Take a photo of a barcode or cover
665 reviews for:
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Shoshana Zuboff
3.97 AVERAGE
665 reviews for:
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Shoshana Zuboff
3.97 AVERAGE
I respect that this book has a lot of important things to say, and I'd love to have actually read them. But the language is opaque, the arguments repetitive, and the structure incoherent. This would be a fabulous book if it were more generally accessible, but staying awake to read more than a page is a challenge. As it is, I suspect that the majority of the people who will get through it will be researchers in relevant fields, and thus the importance of its message is lost.
I received this book (pdf) free from a promotion, but it was so long ago -- I've been reading it for months -- that I don't actually remember where it was from
I received this book (pdf) free from a promotion, but it was so long ago -- I've been reading it for months -- that I don't actually remember where it was from
This is a lengthy, dramatic and important work about the intersection of technology, privacy and economics.
Everyone should at least read the Introduction and Part 1 of this book. In the author’s own words “...the more knowledge one has about ‘internet privacy practices,’ the more one is likely to be very concerned about privacy.”
After this, you can determine if Part 2 and Part 3 are worth reading for yourself. But be aware that the melodramatic vocabulary could tie you in knots (“existential toothpaste,” “human herds,” priests of instrumentarian power”).
I made it to the end and found it rewarding overall.
Everyone should at least read the Introduction and Part 1 of this book. In the author’s own words “...the more knowledge one has about ‘internet privacy practices,’ the more one is likely to be very concerned about privacy.”
After this, you can determine if Part 2 and Part 3 are worth reading for yourself. But be aware that the melodramatic vocabulary could tie you in knots (“existential toothpaste,” “human herds,” priests of instrumentarian power”).
I made it to the end and found it rewarding overall.
I was a bit afraid that this book would go the usual route of talking about Cambridge Analytica and how big tech companies know all about us and our habits (see the perennial Target pregnancy marketing case) and the general hyperbole how social media is just generally bad. However, this book took a very surprising and refreshing view by defining new terms and showing the economic principles that will inevitably lead to the behavior we see big tech companies adopt. I really enjoyed the term “behavioral future markets”, ie. advertisers by access to Google’s and Facebook’s users who are - according to these platforms models - likeliest to behave in the future as these advertisers want (eg. buy their product). The idea of how these companies want to remove any uncertainty of what they sell - their users’ behavior - by ever increasing data capture for better prediction models and by nudging users’ behavior by getting their customers what they want (ie. you get what you measure) also put things in an interesting context. The insight, that in my mind makes this book better, is that no-one is intentionally trying to create a surveillance company: the market incentives just inevitably lead to that unless governments and regulators put a stop to these harmful “side-effects” of capitalism.
Cory Doctorow has written a lenghty rebuttal to the book. In my opinion both can be correct: it’s entirely possible that this is just “rogue capitalism” and “just normal capitalism” at the same time, because as Doctorow says, a lot of this can be attributed to the monopoly position these tech giants command. Both the surveillance and the monopoly position of these companies are a problem, and the market itself cannot solve this as both this book and Doctorow explain.
Cory Doctorow has written a lenghty rebuttal to the book. In my opinion both can be correct: it’s entirely possible that this is just “rogue capitalism” and “just normal capitalism” at the same time, because as Doctorow says, a lot of this can be attributed to the monopoly position these tech giants command. Both the surveillance and the monopoly position of these companies are a problem, and the market itself cannot solve this as both this book and Doctorow explain.
This book is rich and enlightening. Zuboff’s immense knowledge about modern technologies and understanding of relations of production is apparent throughout. Zuboff makes a compelling and convincing case for the ubiquitous and terrifying power of companies like Facebook and Google. There are endless examples and statistics illustrating the sinister doings of these global companies and how deeply their influence penetrates everyday life is harrowing. Zuboff argues that education and awareness are crucial as a first step to slowing this process which I strongly agree with. However, no further steps are illustrated nor is an alternative world. Nonetheless, as an educational text, this book is remarkable and is crucial for others to build on.
i’m glad i read it but it also made me depressed and scared me. long af
inexplicably I never logged the 700 page book I picked for nf book club last year: https://youtu.be/loqlis09z88
Among the top 3 most thought-provoking and perspective-changing books I’ve ever read
I am extremely interested in this topic and was excited to read this book, but the authors inability to move efficiently drove me so insane in the first 100 pages I couldn't finish. I kept finding myself being interested, then having to spend the next few passages mentally screaming I get it, I GET IT MOVE ON.
Good, comprehensive overview of the setup of surveillance capitalism in the first two parts, although limited hard data. Part three was a bit wooly, and actually it is interesting to read this having seen the impact to GDPR (a future event in the text of the book, but now five years of normality).
challenging
informative
slow-paced