You are the product: Data and Surveillance Capitalism

With the evolution of technology we increasingly have new ways of extracting information, which leads to companies such as Google and Facebook to analyze and modify it in order to predict users' behavior, for their own profitable benefit. We can call these new ways of data 'monetization' as a form of surveillance capitalism. This new business model relies solely on the sharing of users' personal data for the use of digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, in exchange for access to content and services. User privacy no longer exists from the moment data becomes profitable, large technology companies extract users' data and sell it without their knowledge.

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According to Zuboff, users produce “raw material” for Google in the form of behavioral data such as the number and pattern of search terms, spelling, dwell times, and click patterns, among other things. Google collected that behavioral data to reinvest it “in the improvement of the product or service”, or to improve search results and introduce new products.
     Back in the 1990’s Google was driving a virtuous cycle where users received free search results, and the company reinvested their behavioral surplus into improving future searches. But once the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 and profits became a more immediate concern for startups, Google came up with a new use case for this behavior data: extraction, prediction and economic imperative.
     At the time, other search engines were primarily selling ads to be shown with specific search terms. Google, in turn, knew it could predict which ads the user would likely click on based on their data, and started showing paid placements accordingly. With this superior ad serving algorithm, Google started offering much higher click-through rates than other search platforms. In the process, Google developed a financially-driven culture of pulling in even more behavioral surplus data from its users.
     Today, the results of that incentive are more evident than ever. Google accumulates behavioral data at an unprecedented rate, drawing from more than just users’ web searches. All of this data is continuously feeding into the so-called individual’s unique User Profile Information (UPI). UPIs are essentially databases that allow the corporation to spam users with extremely accurate targeted ads.

This project aims to raise awareness about the effects of data extraction, and the 'monetization' of users' personal data by tech companies.

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Develop a lexicon, through analysis on data extraction.
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Analyze and systematize the data extraction processes by selecting information about their chronology and methodology.
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Identify representative keywords about each data extraction process.
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Explore different ways of diagramming this information that can promote its interactive exploration.
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Check if the formalization of the diagram has an expansive, didactic and communicative character.
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Construct a diagram of the data extraction processes with reference to their 'monetization', through the lexicon diagram.

The diagram will be in digital format (web) with interaction on each keyword in the lexicon. We seek the creation of an interactive digital diagram with information and awareness, promoting user reflection on the extraction and 'monetization' of personal data.Through the diagram, the user explores the lexicon related to the theme.


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Mónica Faustino
Projeto II
Laboratório II
MDC - FBAUL
2022