slapped its "Privacy Not Included" labels on several products from Google, Amazon and Microsoft – just in time for Christmas shopping.
This marks the first time that the Firefox maker has put the warning on Google devices, and it's a depressing sign that tech giants are getting even worse with their data collection and security practices, lead researcher Jen Caltrider told The Register.
This year's report covers more than 100 connected products, which the Mozilla team considered over 1,000-plus hours of testing for privacy, security and related policies.'
#SurveillanceCapitalism #capitalism #amazon #google #microsoft #mozilla #privacy
#Privacy tools to help you combat #surveillancecapitalism and avoid censorship:
https://browserleaks.com
https://www.torproject.org/
https://10minutemail.com/
https://proton.me/
https://duckduckgo.com/
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
https://ublockorigin.com/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/
https://tails.net/
https://grapheneos.org/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/
#FuckGoogle
#FuckMicrosoft
#FuckElon
#FuckTheNSA
#FuckZuck
#Enshittification
#DigitalPrivacy
#cybersecurity
#anonymity
I want to listen to music.
Deezer's privacy banner tells me they are sharing my personal information with 743 partners. Seven Hundred and Fourty-Three.
I repeat: SEVEN HUNDRED AND FOURTY-THREE.
WTF. Who would agree to that (if not nudged into consent)?
😡
Who can recommend a good streaming service that's not full of surveillance crap?
#Surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism
#Music #MusicStreaming #Streaming
I’ve combined two pieces into a single essay: “The Hypothetical Image” begins with a history of generative AI in the context of data analytics and Big Data. The second looks at AI images as an aestheticization of Big Data’s politics. I’ve had a really great response to this piece, so I hope you all enjoy it! https://www.cyberneticforests.com/news/social-diffusion-amp-the-seance-of-the-digital-archive #aiart #criticalai #artcriticism #surveillancecapitalism
Dear @EU_Commission,
If your best effort at regulating surveillance capitalists results in “give us €9.99/month not to see ads or use for ‘free’ with ads¹”, you should all probably resign and go hide your heads in shame.
And maybe watch my EU Parliament talk before you do:
https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/
¹ Not even turn off tracking, just turn off personalised ads. Not that “your money or your privacy” would be better.
#eu #euCommission #surveillanceCapitalism #facebook #SiliconValley #regulation
"Vienna Teng Sings about Surveillance in 'Hymn of Acxiom'"
👀👀👀👀👀
"If a database could sing, this is how it might sound. Singer-songwriter Vienna Teng's newest song…"
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/vienna-teng-hymn-of-acxiom,news-17663.html
"sounds like a choir hymn … addresses the surveillance that, through firms like marketing-data firm Acxiom, become a regular part of life."
(See video up-thread)
@AI #surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #creepy #PrivacyNotIncluded
/cc @chad @timnitGebru @emilymbender @GreatDismal @pluralistic @doctorow
I have this feeling that what these devices do better is steer us into #dystopia 10x faster.
A near-future world where everyone is filming everyone all the time and wearing always-on spatial microphone systems is the stuff of #SciFi turned to sheer horror for me. The thought of everyone connected to #SurveillanceCapitalism milk machines in the cloud. Mobile phones are already bad enough.
I coined the term #Gadgeteering upon finding this "Humane" #AI pin.
⚠️ #HumaneTech alert!
☠️ Gadgeteering
#Gadgeteering is derived from #racketeering and applies to tech companies that introduce highly #privacy-invasive #SurveillanceCapitalism devices into our world. Cashing in and #ethics be damned.
A #gadgeteer is also the naive or careless person who wears these #gadgets and is either oblivious of the detrimental externalities of the tech to society, or criminally negligent of those (usually #trend-following hipsters).
Gadgeteers lead us to #dystopia.
"We should ban surveillance advertising. Period. Companies should not be allowed to collect our data without our meaningful opt-in consent, and if that was the standard, there would be no data-collection [...] Remember when Apple created an opt out button for tracking, more than 94 percent of users clicked it"...
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/08/late-stage-sea-monkeys/#jeremys-razors
#SurveillanceCapitalism #advertising #business #tech @pluralistic
@dangillmor
I was just thinking about what we’re going to do when our 2012 Ford needs to be replaced. #NoGoodOptions seems to be the theme of our current system of #SurveillanceCapitalism.
#enshittification
Maybe move somewhere where we don’t need a car?
@niccolove I just read this. I believe that people would prefer to use Patreon as long as they have that as a solution. You could try to stop it and see how many switch to an alternative.
The switching cost is what is keeping #SurveillanceCapitalism alive, paraphrasing Cory Doctorow…
@jon As everything it depends on the use is put to.
So the answer is, of course, *surveillance*, ¿what other use can be put to? I mean ¿exist even a good #SurveillanceCapitalism?
#Cryptos on the other hand can give a lot of play, descentralized, but are same as stock: have a variable value.
It depends the scenario you put to.
Another excellent reason to disable location #data on your mobile device, and closely scrutinise what data apps collect about you - because they're selling it to the Australian Government.
Great comments, @floreani and h/t to @Kobotic for the link.
Whether that's matching a driver and a rider, or an advertiser and a consumer, or a reader and a mix of content from social feeds they're subscribed to and other sources of information on the service, the platform has to make a call as to what you're going to see or do.
These choices are enormously consequential. In the theory of #SurveillanceCapitalism, these choices take on an almost supernatural quality.
8/
Alright, so you want to launch a #survey?
Don't by all means grab #Google Forms. It is utterly silly to use a #SurveillanceCapitalism advertisement moloch to handle that for you.
There's a range of #FOSS alternatives to choose from. In this toot I want to mention #FormBricks..
It is mostly #AGPL-licensed, self-hostable #FreeSoftware that offers a ton of features for creating quality surveys.
And also it can be integrated into your own software project.
You can help by filing your own complaint here:
https://forms.dataprotection.ie/contact
The more complaints the DPC receives - the quicker they will act.
You can use my complaint to help write your own (attached).
#privacy #surveillancecapitalism #advertising #cookies #consent #law
@failedLyndonLaRouchite Surveillance advertisers are trying to "convert" you, so you have to convert them right back
https://blog.zgp.org/marketer-journey/
#privacy #surveillanceAdvertising #surveillanceCapitalism #adReform
It's worse than it looks.
Also coming out recently the EU Apparently wants no limitation on client-side / scanning of your private data / files / messages
This will chill #FreeExpression, #Journalism, #Activism... If that were the actual ambition, invisible "we scan it all", is the perfect plan.
#Europe #ClientSideScanning #e2ee #surveillancecapitalism #infosec #cybersecurity #HumanRights #ChatControl #privacy #tech
EU Governments Set To Approve End Of Secure Messaging
People Don't Have A Right To Basic Security... For Their Own Devices?
(don't think it won't spread)
#News #e2ee #encryption #crypto #EU #ChatControl #MassSurveillance #privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #Governance #infosec #cybersecurity
@topio Ironically, #Mozilla's @mozilla idea of "reclaiming the #internet" is to hold a five-day #offline #event in #Berlin, and to "invite" everybody who can't be there to proprietary platforms of #SurveillanceCapitalism:
»Of course, we want you to join us even if you’re not in Berlin. You’ll be able to check out the exhibits and events on our #Instagram and #TikTok, including a livestream of the Rise25 award ceremony on Mozilla’s #YouTube page.«
Gotta love it when a douchebag tracking company publishes a white paper explicitly illustrating all of the ways they are breaking EU law in relation to ePrivacy and GDPR - talk about giving gifts!
AWIN will be the subject of my next legal complaint :)
You couldn't make this stuff up!
https://www.awin.com/gb/compliance-and-regulations/gdpr-eprivacy-whitepaper
(Don't worry I have a copy saved in case they take it down).
#privacy #surveillancecapitalism #surveillance #law #gdpr #eprivacy #compliance #tracking #cookies #lawfulness #principles
A RANT ABOUT AUTOMATIC LOCALIZATION SWITCHING:
i hate it.
it's not only that you shouldn't be making assumptions about what languages a person speaks just by their IP
it's concern trolling used to hide your #SurveillanceCapitalism data harvesting bullshit. it's machiavellian sociopathy turned into a web development feature.
fuck you
about fucking time people learn what Ashton Kutcher really is: your run of the mill Silicon Valley #MIC fascist and #surveillanceCapitalism conman
" Who Is Ashton Kutcher’s Anti-Sex-Trafficking Org Helping?
https://www.thecut.com/article/ashton-kutcher-thorn-spotlight-rekognition-surveillance.html
Gemeenten, wat doen jullie nog op Facebook?
(En Insta, Twitter, Tiktok, etc., etc. zou ik toe willen voegen.)
"Publieke organisaties moeten zich afvragen of ze social media platformen willen steunen die weinig op hebben met het voortbestaan van de democratie."
https://www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl/digitaal/communiceren-met-inwoners-kan-slimmer-en-ethischer
(Goed stuk, behalve dan die deelknopjes onderaan.)
En hier de link: Luister naar 'Argos: Journalisten onder de tap door nieuwe sleepwet': https://www.nporadio1.nl/fragmenten/null/7cf6a65c-e61d-46a3-a907-596a93d55ebf/2023-09-30-journalisten-onder-de-tap-door-nieuwe-sleepwet
(En even vingers in de oren bij het eind, waar #NPO weer gratis reclame voor #surveillancecapitalism met: "Volg ons op Facebook, Linkedin of X, u kent het wel". En dat na zo'n item, zucht)
@aral @strypey @trib @laura @danhon
Understood. Just spitballing...
The extractive framing dovetails with your colonizer metaphore. The extractor sees value in things that do not belong to them, covets them, and appropriates them. For the colonizer it has historically been natural resources and human labor. For our surveillance capitalists it is literally our assets they seek to drain away and transfer to their coffers. As you say, we are being colonized.