Citizens resist surveillance by hiding from both the state and corporate data extractors

Evidence

In the absence of synthetic declarations that secure the road to a human future, the intolerability of glass life turns us toward a societal arms race of counter-declarations in which we search for and embrace increasingly complex ways to hide in our own lives, seeking respite from lawless machines and their masters. We do this to satisfy our enduring need for sanctuary and as an act of resistance with which to reject the instrumentarian disciplines of the hive, its “extended chilling effects,” and Big Other’s relentless greed. In the context of government surveillance, the practices of “hiding” have been called “privacy protests” and are well-known for drawing the suspicion of law-enforcement agencies. Now, hiding is also invoked by Big Other and its market masters, whose reach is far and deep as they install themselves in our walls, our bodies, and on our streets, claiming our faces, our feelings, and our fears of exclusion. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1560

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘arms race of counter-declarations’ echoes the broader theme in this book of surveillance as totalitarian-style power; connects to Zamyatin’s We portrayal of resistance through hidden private life. — connects to: Corporations will use personal data against individual interests unless checked — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 497; As citizens become more legible, the monitoring institutions themselves grow opaque. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 391; Digital protest platforms covertly harvest signatories’ data for commercial profit — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 911 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Resistance to surveillance capitalism requires deliberately creating friction against its smooth flows #expands (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1657