#1270 Surveillance Capitalism is threatening democracy itself
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2019
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 5/7/2019
Today we take a look at the impacts, from personal to global, of the paradigm of companies profiting off of surveillance of their users, otherwise known as surveillance capitalism.
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SHOW NOTES
We speak with Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy.” He is a professor of media studies and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia.
Ch. 2: How Facebook Helped Trump...Without Cambridge Analytica - On The Media - Air Date 3-23-18
García is a former Facebook product manager for ads and author of Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley.
We speak with Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy.” He is a professor of media studies and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia.
Ch. 4: Age of Surveillance Capitalism Part 1 - Ralph Nader Radio Hour - Air Date 1-26-19
The author of many books and papers on the subject of modern corporate capitalism, Professor Zuboff’s latest is entitled “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.”
Ch. 5: Yael Grauer: The Billboards Are Watching You. Really. - Zero Hour with RJ Eskow - Air Date 12-11-18
When billboards can talk to cell phones we end up living in The Minority Report.
Ch. 6: Age of Surveillance Capitalism Part 2 - Ralph Nader Radio Hour - Air Date 1-26-19
The author of many books and papers on the subject of modern corporate capitalism, Professor Zuboff’s latest is entitled “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.”
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 7: Benefits and problems of algorithmic decision-making - Nick from California
Ch. 8: Immigration arguments shouldn't be economic arguments - Zach from Atlanta
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 9: Final comments on algorithmic decision-making and the moral vs economic arguments for humane immigration policy
RESOURCES
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Curated by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC(Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Inessential - Bayou Birds
- A Path Unwinding - K4
- Open Flames - Aeronaut
- Long and Low Cloud - The Bulwark
- Hickory Shed - Onesuch Village
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This program is made possible by members and donors, so huge thanks to everyone who |
| 0:06.8 | contributes on Patreon net to support the show. |
| 0:09.9 | And now, welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left Podcast. |
| 0:14.3 | I've been working on another of my series of related episodes without actually mentioning |
| 0:19.2 | to anyone that it's a series. |
| 0:21.0 | In recent weeks, we've been talking about a lot of different aspects of big tech and |
| 0:26.2 | how technology and the big four tech companies are affecting our lives. |
| 0:31.4 | We learned how they are functioning as modern-day monopolies and should invite antitrust regulation |
| 0:37.4 | in episode 1259. |
| 0:39.7 | We learned about how social media helps propagate hate in 1261. |
| 0:45.2 | We learned about how algorithms are being written into all manner of systems that are helping |
| 0:50.4 | reinforce human biases in 1266. |
| 0:54.6 | And today, we'll be looking at the impact on privacy, culture, and democracy itself when |
| 1:00.9 | technology is built on a system of surveillance capitalism. |
| 1:05.8 | Clips today come from Democracy Now, on the media, the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, and the |
| 1:11.8 | Zero Hour. |
| 1:13.8 | Well, Professor, one of the points that you make in your book is that so much attention |
| 1:25.0 | has been focused on the work of Cambridge Analytica, but that you believe that there's a much |
| 1:32.0 | deeper structural problem with Facebook than just one company being able to access personal |
| 1:39.6 | data and then use it for the fairest political ends. |
| 1:43.0 | So you talk about the structural issues that you see and also you mentioned the Philippines. |
| 1:48.3 | Most people have not heard much about how Duterte was helped to win his election by Facebook. |
... |
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