Microsoft patented preemptive monitoring of user behavior against mental-state prediction models.

Evidence

The imaginative range of this new thinking is demonstrated in a 2013 Microsoft patent application updated and republished in 2016 and titled “User Behavior Monitoring on a Computerized Device.” With conspicuously thin theory complemented by thick practice, the patented device is designed to monitor user behavior in order to preemptively detect “any deviation from normal or acceptable behavior that is likely to affect the user’s mental state. A prediction model corresponding to features of one or more mental states may be compared with features based upon current user behavior.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1312

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does this patent map onto FDA-style mental-health diagnostic claims, and has it survived or been abandoned since 2016?
• SEED: Angle: corporations patenting preemptive mental-state surveillance as infrastructure prefigures regulatory fights over who owns the definition of ‘normal’ cognition.
• XREF: connects to: Behavioral prediction from unconscious signals requires continuous workplace sensing — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1350; Affective computing treats unconscious emotions as measurable behavioral signals. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 888; Market forces redirected affective computing from empowerment into commercial surveillance — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 909 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Behavioral prediction from unconscious signals requires continuous workplace sensing #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1350
• Market forces redirected affective computing from empowerment into commercial surveillance #corroborates (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 909
• Affective computing treats unconscious emotions as measurable behavioral signals. #corroborates (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 888
• Machines can treat everyday digital traces as psychological test items #corroborates (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2375
• Surveillance platforms extract behavioral data from users and sell predictions to advertisers #corroborates (0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 297