After yesterday& #39;s news that Amazon has surveilled its Flex drivers for years on their private social media, I saw some people talk about this as yet another example of Zuboff& #39;s "surveillance capitalism"—actually I think it further undermines her thesis 1/ https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azegw/amazon-is-spying-on-its-workers-in-closed-facebook-groups-internal-reports-show">https://www.vice.com/en_us/art...

Morozov: Zuboff& #39;s theory in 3 parts

1) describe Google & Facebook activities

2) data extraction/behavioral mod. has created New Capitalism

3) "surveillance capitalists engage in surveillance capitalism because this is what the imperatives of surveillance capitalism demand" 2/

Section X of Morozov& #39;s review but specifically his analysis of Part 2 are key here and map over to Amazon& #39;s workplace surveillance. Is Amazon watching because it wants more data to improve services & modify behavior? Or is it watching because capital is antagonistic to labor? 3/

The original use of surveillance capitalism is a stronger explanation of why Amazon surveils its workers than Zuboff& #39;s. Postwar planners preserved post-war growth w new markets that required new forms of surveillance & control. 4/ https://monthlyreview.org/2014/07/01/surveillance-capitalism/">https://monthlyreview.org/2014/07/0...

Postwar growth & power were preserved with an advertising revolution, a permanent warfare state, and then financialization once those two waned.

All three needed forms of surveillance and control directed at consumers, dissidents, and financial assets.

That& #39;s just capitalism.

We talk about it more on @machinekillspod but this is why Zuboff& #39;s critique is reactionary. The framework naturalizes capitalism& #39;s worst parts & distracts us from explanatory gaps w tautologies—as if Amazon never watched its workers or consumers before Alexa was made!