Varian’s benign telematics prose conceals surveillance capitalism’s coercive power

Evidence

Varian recognized that the subregions of automotive telematics exemplify this new economic frontier when he wrote, “Nowadays it’s a lot easier just to instruct the vehicular monitoring system not to allow the car to be started and to signal the location where it can be picked up.” Yawn. But wait. “A lot easier” for whom? He means, of course, a lot easier for the “we” that now observes what was, until surveillance capitalism, unobservable and executes actions that were, until surveillance capitalism, not feasible. Varian’s laid-back, simple prose is a kind a lullaby that makes his observations seem banal, so ordinary as to barely warrant comment. But in Varian’s scenario, what happens to the driver? What if there is a child in the car? Or a blizzard? Or a train to catch? Or a day-care center drop-off on the way to work? A mother on life support in the hospital still miles away? A son waiting to be picked up at school? — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 681

Categorization

• SEED: Angel for an essay: the rhetorical ‘lullaby’ of tech executives who normalize behavioral control in workaday prose — the banality of surveillance.
• XREF: connects to: Benign convenience helped surveillance capitalism escape political debate — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 276; Varian’s perspectives reveal the premises of the new market form — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1819

Broader Connections

• Benign convenience helped surveillance capitalism escape political debate #exemplifies (0.95) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 276