“He was no longer trembling, but his head felt very fuzzy. Drinking didn’t help, but it at least gave him something to do with his hands.”

-from Babel by R.F. Kuang, ch. 5. 

Data, Surveillence and Social Media

The 21st century slavery

Jill Scott, an American soul singer and song writer highlights the concept of surveillance in one of her songs titled ‘Watching me’. She expresses how she feels watched all the time in her everyday life. Indeed data and surveillance has become part of our everyday life and information has now become the new currency. The age of information technology allows for total strangers to get access to peoples personal information for their own again, moreover the state and the social media corporations. It is the use of that information that is worrisome and problematic. In this post I will be reflecting on the content of the course discussing my opinions about responses to and experiences of digital media as it relates to the political life. I will be looking specifically at ‘Data, Surveillance and Social Media Corporations’ and I will substantiate my discussion with reference to examples from my own knowledge as well as from the course material. My blog will include links, memes, gifs, images and other digital content, as well as citations from academic books and articles to further support my point.  

The English Oxford Dictionary defines surveillance as “close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal”. This definition mostly refers to surveillance as a tool mainly used by the state to watch citizen criminal behaviour, for instance CCTV cameras in the streets were introduced to curb crime activities, in a sense that criminals will not act in criminal activities knowing that there are cameras watching them. No doubt that has had a huge impact in lessening crime activities in our streets. In comparison with surveillance online though, it seems to be suggesting a different game altogether. Because if we were to go with the initial definition, it would mean that everyone who is online is a criminal and that is not true. It means something else and does more. According to Lyon (2013) surveillance has spilled out of its old fashion-state containers to become a feature of everyday life, at work, at home, at play, on the move. So far from the single all Seeing Eye of Big Brother, myriad agencies now trace and track mundane activities for a plethora of purposes. Making us visible is fundamentally about keeping us in check for multiple reasons, in addition to that it also serves as a business machine for the state and social media corporations. Of course it may not necessarily be a bad thing as this can also help with counting the world’s population or helping our economy for example.

Online data and surveillance is done through technological algorithms and feeds into the business of information turned commodity exchange between multi corporations such as advertising and marketing, banking, insurance and more “codes, usually processed by computers, sort out transactions, interactions, visits, calls, and other activities; they are the invisible doors that permit access to or exclude from participation in a multitude of events, experiences, and processes” (Lyon, 2013:13). Social media algorithms curate our lives. They control us and what we do and can dictate what we consume. According to a Forbes (2017) article Facebook for example “wants you to keep coming back. To keep you engaged, they need to offer you interesting content to read. This content has to come largely from a pool of posts, photos, etc. created by your friends and pages you like.

Lyon (2013) further explains that the resulting classifications are designed to influence and to manage populations and persons thus directly and indirectly affecting the choices and chances of data subjects. The gates and barriers that contain channel, and sort populations and persons have become virtual. It seems the population is easily controlled and seem powerlessly submissive to these tactics and devices. Our personal information is used by Social Media Corporations to sell to other companies and make more money every day, furthermore the state is keeping a close watch on the population like a hawk in order to exercise control over them. Nevertheless people keep coming back online and spending their days working online by proving information freely. In fact it has become more like a drug addiction and studies also show that more people are increasingly spending more time online “the mass appeal of social networks on the Internet could potentially be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amounts of time people spend online” (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011: 3528-3552). Kuss & Griffiths (2011) further argue that on the Internet, people engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially to be addictive. Rather than becoming addicted to the medium per se, some users may develop an addiction to specific activities they carry out online. Furthermore in their research Web Africa reported that in South Africa alone in the last year Facebook increased by 8%, from 12-million to 13-million users, Twitter by 12%, from 6,6-million to 7,4-million users, YouTube by 15%, from 7,2-million to 8,28-million users, and Instagram, with a staggering 133%, from 1,1-million to 2,68-million users. The numbers are growing ridiculously.

In his article Marx (2008) talks about contemporary surveillance methods and popular culture both as distinctive kinds of soul training and plays off of Michele Foucault’s (1977) study of modern means of training the person to be compliant. This explains the willingness of people in engaging with internet so addictively without question. Like an alcoholic, they know that alcohol is not good for them but they take it any away. There must be a sense of power dimension at play.  

Power has many faces, in some instances even faceless. In this case I would like to use the Panopticon as a metaphor of power relations. The Panopticon is a theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, the idea of a perfect prison “Panopticism, the social trajectory represented by the figure of the Panopticon, the drive to self-monitoring through the belief that one is under constant scrutiny, thus becomes both a driving force and a key symbol of the modernist project” (Wood, 2003:234-239). What it does is that it exercises power over the society without any physical force. The society willingly give themselves to the might of these online power dimensions “for Foucault the Panopticon represented a key spatial figure in the modern project and also a key dispositive in the creation of modern subjectivity, in other words in the remaking of people (and society) in the image of modernity” (Wood, 2003:234-239). According to Wood (2003) the Panopticon must not be understood as a dream building: it is the diagram of a mechanism of power reduced to its ideal. Its power is willed and applied without using any form of physical force. Similarly the internet must not be understood as a dream utopian innovation for all, it is a mechanism of power through many of its use such as surveillance and data selling.

We live in an era of capitalism were everything is driven by money and riches. In the digital age I see the online addiction as slavery in the 21st century with slight differences as compared to the past “slavery was a brutal exercise of exploitation by the individual and state of the bondsman and bondswoman, and was extremely profitable” (Stevenson, 2015). Furthermore, in comparison to the 21st century slavery Stevenson (2015) says slavery fundamentally meant a loss of control over the vital aspects of ones’s life and the lives of one’s loved ones. It often meant physical and psychological abuse. By today’s standards, the average slave was not treated humanely, or even humanly, by their owners or governmental power.  The only difference is that digital labour or the 21st century slavery is not physical.

References

Forbes. 2017. Your Social Media News Feed And The Algorithms That Drive It.                           https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/15/your-social-media-news-feed-and-  the-algorithms-that-drive-it/#42e9108e4eb8

Kuss, D.  J. & Griffiths, M. D. 2011. Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of     the Psychological Literature. International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology              Division, Nottingham Trent University. 8(9), 3528-3552; doi:10.3390/ijerph8093528

Lyon, D. 2003. Computer codes and mobile. In Lyon (ed), Surveillance as Social Sorting:              Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination. Routledge.

Marx, G. T. 1996. Soul Train: The New Surveillance and Popular Music, In E. Leichtman,  forthcoming (eds). This article expands on the musical section in G. Marx, Electric Eye             in the Sky: Some Reflections on the New Surveillance and Popular Culture, in D. Lyon    and E. Zureik (eds.), Computers, Surveillance & Privacy.

Stevenson, B. E. 2015. What is Slavery?. Polity Press.

Web Africa. Social Media-The latest South African Stats. www.webafrica.co.za/blog/social-         media-2/social-media-latest-south-african-stats/

Wood, D. 2003. Surveillance & Society. Editorial. Foucault and Panopticism Revisited.                 University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK  1(3): 234-239  

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Cloud Computing Is Levelling The Playing Field For Large And Small Businesses

Phil Simon’s 2010 book, The New Small, foretold the story of how an emerging breed of small businesses were poised to take on the big boys by harnessing the power of disruptive technology. Its central proposition has proved highly prophetic.

Seven years later and we’ve all seen the PowerPoint; the world’s biggest cab company owns no taxis, the largest phone companies have no telecoms infrastructure and the biggest movie house on the planet doesn’t own a single cinema. You get the picture. Ambitious start-ups have, with the help of now-familiar technology, unseated the giants and established a new normal. David has slain Goliath, with the cloud rather than the catapult providing the metaphorical knock-out blow.

But you don’t have to aspire to be the next Netflix to exploit the value of technology. It’s there for all of us – and it’s changing the game. Traditionally, evaluating the technology infrastructures of large and small businesses was generally akin to comparing apple with pear. Now, thanks to cloud computing, every SME can compare with Apple.

Independent research has found that almost half of SMEs believe technology ‘levels the playing field’ between small businesses and large corporations. Furthermore, the study suggests that the agility that comes with being smaller often gives SMEs the edge, enabling them to take advantage of digital innovation more quickly. The dynamic of modern business is changing. Small is becoming the new big – and cloud computing is helping to put it there.

However, despite the undoubted benefits, some SMEs are yet to move to the cloud. Many persist with legacy systems, or rely on server upgrades to solve their needs. Too often, technology is viewed as a tactical consideration rather than a strategic enabler. It’s a missed opportunity that’s holding companies back.

Cloud computing is the transformative technology of our time. Fundamentally, it gives even the smallest businesses access to enterprise-grade IT infrastructure – the very same infrastructure, in fact, that the world’s biggest conglomerates are themselves deploying. It’s this transition that levels the playing field, giving SMEs a platform to future proof their businesses and flexibly align for growth.

The benefits of cloud computing are many but the most resonant boil down to advantages in four key components of the drive for digital transformation; flexibility, resilience, security and the development of the digital workplace. Primarily, the cloud gives small businesses the ability to scale their IT platforms based on the needs of their business today, rather than having to invest in infrastructure based on estimates of where it might be tomorrow. Instead of forking out significant up-front capital investment for functionality they may not need, the cloud allows companies to pay for services as and when they need them.

IT becomes a utility – you simply turn the tap on when you need a little more, and turn it off when you don’t. This gives SMEs flexible access to transformative technologies such as Internet of Things, machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as powerful tools and software that may have previously been out of reach. The ‘utility’ approach breeds an operational agility that helps small companies evolve infrastructure in line with business needs.

Another major consideration in the digital transformation journey is the need to maintain business continuity. Resilience is imperative. Typically, smaller businesses have relied on RAID storage, using multiple drives to protect their data in the event of hardware failure. The best cloud systems are more robust; data is stored not on drives but in industrial-strength data centres. In the rare event that an entire centre fails, businesses continue to function via remote data centres. This provides a level of resilience that’s unparalleled in most large organisations, let alone SMEs.

Security Misconceptions

Perhaps the first question that’s asked about cloud computing is around security: how safe is my data? It’s a perceived barrier that often prevents businesses from considering it. But security is not a barrier to the cloud – it’s a reason to move there. Without doubt, a cloud deployment is more secure than any on-premise system – both physically and digitally.

Physically, most on-premise systems are ‘secured’ behind a locked door or in an alarm-protected room. Data centre environments are typically protected by CCTV, perimeter fencing and biometric access controls. Similarly, digital security for on-premise systems is often just a firewall. The major cloud providers invest hundreds of millions in data security each year – and their users reap the benefits simply by using their platforms. This means that small businesses can enjoy the same resilience as global giants like BP.

Moreover, with a cloud deployment, organisations always benefits from the latest operating system, security updates and patches – further minimising risks. In an era where ransomware and data protection breaches present significant threats, companies need to do all they can to reduce vulnerability. The cloud, underpinned by good governance and good practice from a trusted IT partner, helps take care of it.

Across all industries, there’s much focus on the need to create a digital workplace that meets the needs of the modern workforce – providing mobility and connectivity and supporting collaboration. Cloud computing not only enables this, it can also unlock efficiency gains and help SMEs align for growth.

For example, start-ups can facilitate remote working or open regional offices without the need for expensive infrastructure; with the cloud, everyone works off the same system and has access to the same tools and data. The benefits can be practical too. For instance, in companies that have migrated to the cloud, the removal of unnecessary hardware can free up office space and reduce the costs of outsourcing IT.

The Journey

There’s little doubt that a move to the cloud can transform SMEs. It’s no surprise that many are making the journey. But it’s important to exercise caution: not all clouds are equal. Some ‘cloud providers’ offer little more than storage space on locally hosted servers. This provides no resilience and few of the scalable benefits associated with fully-managed services. It’s therefore essential you ask the right questions.

Where will your data be hosted? Is it a credible data centre? What’s the physical and digital security of that facility? Where will data be replicated to if there’s an incident at the primary site? Can you actually operate from that back-up site, or will you need to restore your systems elsewhere to get up and running again? These are just the base considerations. The most effective partners will understand your business requirements and work with you to develop the best strategy.

In the era of digital transformation, having a flexible, robust and secure IT system is a clear business advantage. If you haven’t got the right infrastructure, whether that’s on-premise or cloud, you won’t be able to run your business effectively in the modern world. In truth, that world is marching relentlessly down a one-way street towards the cloud. Those that wait will get left behind.

The journey doesn’t need to be difficult. With the right IT partner, ideally a specialist in cloud deployment, it’s possible to manage a seamless transition that will have a transformative effect on your business. What’s more, it will give you all the benefits the big boys get, whilst retaining all the advantages of being small and nimble.

Cloud computing has levelled the playing field. It’s time to think big.

from http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/cloud-computing-is-levelling-the-playing-field-for-large-and-small-businesses/