((Rachel Orr/The Washington Post; iStock))

China’s plan to organize its society relies on ‘big data’ to rate everyone

“This is what China calls “Internet Plus,” but critics call a 21st-century police state.” – BEHIND THE FIREWALL: How China tamed the Internet | This is part 5 of 6 of a series examining the impact of China’s Great Firewall, a mechanism of Internet censorship and surveillance that affects nearly 700 million users.

China’s plan to organize its society relies on ‘big data’ to rate everyone Read More
Book Cover: " The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power"

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth.

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power Read More
NYTimes - The Privacy Project

The Privacy Project

The boundaries of privacy are in dispute, and its future is in doubt. Citizens, politicians and business leaders are asking if societies are making the wisest tradeoffs. The Times is embarking on this monthslong project to explore the technology and where it’s taking us, and to convene debate about how it can best help realize human potential.

The Privacy Project Read More

The Internet Has Made Dupes—and Cynics—of Us All

Wired, June 24, 2019
By Zeynep Tufekci

“Online fakery runs wide and deep, but you don’t need me to tell you that. New species of digital fraud and deception come to light almost every week, if not every day: Russian bots that pretend to be American humans. American bots that pretend to be human trolls. Even humans that pretend to be bots. Yep, some “intelligent assistants,” promoted as advanced conversational AIs, have turned out to be little more than digital puppets operated by poorly paid people. ”

The Internet Has Made Dupes—and Cynics—of Us All Read More
Data & Goliath

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World

You are under surveillance right now.

Your cell phone provider tracks your location and knows who’s with you. Your online and in-store purchasing patterns are recorded, and reveal if you’re unemployed, sick, or pregnant. Your e-mails and texts expose your intimate and casual friends. Google knows what you’re thinking because it saves your private searches. Facebook can determine your sexual orientation without you ever mentioning it.

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World Read More