When I read "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" I became more concerned, yet somehow remained head-above-water optimistic. When I see articles like this one shared on HN the optimism all but disappears. Our worst traits (e.g., greed, vanity, etc) are being used against us. We're making entertainment out of our own demise.
When I as a European see that, I fear that we might share a similar future.
Currently we are laughing at the US being always busy imprisoning and killing their own citizens. The US is as weak as it never has been, and your presidents are a joke in the face of international crisis.
I'm not sure US citizens will understand that this is the game they decided to lose themselves. All those shitstorms are caused by social bots for a reason, you know. And the reason almost always is a political one.
Divide and conquer. Education could have taught you that, but your society messed that up, too.
The issue with all that I am seeing now over there is that I know this will come to our society, too. All the wars and revolutions have been fought for nothing :-/
Maybe it's the logical conclusion behind any economic system?
It does not matter if Google has all my YouTube videos.
It does not matter if Google keeps my passwords.
It does not matter if Google has knowledge about where I go everyday.
It does not matter if Google knows what I buy, what I search what I desire.
It does not matter that Google knows that about 70% of population.
It does not matter that Google knows everything about me, my wife, my kids, my neighbors, my lawyers, my doctors, my teachers, my leaders, my bosses, my country officials.
Yes. That said, per the book mentioned, it's not even what they know. It's what they're are willing to do with that information.
Think of it this way, my doctor knows a lot about me (at least in terms of health). My doctor isn't trying to exploit that and use it against me. Google et al present as if they're benign but the pattern of their actions seem otherwise.
The general public devalues the value of their privacy, and they underestimate (read: don't even recognize) how that is being used in not their best interest. It's 1984 without the darkness.
Also doctor is also not involved in ad business, because the effects would be spectacular. My doctor also does not has access to data to ministers, or people at the office of my city, which also makes the situation quite different. My doctor does not have regular meetings with the government, and I think somebody from Google has. Laws for treating healthcare data are also quite different from the way Google handles them.
Recently I visited a friend of mine who had a smart speaker. I hate such things, therefore I started singing. There were many words in my song, "Donald Trump", "explosions", "Al-Queda", "N word", "Alex Jones on 9 11", "Alexa buy me a new volvo", "white supremacy", "our president likes explosions" were some of the lines. Repeated. Many times.
Whenever voice recognition software is used by my friends, I show them my little trick, which shows if they care about their privacy.
We already might be living in the verge of 1984, but not yet at the full potential, not fully realized.
You should read book I mentioned. I'd "enjoy" it. It's a beast (read: long) but she goes deep and is super thorough. I believe it was on FT's short list for Book of the Year the year it was published.
The people who say, "I don't care if they have my data, I have nothing to hide," don't understand that Google et al are thinking, "Thank you very much. Thank you for your generosity. Now watch as manipulate you and exploit you and you won't even realize it."
Personally, I believe we're closer to The Matrix than we are to 1984. But that's another chat for another day.
We have met the enemy and he / she is us.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Surveillance_Capi...