The age of surveillance capitalism the fight for the future at the new frontier of power

Society is at a turning point. The heady optimism that accompanied the advent of the Internet has gone, replaced with a deep unease as technology, capitalism and an unequal society combine to create the perfect storm. Tech companies are gathering our information online and selling it to the highest bidder, whether government or retailer. In this world of surveillance capitalism, profit depends not only on predicting but modifying our online behaviour. How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape the values that define our future? Shoshana Zuboff shows that at this critical juncture we have a choice, the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in. We can choose whether to allow the power of technology to enrich the few and impoverish the many, or harness it for the wider distribution of capitalism's social and economic benefits. What we decide over the next decade will shape the rest of the twenty-first century. Exploring the social, political, business and technological meaning of the changes taking place in our time, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism tackles the threat of an unprecedented power free from democratic oversight, and shows how we can protect ourselves and our communities. This is a deeply reasoned examination of the contests over the next chapter of capitalism that will decide the meaning of information civilization. The stark issue at hand is whether we will be masters of the digital, or its slaves

Introduction: Home or exile in the digital future -- Part I: The foundations of surveillance capitalism. August 9, 2011: setting the stage for surveillance capitalism ; The discovery of behavioral surplus ; The moat around the castle ; The elaboration of surveillance capitalism: kidnap, corner, compete ; Hijacked: the division of learning in society -- Part II: The advance of surveillance capitalism. The reality business ; Rendition: from experience to data ; Rendition from the depths ; Make them dance ; The right to the future tense -- Part III: Instrumentarian power for a third modernity. Two species of power ; Big Other and the rise of instrumentarian power ; A utopia of certainty ; The instrumentarian collective ; Of life in the hive ; The right to sanctuary -- Conclusion: A coup from above