Former U.S. President Barack Obama identified The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Harvard University professor Shoshana Zuboff as one of his favorite books of 2019. Subsequently, journalism researcher Avi Ascher-Schapiro found it “super interesting” that Obama praised the book, considering the fact that it criticizes his election campaigns and White House administrations for their partnerships with Google. The fruits of this collaboration were predictions of election results, determination of campaign strategies, and joint work on initiatives that sent numerous employees from the White House to Google and vice versa (reported by Mashable).

I will refrain from passing judgment on President Obama, but the contrast between his actions then and his statement now is reminiscient of a much more proven and pronounced incongruity - that of big tech companies like Google and Facebook pledging a commitment to privacy and individuals, then utilizing the information their customers share in driving their own profits and reducing human experience to sellable data points (hence surveillance captialists). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism tells the troubling tale of these companies’ 21st-century rise to global domination through algorithms, hidden agendas, invasions of individuals’ privacy, and a single-minded focus on mining the meaning out of life, all under the guise of betterment of humanity. Zuboff calls for us as individuals to say we’ve had enough, to fight for life without constant observation, and to enact policies that restrict surveillance capitalists’ powers.

Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Image from Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.

The book details the start of surveillance captialism (essentially Google’s identification of AdWords as a source of monetization based on people’s search habits) and describes various infractions, indiscretions, and collateral effects of the rise of data firms as leaders on the global stage. In all of these points Zuboff presents and then cuts through the PR smokescreens enacted by Google, Facebook, and other surveillance capitalists. To see the details that perhaps only became clear in hindsight is instructive; it shows me that to expect these companies to make any meaningful change of their own volition is wishful thinking. The way that Google tempts us as individuals (free Gmail and Drive) and communites (free Google Fiber) hostage to its abusive data policies is made clear. (And to be clear, it’s not just Google - how many cookie agreements have you read in their entirety? Their sheer length, Zuboff argues, makes it impractical for anyone to read them through and thus makes them abusive contracts as well.) Zuboff writes with a loyalty to the concrete and a pulse on the virtual. To call the book hopeful is a stretch; Zuboff instead arms her readers with knowledge and urges them to act to save what should be the right of all humans. The highest praise I can possibly give this book is that it compelled me to adjust the permissions on my apps; no more will one track my location or read my messages until it asks me to.

If I had one complaint about the book, it’s that Zuboff introduces a variety of terms she coined herself. I cannot blame her for this, but as I listened to the book rather than reading it, to look up terms like “shadow text” or “behavioral surplus” became impossible and led to some confusion on occasion. (And to call out a particular line in the book, Pokémon GO’s “fairy dust” is called Stardust and can be used on all Pokémon types, not just Fairy-types.)

The book was depressing - at times I only listened to it because I had to - but its dark tone was a well-needed wake-up call. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism demands to be read by anyone who has a smart device (or who has a child who has one). Its handling of its subject matter is deft, its point well-made, and its urgency entirely justified.

5/5 stars