In 2020, researcher Shoshana Zuboff popularized the concept of “surveillance capitalism” with the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. A few months later, writer and activist Cory Doctorow responded with “How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism”, an essay published in the digital magazine OneZero.
Doctorow argues that major technology platforms maintain their power through monopolistic control of the commercial internet. According to the author, companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple use user data to display personalized advertisements based on people’s interests and habits. This system increases advertising revenues for the platforms and makes it harder for smaller companies to compete on equal terms.
The essay connects this model with corporate concentration in the United States and with intellectual property laws. Doctorow argues that measures such as software patents, copyright laws, and certain technical restrictions hinder competition and strengthen the dominant position of major platforms, limiting the emergence of independent alternatives.
The author also believes that the spread of disinformation is more closely linked to social inequality and economic insecurity than to the supposed absolute power of algorithms to shape users’ ideas and interests. According to his analysis, social vulnerability encourages the spread of manipulation and disinformation across digital networks.
As a solution, Doctorow proposes breaking up large technology corporations and enforcing interoperability. This measure would allow independent applications to communicate with the services of dominant platforms, thereby reducing dependence on major digital companies and the so-called “network effect”.
References:
Doctorhow, C. How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism https://www.ojisanseiuchi.com/attachments/2020/10/10/destroy_surveillance.pdf