Surveillance capitalism and it's alternatives
A thread 🧵 1/14
#bigtech #nobigtech #GAFAM #deletegafam #proton #tuta #microslop #capitalism #anticapitalism #socialism #surveillance #foss #opensource #noai #digitalsovereignty #techalternatives #fediverse
2/14 What is surveillance capitalism?
Surveillance capitalism is when companies collect your behavioral data (like which websites you visit, your interests and worries, who you talk to, what time you go to sleep, etc.) and make a profile about you. They then sell this profile to advertising companies and government agencies, both foreign and domestic.
Did we consent to having profiles made about us and sold to the highest bidder?
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The profiles can be resold over and over again to whoever has money and wants to buy it, with no oversight or background checks on the buyers. That’s how personal data ends up in the hands of bounty hunters and stalkers. These profiles are most valuable when they are kept constantly up-to-date, which is why every effort to free ourselves from surveillance capitalism helps, no matter how small!
4/14 But I have nothing to hide!
That’s great! Unfortunately, it’s irrelevant. Even though surveillance capitalism can help police catch bad guys, it’s a very poor substitute for good police work because it catches literally everyone in the net.
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Surveillance capitalism is a threat to marginalized people and communities, whistleblowers, human rights activists, and domestic abuse survivors (among others) because it puts their personal data, thoughts, location, and behaviors on the open market for anyone to buy. Even the bad guys themselves can buy these data profiles, so being a law-abiding citizen is not really relevant if you end up targeted for identity theft or some other scam.
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But believe it or not, there is an even graver threat from surveillance capitalism.
7/14 Surveillance capitalism vs. democracy
Surveillance capitalism played a key role in two decisive political decisions in the 2010s, a time when surveillance capitalism was still not generally known or understood. A lot has been written on this topic and it’s covered well in a 2019 documentary called The Great Hack, but to put it briefly:
9/14 This research, Wylie said, likely breached the U.K.'s strict campaign financing laws and may have helped to sway the final Brexit outcome.”
10/14 For a more in-depth description, please read ‘Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Death Match of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in Our Information Civilization’ by the great author and pioneer in the study of surveillance capitalism Shoshana Zuboff at
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/26317877221129290
11/14 Alternatives
Fortunately, we already have lots of tools at our disposal to fight back against surveillance capitalism. All you have to do is download and use these alternatives and you’re already shifting the power away from Big Tech. It’s that easy!
13/14 more alternatives
"Tired of relying on Big Tech for your collaboration, communication and productivity needs? You’re not alone.
Whether you’re concerned about data privacy, compliance, vendor lock-in, or digital sovereignty, the shift to European-built software is gaining serious momentum. And for good reason: these platforms respect your data, operate under GDPR by default, and are often open source or self-hosted."
https://wire.com/en/blog/best-european-alternatives-to-big-tech
14/14 end of 🧵
"Each person has their own reason, but the list of options are growing. Whether it is privacy concerns, environmental, boycotting the tech oligarch, non-existent customer service, the prolification of AI or any other cause. Underpinning all of it is the idea that too much power is given to the few, and it is time to empower the many.
Purchase with Purpose is a movement that looks to grow and support people in making this switch."
Alternatives to Capitalism
