Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization

摘要: This article describes an emergent logic of accumulation in the networked sphere, ‘surveillance capitalism,’ and considers its implications for ‘information civilization.’ The institutionalizing practices operational assumptions Google Inc. are primary lens this analysis as they rendered two recent articles authored by Chief Economist Hal Varian. Varian asserts four uses that follow from computer-mediated transactions: ‘data extraction analysis,’ ‘new contractual forms due to better monitoring,’ ‘personalization customization,’ ‘continuous experiments.’ An examination nature consequences these sheds light on implicit surveillance capitalism global architecture computer mediation upon which it depends. produces a distributed largely uncontested new expression power I christen: ‘Big Other.’ It is constituted unexpected often illegible mechanisms extraction, commodification, control effectively exile persons their own behavior while producing markets behavioral prediction modification. Surveillance challenges democratic norms departs key ways centuries-long evolution market capitalism.