Media and Internet users nowadays are so much influenced by the illusion of freedom of expression as well as the simplicity in communicate each other. It was initiated through the sophisticated service that allow its users to have “user generated content” applications. However what they are doing in fact is to exchange their access privilege with the loss of their privacy rights towards their personal data. Privacy and freedom of expression issues in cyber world are now becoming commodities that possess economy values for whom so-called new form of capitalists

1. A Study of New Media: A Political Economy Study on
Commodification of Privacy and Freedom of Expression
within Search Engine and Social Media in the Internet
Adi Wibowo Octavianto

5. Social Media Users are
increasing
Socialbakers.com

6. For capitalist point of view
this is a potential market

7. Political economy perspective on this
phenomena

8. political economy as the study of the social
relations, particularly the power relations,
that mutually constitute the production,
distribution, and consumption of resources
(Mosco, 1996; p.25)
Resources: Media products such as news papers, magazine, television programs etc

9. This paper discusses the power relations that
occur between the online service capitalist and
the service users

10. • Political economy analysis can be performed
through three entry points or process;
commodification (contents, users, labors)
• spatialization,
and structuration

11. Commodification
The process of commodification describes the
way capitalism carries out its objective of
accumulating capital or realizing value through
the transformation of use values into exchange
values (Mosco, 1996 ;p.140)

12. Entry point use: Commodification of audience
Previous relevant study:
Mattelart (1991): Marketing Firms become the
provider of valuable information about
consumers,
Smythe (1971): The primary product of mass
media is the audience, audience is a media labor

13. The Process of
Commodification
• Search engine and social media are not free
To convince people the providers must offer
benefits/use value
• The needs of social media and search engine
have create and maintain

14. Creating the needs
• The needs is natural and wanted: the need to get information as fast
and comprehensive as possible, the need to connect, collaborate and
share in the social context. Necessity in network society
certain values have to implant in people mind through symbols and
associate that symbols and value with positive response. Eg: googling,
twiting, facebooking, democratic, freedom of expression
• Consumers have to participate in consumption. Not just using but also
promote to others
(based on patterson model, 2003)

15. Privacy
• Popular descriptions are such expression such as privacy is the individual right to
determine whether and to what extent one is willing to expose oneself to others and
privacy is the right to be left alone.
In legal theory, privacy is a particular right of freedom
• Freedom from intrusion into areas of one’s own life that one has not explicitly or implicity
opened to others (Holmes in Djik 2006)
• Information privacy: related to individual control to keep personal data, including to
information and decisions based on those data. Informational privacy is the right to
selective disclosure of personal data (Djik, 2006)

16. Commodification of privacy and freedom of
expression
• Voluntary Panopticon surveillance
participation by users to keep honest data
filling. Google creedo: don’t be evil
Privacy as new currency to get access
• Capital power persuade that privacy in
digital world is no longer relevant issue to
concern (Facebook)

17. • Normatively users can control their own
personal data. Online services should have
users explisit permission to use or sell the
data
• In reality some service providers share the
privacy data to the third party without
users’ consent (Dybward, 2010)

18. Capitalist strategy to
preserve control
• Network society is a must
Communication technology is the way to
create the more democratic and freedom
society
• Honest personal data are important to
deliver personal and customize services.
Although in reality that kind of data are
economic and political assets

19. Hegemonic process in
commodification
• Hegemony is process of constituting the common sense (Gramsci)
Hegemoni dapat digunakan untuk menjelaskan mengapa exploitasi
privasi individu yang dipertukarkan dengan kebebasan untuk
menggunakan layanan online dapat diterima oleh masyarakat
kapitalis. Nilai tukar yang terkait dengan nilai guna menjadi salah
satu konsep utama kapitalisme. Prinsip neoclasiccal ekonomi
misalnya menyatakan bahwa dengan pengorbanan sekecil-kecilnya
harus didapat keuntungan sebesar-besarnya.
• Kita menyerahkan kontrol terhadap privasi kita untuk
dipertukarkan dengan hak untuk menggunakan layanan yang
menjanjikan kebebasan untuk berekspresi dan mencari informasi di
dunia maya.