In this age of surveillance capitalism, the law is left for dust

Can the immense power of the world’s largest oligopolies to plunder our privacy and shape our lives be reined in? In recent days, German antitrust authorities struck a modest blow in consumers’ favour. The ruling of the Federal Cartel Office will prohibit Facebook from aggregating personal information it collects from consumers with that collected by its subsidiaries including WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook has already announced it will appeal the ruling. The stakes are high.

In this age of surveillance capitalism, the law is left for dust A18cac10b1777d4ac5afb9c3e39e37f6405ad978

In this age of surveillance capitalism, the law is left for dust A18cac10b1777d4ac5afb9c3e39e37f6405ad978

In October last year, Tim Cook, the CEO of technology behemoth Apple, blew the whistle on the destruction of our privacy at the hands of major technology companies. In a speech to the European Parliament, he condemned the “data industrial complex” – a reference to the way we all unwittingly hand over our personal information to companies in exchange for access to the internet. In calling for greater regulation of the online world, Cook argued: “Our own information – from the everyday to the deeply personal – is being weaponised against us …” to such an extent that companies know us better than we do.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/in-this-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-the-law-is-left-for-dust-20190208-p50wh7.html

In this age of surveillance capitalism, the law is left for dust

In this age of surveillance capitalism, the law is left for dust

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps In Science, Technology & Environment