Established telecom firms pivoted to compete for surveillance revenues

Evidence

The unprecedented successes of Google, Facebook, and then Microsoft exerted a palpable magnetism on the global economy, especially in the US, where the politics of lawlessness were most firmly entrenched. It did not take long before companies from established sectors with roots far from Silicon Valley demonstrated their determination to compete for surveillance revenues. Among the first in this second wave were the telecom and cable companies that provide broadband service to millions of individuals and households. … “Armed with their expansive view over the entire web, internet providers may even be in a position to out-Facebook Facebook, or out-Google Google,” observed the Washington Post. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 518

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: the ISPs’ network vantage point as a ‘tollbooth on the web’ — how the last-mile incumbent was structurally best positioned to out-Google Google, and what happened when it tried.
• XREF: connects to: The paid telecom bill now also buys a digital strip search for surveillance — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 537