where to hide in the age of 'surveillance capitalism'

They all prey upon us, poor sitting ducks

Grim-faced under a hoodie (1), tapping nervously on the keyboard while watching intently what’s happening on the screen, I might resemble a hacker. But I ‘m merely a hapless computer user who is on high alert while setting up a new device (2).

One might naively assume that having acquired and duly paid for a new piece of hardware with accompanying software, one can insouciantly click through the standard set-up procedure.

But no, commercial harassment (3) is now hard coded into every device right from the start.  If you don’t pay attention the provider can share your data with X, Y and Z to sell you better services and products and blablabla.  And your device’s default browser comes of course pre-equipped with unwanted gaudy news-sites and commercial links.  Etc Etc

One might also naively assume that buying a premium anti-virus license, means you have a security provider who is henceforth on your side, defending your interests in the digital jungle. But no, also this paid-for anti-virus software does not miss an occasion to send various alarming messages only to persuade you to buy yet another multi-year subscription to yet another module you don’t really need. 

And when we go on-line, then of course we all know that really anything goes and no holds are barred.  From commercial tech firms to digital criminals, they all prey upon us, poor sitting ducks, from the moment we switch on our tech device and connect to the web. (4)  Let’s be clear, it’s not the technology as such which is stressful, it’s the whole commercially exploitative environment around it that is so disheartening.

Looking for safer spaces ... 

 By contrast …. ah, by contrast… Have you ever realised what a precious, disinterested realm you enter when reading a good book? For instance a lovingly researched art history book.  You can sit quietly with this book – leafing through it, reading, looking at pictures, thinking, … Nobody is preying on you! Nobody is tracking or trapping you! Within the covers of the book, nobody is trying to sell anything. The book is yours forever, on your own terms of engagement.  

And the book’s content, ah … the content … It has not been selected or engineered by an algorithm maximising and exploiting your attention for some product placement (5).  No, usually there has been an earnest writer at work, eg an art historian, who has done long and patient research, and then in turn tries to explain her insights to the reader. A writer who may actually love his subject, who may try to convey a genuine passion.  What a blessing indeed, to spend time, slow time, your own time, with a book that is only there to share knowledge and beauty.

Who knows, we may still witness a revival of the paper book, when too many people will have become exhausted and disgusted by the rowdy, always-on, always-being-tracked commercial hell which the digital world alas has become.

 

tracking notes instead of cookies

1.  hoodies are so handy to keep warm in times of energy wars, while sitting still in front of the computer 
2.  Not a new device because the old one failed (it’s running nicely with plenty of memory and remaining hard disk space) but because the near-monopolist Operating System provider keeps pushing menacing messages warning about the end of times (ie end of service cycle with security updates), insisting on the need to buy a new computer with the latest operating system.
3.  a commercial harassment to which one has alas become so accustomed when surfing the web, using social media, consulting on-line information. We all know today’s web services’ business model is one of free services in exchange for our data and for our attention to commercial messages.  But even providers of paid-for goods and services are now joining the race to aggressively squeeze as much as possible economic return from their unlucky captive customers.  “post-purchase monetisation” it is called.   Shoshana Zuboff wrote about it in great detail in “The age of surveillance capitalism”
4.  This is not a techno-phobe complaint  - the technology is impressive, its possibilities are exhilarating. But it’s the business model, or even the entire mind set,   of the on-line world, which reduces us to a bunch of sitting ducks.  Who doesn’t think back with longing to the good old early days of the internet, when disinterested communities and websites sprang up, when you could connect with people, find high quality information and educational resources, … ach.  II’s of course also our own collective fault – there is no such thing as a free lunch, and collectively we have ensured the failure of the earlier business models based on premium subscriptions, donations etc.  But maybe the non-mainstream digital world can still recover this better version of the digital world?
5. Just chronicling the latest harassment: Instagram aping TikTok, so you now have to wade through a heap of unsolicited silly video stuff and you can no longer just follow people you find interesting.  What ìs this obsession of our age with video? Is it a question of a collective horror of stillness, a variant of horror vacui?
6. But thank you Alphabet-Google, for your gracious free offer of Blogger! I wonder which data of mine were suited for monetisation?