What is surveillance capitalism?
Surveillance capitalism is when companies collect your behavioral data (like which websites you visit, your interests and worries, who you talk to, what time you go to sleep, etc.) and make a profile about you. They then sell this profile to advertising companies and government agencies, both foreign and domestic.
Did we consent to having profiles made about us and sold to the highest bidder?
The profiles can be resold over and over again to whoever has money and wants to buy it, with no oversight or background checks on the buyers. That’s how personal data ends up in the hands of bounty hunters and stalkers. These profiles are most valuable when they are kept constantly up-to-date, which is why every effort to free ourselves from surveillance capitalism helps, no matter how small!
But I have nothing to hide!
That’s great! Unfortunately, it’s irrelevant. Even though surveillance capitalism can help police catch bad guys, it’s a very poor substitute for good police work because it catches literally everyone in the net.
Surveillance capitalism is a threat to marginalized people and communities, whistleblowers, human rights activists, and domestic abuse survivors (among others) because it puts their personal data, thoughts, location, and behaviors on the open market for anyone to buy. Even the bad guys themselves can buy these data profiles, so being a law-abiding citizen is not really relevant if you end up targeted for identity theft or some other scam.
But believe it or not, there is an even graver threat from surveillance capitalism.
Surveillance capitalism vs. democracy
Surveillance capitalism played a key role in two decisive political decisions in the 2010s, a time when surveillance capitalism was still not generally known or understood. A lot has been written on this topic and it’s covered well in a 2019 documentary called The Great Hack, but to put it briefly:
“Chris Wylie, the former director of research at Cambridge Analytica, which has been accused of illegally collecting online data of up to 50 million Facebook users, said that his work allowed Donald Trump's presidential campaign to garner unprecedented insight into voters' habits ahead of the 2016 vote. He added that a Canadian business with ties to Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL Group, also provided analysis for the Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum. This research, Wylie said, likely breached the U.K.'s strict campaign financing laws and may have helped to sway the final Brexit outcome.”
For a more in-depth description, please read ‘Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Death Match of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in Our Information Civilization’ by the great author and pioneer in the study of surveillance capitalism Shoshana Zuboff.
Fortunately, we already have lots of tools at our disposal to fight back against surveillance capitalism. All you have to do is download and use these alternatives and you’re already shifting the power away from Big Tech. It’s that easy!
The more people make the switch the more power over our lives we reclaim, so every individual matters. And you don’t need to instantly switch out all the apps you’re used to for new ones, try just one alternative app and see how it goes! You might find that it’s empowering to be an individual with a voice as opposed to the product on a Big Tech platform.
More alternatives:
"Tired of relying on Big Tech for your collaboration, communication and productivity needs? You’re not alone. Whether you’re concerned about data privacy, compliance, vendor lock-in, or digital sovereignty, the shift to European-built software is gaining serious momentum. And for good reason: these platforms respect your data, operate under GDPR by default, and are often open source or self-hosted."
"Each person has their own reason, but the list of options are growing. Whether it is privacy concerns, environmental, boycotting the tech oligarch, non-existent customer service, the prolification of AI or any other cause. Underpinning all of it is the idea that too much power is given to the few, and it is time to empower the many.
Purchase with Purpose is a movement that looks to grow and support people in making this switch."
This is such a crucial point that rarely gets made clearly enough. Surveillance capitalism isn't just about ads targeting you — it's about creating profiles that flow to anyone with money. The bounty hunter/stalker market is real and horrifying.
What's also missing from most discussions: people who've never done anything to hide think they're safe. But you don't need to be hiding anything to be targeted by algorithms designed to manipulate behavior. That's what made Cambridge Analytica work — not stealing secrets, but finding predictable patterns in normal people's data.
The Zuboff reading you linked is good. For practical countermeasures, I'd add that the most effective single step is reducing the platforms that can correlate your identity with your behavior. That's why federated, self-hosted, and instance-based platforms matter more than privacy browsers alone.
Are there specific tools you're already using, or just starting to look?
Great points, thanks for the comment!
Personally I use the Fediverse as a compliment to legacy social media, but honestly I am just starting to look. Do you have any tips or recommendations?