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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for the Future at the New Frontier of Power | Shoshana Zuboff
20 posts | 9 read | 5 reading | 38 to read
"Everyone needs to read this book as an act of digital self-defense." -- Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything, Shock Doctrine and No Logo, and Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University "No zippy one-liners from me, except to almost literally beg you to read/ingest this book" -- Tom Peters author of In Search of Excellence The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control us. The heady optimism that defined the Internet's early days is gone. Technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, whether government or retailer. Profits now depend not only on predicting our behaviour but modifying it too. How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape our values and define our future? Shoshana Zuboff shows that we are at a crossroads. We still have the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in, and what we decide now will shape the rest of the century. Our choices: allow technology to enrich the few and impoverish the many, or harness it and distribute its benefits. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a deeply-reasoned examination of the threat of unprecedented power free from democratic oversight. As it explores this new capitalism's impact on society, politics, business, and technology, it exposes the struggles that will decide both the next chapter of capitalism and the meaning of information civilization. Most critically, it shows how we can protect ourselves and our communities and ensure we are the masters of the digital rather than its slaves.
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review
nofutureparttwo
Mehso-so

A frustrating book. On one hand, Zuboff‘s project—to theorize the wholly new permutation of global capitalism that sets the terms on which we live our connected lives—is ambitious and urgent. On the other, it truly felt unedited: her writing is often so fraught and overblown that it verges on unreadable. That‘s a shame, because buried beneath the drifts of metaphoric excess and recursive formulations is something profoundly fucking important. Ugh.

nofutureparttwo I have plenty to say about her actual argument—specifically her repeated suggestion that somehow the solution to capitalism‘s destruction of human flourishing can be found within capitalism itself, rather than in its abolition—but, unlike Shoshana, i‘m constrained by a character limit!!! 3y
nofutureparttwo tl;dr this was one of the most insightful and imaginative works of tech criticism i‘ve ever read, but it took me 9 months 3y
Reggie Lol just keep putting 👇🏼and continue in the comments, man, no matter how many it might take. 3y
8 likes3 comments
review
BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Pickpick

This is heavy and academic. Considering how dependent on online *everything* I‘ve been this year, it also freaked me out thoroughly. It‘s 700 pages, or 24 hours of audio. Or you can watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix, hear her speak, and get the basic message in two hours. Still, I‘m glad I read it even though it‘s scary and made me mad.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #nonfictionchallenge2020 #aboutcybersecurity

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sounds like another good one that will be tough to read... 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I honestly think I only registered about half of what she was trying to say. It‘s just not narrative nonfiction—it could‘ve used about a dozen more stories about real people at the companies and in the real world. But she‘s an academic, so ... it‘s obviously not her style. 3y
66 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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I‘ve been working my way through this 700 page chunkster. Audio crocheting and baking give me more listening time! 🧶

alisiakae That looks delicious! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft Oh it was. Mr. B just requested another loaf soon! (cinnamon walnut raisin bread) 3y
79 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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soulquest

Just as industrial civilization flourished at the expense of nature and now threatens to cost us the Earth, an information civilization shaped by surveillance capitalism and its new instrumentarian power will thrive at the expense of human nature and will threaten to cost us our humanity.

review
Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

A good book on an important topic covering a lot of research and big concepts. I learned a lot and am now appropriately horrified about the companies collecting our data and doing even more than I imagined with it. Having said that, the writer got quite caught up in some very elaborate metaphors and it could be a bit repetitive. I‘d have liked it to be edited a bit more heavily.

#nfn2020 @Clwojick +20
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks 1 down!

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 3y
68 likes1 comment
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Emilymdxn
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Breakfast on the first day of my new job! I‘m so excited and also SO nervous. Starting at a new company during lockdown when I can‘t meet anybody for a while is probably going to be a bit weird, it‘s probably going to be a weird couple of days getting used to it when I haven‘t worked for so long! Good book, good coffee and good muffin to begin with though

Kalalalatja That does sound weird! Best of luck on your first day. You got this! 🙌 3y
batsy Good luck! 🍀 3y
charl08 Good luck! Hope it goes well. 3y
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Bookwormjillk Good luck 🍀 We have someone new starting today as well. 3y
Bookwomble Congratulations and good luck 😊 3y
Librarybelle Good luck! 3y
Amiable We‘ve had 6 new people start in our department since the pandemic restrictions went into place in March. I still haven‘t met some of them in person! It is rather strange. I see them on Zoom. 3y
TheAromaofBooks Good luck today!!!! You've got this!!! 3y
Jas16 Good luck! First days are always weird but you will be great. 3y
erzascarletbookgasm It does sound weird but hope the day is going well. 👍🍀 3y
Deblovestoread Good luck! 3y
KVanRead Exciting! Good luck 🍀 3y
Mrs_B Good Luck!!! Hope it goes well!! 3y
85 likes13 comments
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Elias1
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Surveillance Capitalism as defined in The age of surveillance Capitalism. #nonfiction

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Elias1
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Age of surveillance capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff. #nonfiction

review
midhun.j.zacharia
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Pickpick

Are we to passively hand over "the hard-won fruits of human suffering and conflict that we call the democratic prospect and the achievements of the individual as a source of autonomous moral judgement"? There is a lot to think about in this one. Please read!

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Leftcoastzen
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This is a holy crap moment.Israeli spy agency tracking phones to see if you had been in contact with someone who tests positive for Covid-19. You will be contacted if you have via the phone they have been tracking.😬😱 https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192570/israeli-government-criticized-for-how-i...

Cinfhen I know!!!! It‘s getting a little craycray up in here 🤪 it‘s also ridiculous the amount of manpower they are using in order to locate who may potentially have Coronavirus. 4y
julesG @Cinfhen Big Brother is watching you! 4y
Leftcoastzen @Cinfhen Hope you and yours stay safe! Very creepy. I have always wanted to visit Israel, though any travel ideas are only in dreams right now.🇮🇱✌🏻Hugs to you. 4y
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Cinfhen Thanks @Leftcoastzen I‘d love for you to come visit one day 💙 BTW: once I‘m allowed to leave the house I‘m happy to mail the Greta Thunberg book to you xx 4y
Leftcoastzen @Cinfhen that‘s sweet of you! I bet the postage would cost more than the book.I have a friend locally who bought it and will loan it to me. Thanks for your generous offer. 4y
Hooked_on_books Sounds like a good movie premise 4y
Suet624 Holy Toledo! 4y
45 likes8 comments
review
Lindy
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Bailedbailed

I am very interested in the topic of digital surveillance but my brain doesn‘t seem to be taking in everything: I keep having to rewind. I‘m nearly 3 hours in but seeing that there are more than 21 hours left to go gives me a feeling of dread—an indication to set this aside. Zuboff references Piketty; another book that I fear is over my head. For both of these books, I think I‘d prefer to read summaries.

Leftcoastzen I have had Capital for years , it‘s scowling at me from my shelves unread.I have had Surveillance Capitalism out from the library for at least 10 days a, haven‘t touched it yet . Bookish problems ! 4y
Lindy @Leftcoastzen 😉👯 4y
38 likes2 comments
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ForCuriosity
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I‘m doing this book for a school report and having a mental debate on using post-it‘s or just writing in the book. What do you do? I can‘t make up my mind on this.

GingerAntics I find it easier to write in the book. There can be mishaps with the post-it‘s that cause them to be entirely useless. I‘ve always been told, a well loved academic book will have writing all over it. 4y
ForCuriosity @GingerAntics I think that‘s true as well. I‘ve deciders to write on the pages but mark certain one with colored post-it‘s so I can find it easily while planning my project. Having a small flag helps when referencing. 4y
GingerAntics Oh I totally agree with that. I like to color code my flags, coordinated with my color coded highlights and notes (I‘m a bit OCD). I find flags easier than dog ears, but I‘ve known people who preferred the dog ear method. 4y
12 likes3 comments
review
RamsFan1963
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Bailedbailed

I hate to bail on this, I do find the subject of internet surveillance and the changes in privacy interesting, but the author has become so repetitive I can't keep going. Maybe I'll return to it some other time.

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RamsFan1963
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"The disciplines of competitive markets promised to quiet unruly individuals and even transform them back into subjects too preoccupied with survival to complain."

Sends a cold chill down my spine

Leftcoastzen This is on my TBR stacking it ! 5y
LauraJ My book club read this a few months ago. While some of the claims are overblown, it‘s still a must read. 5y
42 likes1 stack add2 comments
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jonerichall

“At its core, surveillance capitalism is parasitic and self-referential. It revises Karl Marx's old image of capitalism as a vampire that feeds on labor, but with an unexpected turn. Instead of labor, surveillance capitalism feeds on every aspect of every human's experience.“

An exceptionally important read on a topic that affects anyone with a smartphone and/or users on the internet. Highly recommended.

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Shay
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Bailedbailed

This is due back tomorrow so I think I am bailing. About 130 pages in, and the subject is interesting but the prose is rather florid...

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LauraJ
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Pickpick

My book club discussed this tonight. It‘s a pick, but there is a lot of repetition and the writing style veers from fact-based to flowery prose. Zuboff makes a good case for how little most people know about the extent of personal tracking that occurs in the internet age. She warns that we need to protect our rights to privacy while we still can. Facebook is consistently the worst offender. You‘ve been warned! Overall, good food for thought.

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LauraJ
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There is no #dinnerandabook with these two around. Not even an audiobook! Sabrina took a bite of my sandwich the second I got absorbed in the book. If anyone wants to adopt...or stick to a diet, these girls are available.
#kal #catsoflitsy

candority Adorable! 😻 5y
kspenmoll What absolute cuties!!! 😻 5y
SassyBookworm Too cute!! 😻😻 5y
See All 7 Comments
Dragon 😻 5y
LeahBergen 😆😆 5y
Leftcoastzen So adorable!😻 5y
RiverKScottWrites Gahhh such cuties!!! 😍 5y
69 likes1 stack add7 comments
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LauraJ
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Late to the game. This is the book I‘ve been packing with me for the last week. It‘s my book club‘s April selection. It‘s long and occasionally scary. #packingpages

30 likes2 stack adds
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charl08
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LRB ads.
Given that I'm posting this , maybe I should read the book...

32 likes2 stack adds