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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism [video]

84 points by personlurking 7y ago

personlurking 7y ago
HN discussion of the WSJ book review: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18908728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18908728 The talk is 29 minutes total. I'd suggest watching from the 9m40s mark when the author starts talking about smart homes.
HNLurker2 7y ago
Thank you for not being hosted by (Youtube)
sneeze-slayer 7y ago
I can highly recommend the eponymous book by the speaker. It is a long read, but a fascinating read. Here is a link to the publisher's page on it: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/ https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/th...
hexdrunker 7y ago
Thanks for the video
- dariaglv 7y ago
  yeap! very good videos
- dariaglv 7y ago
  i appreciate such videos
- anovikov 7y ago
  i wonder if this comment thread has been posted by a bot or not.
chrisallick 7y ago
She was the guest speaker on Le Show podcast last Sunday. If you enjoy her book or this video, the episode is worth a listen.
Hoasi 7y ago
Brilliant talk. She articulates what we already know really well. You don't even have to agree with her last thesis about privacy to oppose the commodification of your data.
dandare 7y ago
This misnomer again? Certain companies monetizing user data has very little to do with capitalism and can barely characterize our age. Stop the dumb hate.
- chungus_khan 7y ago
  How exactly does it have little to do with it? They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable, especially in the advertising industry. It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something and a profitable way of doing it is discovered, industry will arise to reap those profits.
  - dandare 7y ago
    > They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable Capitalism is an economic order, not a business model. > It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something.... If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit.
    - infinitezest 7y ago
      > If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit. Seems like the major difference here is scale. The scale of surveillance encompasses pretty much everything. Communication, travel, bodily characteristics, the sale and purchase of strawberries, etc etc. I think it's definitely a defining characteristic of our age.
    - dredmorbius 7y ago
      Multiple ages can coexist. Much as multiple people, religions, philosophies, states, governmental forms, or economic systems. You may wish to reconsider your objections.
donclark 7y ago
*I recommend starting at 9:40 and watching at 2x speed TLDR; increased revenue by 3950%; they can influence behavior (and confirm); your private experiences are for sale; it undermines democracy; epistemic inequality; we need to fight this by using browser extensions to block ads and tracking cookies; we need to be using duckduckgo.com for our internet searches; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodification

84 points by personlurking 7y ago

HN discussion of the WSJ book review: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18908728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18908728 The talk is 29 minutes total. I'd suggest watching from the 9m40s mark when the author starts talking about smart homes.

HNLurker2 7y ago

Thank you for not being hosted by (Youtube)

sneeze-slayer 7y ago

I can highly recommend the eponymous book by the speaker. It is a long read, but a fascinating read. Here is a link to the publisher's page on it: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/ https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/th...

hexdrunker 7y ago

Thanks for the video

dariaglv 7y ago
yeap! very good videos
dariaglv 7y ago
i appreciate such videos
anovikov 7y ago
i wonder if this comment thread has been posted by a bot or not.

chrisallick 7y ago

She was the guest speaker on Le Show podcast last Sunday. If you enjoy her book or this video, the episode is worth a listen.

Hoasi 7y ago

Brilliant talk. She articulates what we already know really well. You don't even have to agree with her last thesis about privacy to oppose the commodification of your data.

dandare 7y ago

This misnomer again? Certain companies monetizing user data has very little to do with capitalism and can barely characterize our age. Stop the dumb hate.

chungus_khan 7y ago
How exactly does it have little to do with it? They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable, especially in the advertising industry. It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something and a profitable way of doing it is discovered, industry will arise to reap those profits.
- dandare 7y ago
  > They aren't just doing this because they feel like it, they are doing it because it is immensely profitable Capitalism is an economic order, not a business model. > It is a feature of capitalism that where there exists demand for something.... If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit.
  - infinitezest 7y ago
    > If we live in the age of surveillance capitalism because some companies spy on users for profit, then we also live in the age of strawberry-harvesting capitalism, because some companies harvest strawberries for profit. Seems like the major difference here is scale. The scale of surveillance encompasses pretty much everything. Communication, travel, bodily characteristics, the sale and purchase of strawberries, etc etc. I think it's definitely a defining characteristic of our age.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    Multiple ages can coexist. Much as multiple people, religions, philosophies, states, governmental forms, or economic systems. You may wish to reconsider your objections.

donclark 7y ago

*I recommend starting at 9:40 and watching at 2x speed TLDR; increased revenue by 3950%; they can influence behavior (and confirm); your private experiences are for sale; it undermines democracy; epistemic inequality; we need to fight this by using browser extensions to block ads and tracking cookies; we need to be using duckduckgo.com for our internet searches; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodification