46 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
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---
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tags: [ecopolsoc, internet, surveillance-capitalism]
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created: Sunday, December 01, 2024
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---
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# fbbfbc32-political-accommodation-inveigelment-surveillance-capitalism
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The reason why surveillance capitalism was able to take root when it did was not
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merely down to technological forces. Google, as the originator of the form, was
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able to exploit the political currents of the time to further innoculate itself
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against scrutiny and oversight.
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The discovery of behavioural surplus coincided with September 11 and the
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subsequent "global war on terror". The quest for domestic "security" led to the
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sweeping erosion of previous generations' privacy rights.
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Prior to 911, the FCC had been arranging a series of legal challenges to Google
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on the question of privacy. This went out the window in the post-911 era where
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Google's unique ability to track and surveil online behaviour became a coveted
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commodity for the intelligence apparatus. Google began working closely with both
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the CIA and the NSA, with the CIA establishing an office and forward base in
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Silicon Valley.
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There was an deep interdependency between the Pentagon, intelligence agencies
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and Google:
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_The US intelligence community's incubation of Google from inception occurred
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through a combination of direct sponsorship and informal networks of financial
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influence, themselves closely aligned with Pentagon interests._
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_The Age of Surveillance Capitalism_ (2019): 118
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Another key aspect was cosying up to politicians during the electoral cycle.
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Most notably during Obama's elections:
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_Google demonstrated that the same predictive knowledge derived from behavioural
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surplus that had made the surveillance capitalists wealthy could also help
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candidates win elections_
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_Ibid_: 122
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Eric Schmidt took an active role in making Google's dataset and technologies
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available to the Obama campaign in both of his elections in order to target
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voters more accurately. He then was swiftly appointed to advisory roles within
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the administration throughout both terms.
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