Data grab : the new colonialism of big tech and how to fight back /
Ulises A. Mejias & Nick Couldry.
- x, 303 pages ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-289) and index.
Acknowledgments Introduction: From Landgrab to Data Grab The Four X’s of Colonialism Terms and Conditions Raw Materials Reading the Present through a Colonial Lens Your Guide to the Book 1. A New Colonialism No Capitalism without Colonialism Data and the Continuation of Colonial Violence by Other Means The Colonial Roots of AI The Resilience of Colonialism We Need Not Be Passive Victims 2. Data Territories When Society Becomes the Territory New Data Relations Mean New Power Relations Data, AI and the Environment There’s a Data Grab Happening (Very) Near You Data Territories and the Transformation of Work Global Inequality, Redux 3. Data’s New Civilising Mission The Emperor’s New "Civilising" Clothes Civilising Narrative #1: Everyone Wants an Easier Life Civilising Narrative #2: This Is How We Connect! Civilising Narrative #3: AI Is Smarter than Humans Why Civilisational Stories Work 4. The New Colonial Class The Social Quantification Sector The Big Data Harvesters The Wider Colonial Class Serving the Algorithmic State Data’s Lone Adventurers We the Consumers 5. Voices of Defiance Colonialism’s Witnesses No Modernity without Colonialism Warnings from an Earlier Computer Age Imagining the Battle to Come Resources for Resistance? 6. A Playbook for Resistance Resistance Is Already Here, and Nothing Can Stop It Radically Reimagining How We Use Data Introducing the Playbook Play #1: Working within the System Play #2: Working against the System Play #3: Working beyond the System Conclusion: And If We Don’t Resist? Notes Further Reading Suggestions Index
"In the present day, Big Tech is extracting resources from us, transferring and centralizing resources from people to companies. These companies are grabbing our most basic natural resources--our data--exploiting our labor and connections, and repackaging our information to control our views, track our movements, record our conversations, and discriminate against us. These companies tell us this is for our own good, to build innovation and develop new technology. But in fact every time we unthinkingly click "Accept" on a set of Terms and Conditions, we allow our most personal information to be kept indefinitely, repackaged by companies to control and exploit us for their own profit. Each chapter of respected technology scholars Ulises Mejias and Nick Couldry's compelling book opens with a story of an ordinary person going about their life until they come up against technology taking their data: a migrant trying to reach Europe where drones are patrolling borders, a woman in the Philippines working for a software company that takes screenshots of her monitor, a food delivery driver in a Chinese city racing against an algorithm. All of these people could be us; the story of what tech companies are doing is a global story that is impossible to escape. Mejias and Couldry explain why postindustrial capitalism cannot be understood without colonialism, and why race is a critical factor in who benefits from data colonialism, just as it was for historic colonialism. In this searing, cutting-edge guide, two leading global researchers and founders of the concept of data colonialism reveal how history can help us understand the emerging future--and how we can fight back"--
9780226832302 (cloth) 0226832309 (cloth)
2023039003
Internet industry--Social aspects. Industria de Internet --Aspectos sociales Data privacy. Privacidad de datos Data sovereignty. Corporate power. Poder corporativo Information technology--Social aspects. Tecnologías de la información--Aspectos sociales Electronic data processing--Social aspects. Procesamiento electrónico de datos --Aspectos sociales