What’s Surveillance Capitalism? | Legacy IAS

What’s Surveillance Capitalism?

• Financial system the place private knowledge is commodified to foretell and affect human behaviour.
• Coined by Shoshana Zuboff in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (2018).
• Depends on monitoring on-line/offline actions (clicks, searches, purchases, actions).
• Firms concerned: Google, Meta, Amazon, and many others.

Relevance : GS 3(Financial system, Know-how)

How It Works:

• Knowledge extraction: Human expertise transformed into knowledge.
• Predictive analytics: Algorithms predict behaviour, guiding consumer decisions.
• Instrumentarian energy: Management by way of refined behavioural nudges (not coercion).
• Social physics (Alex Pentland): Research human interplay patterns for behavioural prediction.

Variations from Industrial Capitalism:

• Industrial Capitalism: Give attention to manufacturing, labour exploitation, effectivity.
• Surveillance Capitalism: Give attention to knowledge extraction, behavioural manipulation, consumer engagement.
• Customers change into each shoppers and uncooked knowledge sources.

Function of State Surveillance:

• Company-state collaboration: Tech companies present knowledge to governments.
• Knowledge-sharing agreements typically bypass democratic accountability.
• Instance: States leverage personal surveillance for intelligence and policing.

Influence on Privateness and Autonomy:

• Erosion of autonomy: Customers’ choices influenced by focused content material.
• Behavioural conditioning: Algorithms subtly manipulate consumer preferences.
• Instance: Cambridge Analytica scandal (2014) – Exploited Fb knowledge to affect US elections.

Regulatory Challenges:

• Present legal guidelines:
  • EU’s GDPR: Knowledge privateness focus however doesn’t curb commodification.
  • India’s DPDPA: Goals for consumer management however lacks structural oversight.
• Obstacles:
  • Company lobbying and political affect weaken rules.
  • Rise of tech leaders in politics protects company pursuits.

Method Ahead:

• Stronger rules: Restrict knowledge commodification, enhance accountability.
• Public consciousness: Encourage essential engagement with digital platforms.
• Coverage focus: Transfer past knowledge privateness to deal with structural exploitation.

Key Considerations:

• Lack of particular person privateness and autonomy.
• Rising corporate-political nexus controlling digital ecosystems.
• Systemic fragility: Knowledge breaches can set off monetary and knowledge crises.