Surveillance capitalism is a term that was first introduced by Shoshana Zuboff, a social psychologist and scholar. It refers to the practice of tech giants and other businesses making money by collecting and analyzing personal data. This data, often gathered without explicit consent[3], is used to predict and influence consommateur[4] behavior. Notable entities in this field include industry behemoths like Google[5] et Microsoft[2]. The practice has faced criticism due to its impact on personal vie privée[6] and potential for societal control. It has also led to significant changes in the way businesses operate, with a growing emphasis on data analytics and the use of sophisticated algorithms. Legal and regulatory responses, such as the EU Règlement général sur la protection des données[1], have been implemented to curb data misuse, but concerns still persist.
Capitalisme de surveillance is a concept in political economics which denotes the widespread collection and commodification ou personal data by corporations. This phenomenon is distinct from government surveillance, although the two can be mutually reinforming. The concept of surveillance capitalism, as described by Shoshana Zuboff, is driven by a profit-making incentive, and arose as advertising companies, led by Google's AdWords, saw the possibilities of using personal data to target consumers more precisely.
Increased data collection may have various benefits for individuals and society, such as self-optimization (the quantified self), societal optimizations (e.g., by smart cities) and optimized services (including various web applications). However, as capitalism focuses on expanding the proportion of social life that is open to data collection et data processing, this can have significant implications for vulnerability and control of society, as well as for vie privée.
The economic pressures of capitalism are driving the intensification of online connection and monitoring, with spaces of social life opening up to saturation by corporate actors, directed at making profits and/or regulating behavior. Therefore, personal data points increased in value after the possibilities of targeted advertising were known. As a result, the increasing price of data has limited access to the purchase of personal data points to the richest in society.