Google erected four defensive arenas to protect its unregulated behavioral surplus

Evidence

Although many elements of this fortification strategy have been well publicized, their importance for our story lies in the fact that each is one aspect of a multipronged effort that deflects scrutiny from core operations in order to maintain the flow of free, unregulated behavioral surplus. Fortifications have been erected in four key arenas to protect Google, and eventually other surveillance capitalists, from political interference and critique: (1) the demonstration of Google’s unique capabilities as a source of competitive advantage in electoral politics; (2) a deliberate blurring of public and private interests through relationships and aggressive lobbying activities; (3) a revolving door of personnel who migrated between Google and the Obama administration, united by elective affinities during Google’s crucial growth years of 2009–2016; and (4) Google’s intentional campaign of influence over academic work and the larger cultural conversation so vital to policy formation, public opinion, and political perception. The results of these four arenas of defense contribute to an understanding of how surveillance capitalism’s facts came to stand and why they continue to thrive. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 390

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out Zuboff’s four-part framework for what she calls the ‘fortification strategy’ — the structural defense of surveillance capitalism against political interference.
• XREF: connects to: Google treats data collection as a vital supply line to defend at all costs — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 426; Google institutionalized secrecy to sustain behavioral surplus extraction — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 279; Behavioral surplus windfalls funded Google’s de facto monopoly in Search — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 277

Broader Connections

• Google institutionalized secrecy to sustain behavioral surplus extraction #expands (0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 279
• Behavioral surplus windfalls funded Google’s de facto monopoly in Search #expands (0.72) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 277