Privacy and freedom
in times of
surveillance capitalism
Esther Crabbendam • @bitsoffreedom • 23 mei 2019
Before we start..
Who in this room does not have a Facebook-account?
And is there someone without a Google-account?
Who is still on Twitter?
And who has an Instagram-account?
Finally: who used Google Maps to find this location?
Privacy
(the right to silence)
Freedom of communication
(the right to speak)
On the internet
Lobbying, research, campaigning, litigation and empowerment
Chapter 1 of 4
Technology
≠ neutral
Technology as an
extension of man
E.g. clothes as an extension of the skin or
the car as an extension of our foot
Figure and ground
Cars?
Television?
Social media?
What about Facebook, Google or LinkedIn?
Chapter 2 of 4
Intermediation &
surveillance capitalism
Our interactions are technologically intermediated
Between me and you sits Facebook or Gmail
Between you and Black Mirror sits Netflix
Between you and The Hand Maid's Tale sits Amazon
Between Amazon and you sits VISA
The model is simple...
You
↓
Virtual third party
↓
Something
What does that mean?
Surveillance comes for free
Close your eyes...
Go through your Google searches for the past month
What type of information does Google know about you?
More than 50% of all e-mail in the world starts or ends at Google
YouTube, Google analytics, Google drive
It also comes with influence over the experience
(Potentially even with manipulation)
For a lot of you, Google even decided which route you took coming here
And even that is not neutral...
It is an explicit strategy of these companies
With your information as the new capital
Chapter 3 of 4
Surveillance Capitalism
A short course:
How do I become a surveillance capitalist?
Step 1
Collect as many data as possible
Step 1
Collect as many data as possible
Step 2
Use machine learning and datascientists to build a model that can predict behaviour
Step 3
Sell your predictions on "prediction markets"
The most important "prediction market" right now is the advertisement market
That is why the web right now has become one big tracking machine
How many files do you think my computer started downloading?
183 files, 7.08 MB,
> 9 minutes (!)
If you can predict behaviour, you can create it
Step 4 (if you are "evil")
Manipulate people so you get the behaviour you want
Think Trump or Brexit
Information-assymmetry
=
Power-assymmetry
It limits our freedom in the sence of independence
In the end, it's all about the question: are we living or are we being lived?
Chapter 4 of 4
What can we do?
We have to organize anti-power against dominant powers
"We may compensate for imbalances by giving the powerless protection against the resources of the powerful, by regulating the use that the powerful make of their resources, and by giving the powerless new, empowering resources of their own. We may consider the introduction of protective, regulatory, and empowering institutions." — Philip Pettit
So that should be
our agenda...
1. Protection
Data protection and encryption
Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming (AVG)
2. Regulation
Antitrust with data as criteria
3. Empowerment
Free software en decentral technology