About:
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff analyzes the power wielded by companies who collect raw data about people, attempting to predict behavior. Ms. Zuboff is a published author, and a professor at Harvard Business School.
- 24 hours and 16 minutes
- Publisher : Hachette Audio
- Language : English
- ASIN : B07MQBDBF3
- Narrator : Nicol Zanarella
My rating for The Age of Surveillance Capitalism – 5
Buy The Age of Surveillance Capitalism from Amazon.com*
More books by Shoshana Zuboff*
More books narrated by Nicol Zanarella*
“Google had discovered a way to translate its nonmarket interactions with users into surplus raw material for the fabrication of products aimed at genuine market transactions with its real customers: advertisers.”
Thoughts:
I remember a few years ago, talking to a co-worker who was surely 15-20 years younger, complaining about fees (which I despise to this day). He just looked at me and said “how are they supposed to make money?”. Furthermore, thought of producing a good product for a fair price never occurred to him.
That’s when I knew we lost; fees have been normalized.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff could very well be the most important book written since the invention of social media, as well as the way Google changed the Internet. A word of warning though, this book is somewhat disturbing when you think about all the information you willingly give away to social media companies.
The author points out that we don’t’ realize what’s happening around us because we have no frame of reference. Above all, this level of surveillance has never been implemented. We think we’re getting something for nothing, but we actually supply tons of behavioral raw materials for advertisers to use. This data is used, as well as manipulated, in ways which we barely understand.
It’s not going to get any better.
This type of surveillance capitalism nudges people to behave the way advertisers want you. Whether its buying products you don’t want, or need, to make you afraid so you’ll vote against your interests, bypassing user awarness. Yes, this issue has affected democracy, not just spending habits.
Professor Zubooff also goes into detail on how the Internet of Things works in conjunction with other services to figure out future behavior. As an IT professional I knew of this aspect of social media (no the extent), but this book really put together all the pieces in the social context of our time. Narrator Nicol Zanarella read this book with careful consideration to the material.
Buy The Age of Surveillance Capitalism from Amazon.com*
More books by Shoshana Zuboff*
More books narrated by Nicol Zanarella*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer:I bought this book through an Audible.com membership.
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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