How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism
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- Create Date：2021-04-11 11:52:31
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Cory Doctorow
- ISBN：1736205900
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Summary
OneZero， Medium's official technology publication， is thrilled to announce a print-on-demand edition of How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism by Cory Doctorow， with an exclusive new chapter。 How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism was first published online in August， where it was an instant hit with readers， scholars， and critics alike。 For years now， we've been hearing about the ills of surveillance capitalism - the business of extracting， collecting， and selling vast reams of user data that has exploded with the rise of tech giants like Google， Facebook， and Amazon。 But what if everything we've been hearing is wrong？ What if surveillance capitalism is not some rogue capitalism or a wrong turn taken by some misguided corporations？ What if the system is working exactly as intended - and the only hope of restoring an open web is to take the fight directly to the system itself？ In Doctorow's timely and crucial new nonfiction work， the internationally bestselling author of Walkaway， Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom， and Little Brother， argues that if we're to have any hope of destroying surveillance capitalism， we're going to have to destroy the monopolies that currently comprise the commercial web as we know it。 Only by breaking apart the tech giants that totally control our online experiences can we hope to return to a more open and free web - one where predatory data-harvesting is not a founding principle。 Doctorow shows how， despite popular misconception， Facebook and Google do not possess any mind-control rays capable of brainwashing users into， say， voting for a presidential candidate or joining an extremist group--they have simply used their monopoly power to profit mightily off of people interested in doing those things and made it easy for them to find each other。Doctorow takes us on a whirlwind tour of the last 30 years of digital rights battles and the history of American monopoly - and where the two intersect。 Through a deeply compelling and highly readable narrative， he makes the case for breaking up Google， Facebook， Amazon， and Apple as a means of ending surveillance capitalism。
Reviews
Tim
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Explores many topics， not just the titular。
Ariadne
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This a free book available on Medium。 Interesting discussion on the status of Big Tech disputing the assumption that tech companies can and will regulate themselves to fix the Internet。 Can we fix Big Tech companies that dominate our Internet or can we fix it by ourselves， free of the Big Tech influence？ One of the main points discussed by the author is monopoly。 His point is: "Surveillance capitalism if the result of monopoly。 Monopoly is the cause， and surveillance capitalism and its negative This a free book available on Medium。 Interesting discussion on the status of Big Tech disputing the assumption that tech companies can and will regulate themselves to fix the Internet。 Can we fix Big Tech companies that dominate our Internet or can we fix it by ourselves， free of the Big Tech influence？ One of the main points discussed by the author is monopoly。 His point is: "Surveillance capitalism if the result of monopoly。 Monopoly is the cause， and surveillance capitalism and its negative outcomes are the effects of monopoly"。 Monopoly enables mass scale surveillance。 Good food for thought！ 。。。more
Joey
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Please do your old pal Joey a solid and read this book。 It's important。 Please do your old pal Joey a solid and read this book。 It's important。 。。。more
Simon Dobson
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A lot continues to be written about artificial intelligence and machine learning – most of it nonsense， which makes it especially refreshing and valuable to encounter a book for a popular audience that takes a wide perspective while treating the science and technology properly and accurately。What effects is surveillance capitalism having on politics and society？ Doctorow identifies the problem as one of monopoly rather than of technology， with the proviso that technology makes monopoly far more A lot continues to be written about artificial intelligence and machine learning – most of it nonsense， which makes it especially refreshing and valuable to encounter a book for a popular audience that takes a wide perspective while treating the science and technology properly and accurately。What effects is surveillance capitalism having on politics and society？ Doctorow identifies the problem as one of monopoly rather than of technology， with the proviso that technology makes monopoly far more powerful than it might otherwise be。 Monopoly deprives people of opportunities for choice by crowding-out other voices and services; technology then magnifies the ability to target specific groups who can be identified because of monopoly data collection。But he also explodes the hypocrisy and pretensions of the tech giants。 Hypocritical in gorging on the "digital smoke" we emit for free through the use of devices and services， while claiming ownership of that data and anything arising from it。 Pretensious in making claims to the efficacy of their digital targeting that is wildly excessive compared to the limited success that machine learning can show in proper scientific trials。 He also nails the dangers of loading0-up "Big Tech" with responsibilities to police their content， the expense of which puts a floor under the size of company who can come into the market: perhaps why these regulations aren't being fought too vigorously。 。。。more
Richard I Porter
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Tech folks and those concerned with policy and politics around tech and the outsized power tech firms now wield should read this。 Doctorow makes powerful arguments at the core of this that: tech firms lie。 So one of the things they are most likely to lie about is their power to build a mind-control ray for advertisers。 That while their power is concerning， most of that power comes from more traditional monopolist and oligopolist power- using privileged legal positions， dominant market control an Tech folks and those concerned with policy and politics around tech and the outsized power tech firms now wield should read this。 Doctorow makes powerful arguments at the core of this that: tech firms lie。 So one of the things they are most likely to lie about is their power to build a mind-control ray for advertisers。 That while their power is concerning， most of that power comes from more traditional monopolist and oligopolist power- using privileged legal positions， dominant market control and obscene amounts of money to crush competitors and restrict consumers。 To perform legal and regulatory capture and make competition， copying or integration legally restricted not just technically difficult。 He advocates for the core of a policy response to be: legal protections for competitive or adversarial interoperability。 To make it so a Facebook cannot sue an innovator that operates on a users behalf， integrating with their facebook data， profile， messages， connection graph and interests to provide alternative feeds or interfaces with different moderation or experience。 There may be room for requiring Open APIs， for breaking up companies that have gotten too big， from aggregators acquiring aggregators but mostly: just make them actually compete！4 Star reviews mean I really enjoyed this book， I will likely read it again someday。 I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important。 。。。more
Ben Codrington
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Would recommend to everyone！ Very important discussion about the dangers of big tech and monopolies in general， with some practical and promising ideas。
Patrick DiJusto
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Another call to arms by Cory Doctorow， in which he tells us how to destroy surveillance capitalism。In the Monty Python TV series， there was a sketch in which they made fun of a children's show。 One of the hosts of the children's show said that they were going to tell the kids how to cure all known diseases。 The answer was， become a doctor and cure all known diseases。 That's essentially what this book is like。 How do you destroy surveillance capitalism？ You gather together to elect politicians wh Another call to arms by Cory Doctorow， in which he tells us how to destroy surveillance capitalism。In the Monty Python TV series， there was a sketch in which they made fun of a children's show。 One of the hosts of the children's show said that they were going to tell the kids how to cure all known diseases。 The answer was， become a doctor and cure all known diseases。 That's essentially what this book is like。 How do you destroy surveillance capitalism？ You gather together to elect politicians who will destroy surveillance capitalism。Oh， okay。 。。。more
Paolo Zanella
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Smart as always。 I wish there were more people like Cory in the rooms with the buttons in the democratic polities around the world。 Someone tech-savvy enough to make informed decisions， and with the analytic chops to look a lot further than the next election。
T。 Maurer
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I read an advance copy of this， free at https://onezero。medium。com， but it should be available as an ebook soon。 It's a thorough and thoughtful look at monopolism， privacy， surveillance， and technology and the ways in which it impacts us。 I read an advance copy of this， free at https://onezero。medium。com， but it should be available as an ebook soon。 It's a thorough and thoughtful look at monopolism， privacy， surveillance， and technology and the ways in which it impacts us。 。。。more
Donald Schopflocher
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An online book that argues against magical thinking about the power of surveillance capitalism （ie cash for clicks， perfect targeting through massive information accretion， etc。） and documents the ways in which old fashioned monopolistic lobbying has protected and insulated today’s largest high tech companies。 Doctorow argues that while the dangers of these hyper rich companies are extreme， the remedies are the same as they have been forever: bust up the trusts。
Arya Harsono
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Full book can be found here。 Though it reads more like an extended critique of Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power， it is a welcome one。 Having only struggled through a few chapters of Zuboff's book myself， I find Doctorow's writing on the topic of "surveillance capitalism" much more refreshing and relatable。 Doctorow grounds Zuboff's seemingly alarmist claims of disappearing free will on the Internet， though to some ext Full book can be found here。 Though it reads more like an extended critique of Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power， it is a welcome one。 Having only struggled through a few chapters of Zuboff's book myself， I find Doctorow's writing on the topic of "surveillance capitalism" much more refreshing and relatable。 Doctorow grounds Zuboff's seemingly alarmist claims of disappearing free will on the Internet， though to some extent， it is true （in terms of privacy， at least）。 Perhaps worth a re-read if I ever finish Zuboff's book。 。。。more
Glenn
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Well thought out。 Hoping at least some of the ideas presented here are implemented。
William
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