Request to the Link Institute:
I've tried to summarise in 2 pages what the mechanisms are whereby the Internet
industry rapes and pillages personal data. See here:
The Digital Surveillance Economy
http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/InDigR.html#DSE
Feedback on errors and omissions much appreciated!
Be warned: the paper as a whole is academic and turgid (but of course comments
on any and all aspects would be helpful).
Thanks! ... Roger
Risks Inherent in the Digital Surveillance Economy:
A Research Agenda
http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/InDigR.html
The digitisation of a considerable amount of information about the world
relevant to business has given rise to a new phase of 'digitalisation'. This
involves a substantial shift in business models and industrial organisation,
such that the interpretation and management of the world through human
perception and cognition has been to a considerable extent replaced by
processes that are almost entirely dependent on digital data. Some
applications of digitalisation, in addition to creating opportunities, give
rise to threats to individuals, and risks to people, society and polity.
A review of the notions of information society, surveillance society, the
surveillance state, and surveillance capitalism provides a basis for
appreciating the nature of what is referred to here as 'the digital
surveillance economy' - a new form of business model that was initiated by
Google at the beginning of the 21st century. This model is predicated on the
acquisition, expropriation and consolidation of very large volumes of personal
data, and its exploitation in order to target advertisements, manipulate
consumer behaviour, and price goods and services at the highest level that each
individual is willing to bear. In the digital surveillance economy, not only
is the consumer converted from the customer to the product, but consumers'
interests have almost no impact on the process, and are ignored. In the words
of the model's architects, users are 'bribed' and 'induced' to make their data
available at minimal cost to marketers.
The processes of digitisation of the individual, followed by the digitalisation
of business processes, has given rise to a digital surveillance economy. This
harbours great threats to the interests of individuals, and to the relationship
between corporations, on the one hand, and society and polity on the other.
The new economic wave may prove to be a tsunami that swamps the social
dimension and washes away the last five centuries' individualism and humanism.
Alternatively, institutions may achieve regulatory adaptation in order to
overcome the worst of the negative impacts; or a breaking-point could be
reached and consumers might rebel against corporate domination. A research
framework is suggested, within which the alternative scenarios can be
investigated.
--
Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916 http://about.me/roger.clarke
mailto:[email protected] http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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