>Surveillance capitalism renders behavior so that it can be parsed as observable, measurable units. Once it’s rendered as behavior it is turned into data and th

>Surveillance capitalism renders behavior so that it can be parsed as observable, measurable units. Once it’s rendered as behavior it is turned into data and that’s the data that I call 'behavioral surplus’. >These data are subjected to sophisticated analyses to manufacture 'prediction products,' and are then sold into what I call new 'markets in future behavior.' Huge revenues flow from these new markets. >The logic of this new capitalism is that we are raw material resources. We are not the 'ends' of the process but rather the 'means' of the revenue process. It is 'about' us, but not 'for' us. https://sciencenode.org/feature/shoshana-zuboff,-part-two-rendering-reality.php https://sciencenode.org/feature/shoshana-zuboff,-part-two-re... The oil analogy works for me. >You can fly in tech and talent, pump oil, keep the rulers happy and not concern yourself with the local population. Check. >(Data's) value, for advertising and influencing, is linked to the population’s productivity and power. You can still sell oil in Tonga, a country with very low GDP, but you won't make as much as if you sold out somewhere else. In fact if you're selling oil and you leave out the niche cases, you are losing money. >Finally, data are ephemeral in a way oil isn’t. You can’t barrel up bytes in the middle of the ocean. Places have tried to make laws to make data ephemeral, because it is generally not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten