Andrey Zubarev presented a review of the book by Shoshana Zuboff "Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy?"

The book by Shoshana Zuboff "Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Confrontation of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in our Information Civilization" deals with such an acute issue as the lag in the evolution of institutions (primarily legal ones) in relation to the risks associated with the "illegal" use of ever-accelerating technologies for collecting, analyzing and using personal data.

At present, we can observe not only an increase in the personal data turnover, but also an acceleration of many indicators related to personal data collection and use. This has become feasible, to a large extent, owing to the development of information technology and the involvement of a large number of users in certain services. A priori, the growth of technology and network effects is not a negative phenomenon, but human nature has never been immune to the risk of unfair behavior (moral hazard), which is why there is an active discussion about the misuse of technology in the context of data. In this regard, it is quite expected that such books will appear, not only describing the facts and extent of data abuse, but also identifying global risks within the broader picture of the lives of people, states and the whole world. A non-myopic view, which allows one to "see the forest for the trees," should help in understanding global issues (both now and in the near future), as well as in finding possible solutions and answers to emerging civilizational challenges. It is precisely this global view of problems that Shoshana Zuboff demonstrates in her book. The style of writing may seem somewhat "nightmare" to the reader, but the large set of arguments and some departure from the easily perceived popular science style towards scientific content testify to the author’s keen perception of the issues and challenges discussed in the book.

The book is very well structured, which can be understood from the table of contents describing the stages of development that are in some way the foundation blocks which "surveillance capitalism" is built on. The emergence of this new political order, if you will, is the key narrative of Shoshana Zuboff’s book. Describing the essence of the concept of surveillance capitalism, the author provides the following conclusion, which clearly points to the challenge that worries her so much: "The institutional order of surveillance capitalism is an information oligopoly on which both democratic and non-democratic governments depend on in terms of large-scale extraction of data generated by people, as well as processing and forecasting thereof." It is precisely the risks of this new order both for the institutions we are accustomed to and the individual rights of citizens that are the main challenge emerging before our eyes, and the author calls for a speedy solution.

What is the basis of these challenges? Where do these risks come from? Who is responsible for them? The answers to these questions Shoshana Zuboff gives in her book from chapter to chapter.

According to the author, the core of the problem leading to the institutional crisis is in the uncontrolled and unaccountable collection and use of data on individuals by large IT corporations. The data is collected in a completely non-transparent manner, often incomprehensible and unknown both to individuals and regulatory authorities. The author claims that large corporations, use the data exclusively for their enrichment; they expand and this leads to cheaper and faster collection of large amounts of data through economies of scale. According to the author, individuals' privacy rights are often neglected.

The lack of any regulation adequate to the development of industry leads to the fact that, based on purely economic principles (growth of clicks, citations, involvement of new users), information giants not only do not control, but, on the contrary, often contribute to the dissemination of false information. All this leads to what the author calls "epistemic chaos." Such an important issue of spreading false information is not explicitly discussed in the book, but it is inextricably linked to the discourse about distorting reality and obtaining non-existent facts and data by means of AI (artificial intelligence), a technology that has been developing most actively in recent years and speeding up the already growing IT sector.

However, the problems do not end there. Data collection can be used (and, as the author shows, is already used!) not only for constructing an alternative reality, but also for controlling human behavior, both individual and collective. All this can have an impact on global processes and lead to results that are unattainable without distorting information. As an example, the author cites the manipulation of voters through direct misinformation and persuasion to vote for another candidate, as well as through influencing turnout in certain regions through a certain focus of posts on social networks. The data collected on a critical mass of individuals allows not only to target advertising according to preferences, but also to know gender, skin color, age and other critical data that makes it possible to manipulate political processes at the global level. All this, according to the author, leads to the undermining of democratic institutions familiar to many, since global processes can now be dictated simply by the will of the leaders of IT giants.

It should be noted, however, that the author perceives democratic institutions as an absolute good and does this in a certain sense axiomatically through postulating. This fact does not detract from the merits of the institutions themselves, but there is clearly room for a separate discussion of their qualities and the feasibility of models in general in which some elements of surveillance capitalism could perhaps help.

Shoshana Zuboff sees the solution to the voiced issues in the early independent analysis and regulation of the activities of relevant corporations. The author shows why these actions have failed to yield results so far. It is because various state commissions (judging by the composition thereof) are absolutely biased.

It is worth mentioning separately the author’s method of accumulating the facts for writing the book. Shoshana Zuboff conducted a series of independent extensive interviews with several high-level sources who were directly involved in decision-making on data use control in the United States and the EU. Interviews are anonymous, the author does not disclose sources, only numbers them, and the interviewees did not know about the facts of interviewing each other (as the author of the book claims), which makes the study "blind", and the coincidence of opinions and facts is a more significant and weighty argument.

In the light of the discussion about regulating and maintaining the functioning of institutions "from above", the question clearly arises about a possible request for such regulation "from below" and about the specific actions of individuals themselves, because it is their rights that are being violated, it is they who are being controlled, it is they who experience negative externalities from data collection and disinformation, even if they were not in any way involved. This leaves the reader a lot of room for reflection, because all these issues are relevant now in any society, with any views and political system.