Surveillance Capitalism: A Legitimate Threat or Rhetorical News Bait?

illustration by Hedvig Idås

The concept of surveillance capitalism has attracted much attention recently. More than 70 people showed up to listen to Anja Salzmann and Dag Elgesem from UiB discussing the controversial book by Shoshana Zuboff. 

The seminar was facilitated by The Forum for Science and Democracy and is published as a podcast by Vox Publica.

By Maren Myrseth

Illustration of Shoshana Zuboff.

by: Hedvig Idås

PhD student Anja Salzmann is involved in the ViSmedia project that researches visual surveillance technologies in the news media. Dag Elgesem is a philosopher and professor in ICT and Society at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies. 

 Zuboff’s book Surveillance Capitalism has gained much attention, both positive and negative. The book criticizes the big tech companies that collect personal information (data) about their customers in non-transparent ways to take advantage of it as a commodity for commercial purposes. Privacy is in this way invaded, and our freedom as independent, autonomous individuals is undermined, as is democracy itself. This is the picture of a new form of capitalism based on surveillance, control, and manipulation that Zuboff draws in her book. But how accurate is her criticism really? 

– Zuboff has compared the situation to discovering a new planet, where everything is fresh and different, says chairperson Anders Johansen as he opens the forum.

 Salzmann first discusses why Zuboff´s book was first released in Germany . She relates this to German culture and history and puts into perspective the book’s meaning and its broader personality. Thereafter, Salzmann deliberates Zuboff’s methods, theoretical anchoring, and surveillance capitalism as a concept.

 New economic logic threatens democracy

– She warns us of a new radical economic logic that threatens democracy. She presents a resolution with the ideology and secrecies of the power elite of Silicon Valley. Before, we used Google to search; now, Google is searching us, Salzmann begins. Salzmann dives deeper into Zuboff’s thesis and principles using examples, and she finishes with some advice and what she believes is the message of the book. 

 – Zuboff warns us against related dangers: a stray ‘smartification’ of society that leads us into a new form of totalitarianism. Political and democratic processes are being replaced by data processing, citizens with statistics, and cities with the idea of population. 

 – Even though she presents a dystopian dissimulation, she finishes the book with a proclamation. Ask uncomfortable questions, do not be fooled by the rhetoric of the inevitableness that is being spread by the representatives of Silicon Valley. They try to convince people that certain technological changes are inevitable, but there are always other alternatives. 

Salzmann rounds off: 

 Autonomous participant

– She argues against the image of technology as an autonomous participant and that certain actions and effects are inevitable, which is a strategy that has been used for centuries to renounce responsibility and hide where power lies. Zuboff appeals to us to put our stakes in democracy and develop a storm of innovation and an understanding of what is being taken from us: our dignity, autonomy, and the right to self-righteousness. She finishes with some thoughts on the beauty of a new beginning and that we all need a moral compass and a little courage. 

 Elgesem then takes the lead with a focus on the democracy aspect, offering a more critical viewpoint than his colleague. He describes the book as a good normative critique, but with many flaws as a societal thesis. He is overtly critical of the fact that Zuboff does not mention any counter-arguments to her theory of a new type of capitalism. 

 – It is an important book that points to real challenges. Moreover, to understand and even comprehend what she is saying, you have to dig deep into Zuboff’s notions. Her theory about a new capitalism parallels Marx’s theory of surplus value, where the laborer is at the center. In Zuboff’s theory, however, there is no such central character, only the data clues we leave behind when we interact with the digital media. 

PHOTO: ASTRID GYNNILD

Everyday examples

Elgesem also uses two examples that he says can relate more to our everyday life. The first is a research study about personal data and the trading of personified political advertisements on Facebook in the British election in 2017. The other is a research report about how apps spread information to third parties, such as brokers and advertisers, through non-transparent channels that also violate the GDPR. 

 – The report concludes that everything is out of our control and that the GDPR is difficult to legitimize because it happens in areas and in the technological infrastructure into which authorities have no insight. It is blatant also that the book has few academic reviews, but many newspaper reviews. In my opinion, the book is effective in giving caution, which, it seems, the news media has swallowed whole. In the academic world and the societal conversation, it has missed a mark. 

– The democratic challenge is real, but we can merit from much more by working with the kind of research I have been referencing today. This is a call to action that we, as social scientists, should heed. It will bring us forward and ultimately defend democracy, according to Elgesem.

 – Zuboff has compared the situation to discovering a new planet, where everything is fresh and different, says chairperson Anders Johansen as he opens the forum.

 Salzmann first discusses why Zuboff´s book was originally written in German. She relates this to German culture and history and puts into perspective the book’s meaning and its broader personality. Thereafter, Salzmann deliberates Zuboff’s methods, theoretical anchoring, and surveillance capitalism as a concept.