UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
ALGORITHMIC SURVEILLANCE AND THE SELF
OVERVIEW OF ALGORITHMIC
SURVEILLANCE ➢ Loss of Privacy: There’s an
increasing concern over
➢ Main Idea: AI, machine
privacy erosion as digital
learning, and big data have
platforms track, store, and
fueled advanced surveillance
manipulate data for corporate
by governments and
or governmental gain.
corporations, affecting
➢ Dependence on Technology:
personal privacy, democratic
Critics argue that people’s
freedom, and self-identity.
reliance on digital
➢ Impact: Automated bots and
convenience may compromise
predictive AI impact social
their autonomy and control
media, consumer behavior,
over personal life.
and even political beliefs,
➢ Digital Capitalism and Data
transforming how people live
Exploitation: Surveillance-
and perceive their own
driven capitalism uses
autonomy.
individuals’ data as a resource
to predict and influence future
KEY THEMES AND CONCEPTS
behavior, often for profit.
➢ Pervasive Surveillance:
Surveillance is now a
continuous presence,
impacting public and private
life. AI enables detailed
tracking of citizen behavior,
health, education, and
political inclinations.
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
ALGORITHMIC SURVEILLANCE AND THE SELF
KEY THINKERS AND THEIR ➢ Global Surveillance Network:
CONTRIBUTIONS
Schneier highlights how
SHOSHANA ZUBOFF ("THE AGE OF
government surveillance is
SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM")
now historically pervasive,
➢ Concept of Surveillance with data mining occurring
Capitalism: Zuboff argues that across borders and targeting
digital services also act as not only criminals but also
surveillance tools, claiming activists and freethinkers.
human experience as data to ➢ Erosion of Freedom: Schneier
be commodified and sold. sees this unchecked
➢ Critique: She sees this as a surveillance as a threat to free
form of capitalism that expression, liberty, and
controls information about the democratic principles.
self, pushing individuals into
DEBORAH LUPTON ("DATA SELVES")
consumer roles with reduced
privacy. ➢ Datafication of the Self:
Lupton presents a balanced
BRUCE SCHNEIER ("DATA AND
view, noting that digital selves
GOLIATH")
offer both benefits (such as
➢ Global Surveillance Network: health and educational
Schneier highlights how improvements) and risks
government surveillance is (third-party access and
now historically pervasive, exploitation).
with data mining occurring ➢ Ethics of Data Selves: She
across borders and targeting emphasizes a new social
not only criminals but also ethics focused on caring for
activists and freethinkers. and understanding the
complexities of “data selves.”
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
ALGORITHMIC SURVEILLANCE AND THE SELF
ADDITIONAL KEY CONCEPTS CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON
SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM
➢ Sousveillance: The concept of ➢ Zuboff’s Theory: While
"watching from below," where influential, Zuboff's view may
people also surveil each other simplify the complexity of
through digital means, like selfhood by overly focusing on
social media. This shared the consumer role.
monitoring blurs lines ➢ Potential Benefits of AI:
between observed and Despite privacy concerns, AI in
observers. surveillance is argued to offer
➢ Distributed Monitoring: societal advantages like
Surveillance is now interwoven public safety, traffic
with everyday digital management, health
interactions, such as "likes," deliveries, and security.
retweets, and online activity, ➢ Ambivalence of Digital Selves:
creating self-regulating and The "datafication" of
self-mobilizing behaviors. individuals brings both
➢ Impact on Identity and Self: empowerment and risks,
These digital transformations reshaping intimate life, social
affect personal autonomy, relations, and the personal-
potentially "depersonalizing" public divide.
the self into a set of data
points or consumer habits.
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
ALGORITHMIC SURVEILLANCE AND THE SELF
BROADER IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIETY
➢ Freedom and Democracy: The
widespread use of surveillance
technologies can pose a
significant risk to democratic
freedoms, with surveillance
mechanisms potentially
stifling free speech and public
dissent.
➢ The Paradox of Privacy and
Public Life: Surveillance
capitalism privatizes data
while undermining individual
privacy. There is a disconnect
between personal online
interactions and the public
consequences of this shared
information.
