Dr. Alan Borning (University of Washington Computer Science professor emeritus), presents and leads a discussion on the true costs of "free" services such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

1. The High Cost of Free Services: Problems
with Surveillance Capitalism and Possible
Alternatives for IT Infrastructure
Alan Borning
University of Washington
Seattle, USA
Joint work with Marvin Landwehr and
Volker Wulf, University of Siegen, German

2. Surveillance Capitalism
• The business model used by Google,
Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Based on intensive gathering and cross-
correlation of personal information, and
increasingly behavior manipulation
• Product is “behavioral futures” that can
be sold to advertisers and others
• Term coined by Shoshana Zuboff
–The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The
Fight for a Human Future at the New
Frontier of Power and earlier articles

3. Broadening Zuboff’s Definition
• Zuboff uses the term for business models
in which services are provided “free” to
the end user, at the cost of personal
surveillance and manipulation
–Marketplace for behavioral futures
–Examples: Google, Facebook, Twitter
• We broaden it to include fee-for-service
models that still use similar techniques of
personal surveillance and perhaps
manipulation
–Examples: Uber, Spotify

4. Problems with Surveillance Capitalism
• Major issues for:
–Privacy
–Overuse
–Supporting surveillance by corporations
and the state
–Human dignity
–Democracy
–Automated manipulations of behavior
–Supporting rampant consumerism
–Concentrations of wealth and power

5. Benefits of the Model
• Or: Not Throwing the Baby Out with the
Bathwater
• Services used by billions of people
• These services have enormous utility for:
–Business and commerce
–Scholarship
–Social engagement
–Political activity
…. and much more

6. Steps toward Solutions
• Education
• Regulation
• Resistance
These are mutually supporting.

7. Education
• Important for people to understand:
– how these services are being funded,
– what kinds of information is being gathered about them,
– how their behavior is being manipulated,
– and the consequences of all this.
• Connecting the dots regarding latest scandal
• Rhetoric of the companies has generally focused on
individual choice, limitless access to information,
empowerment, personalization
– Make it clear there is a real dark side to surveillance
capitalism (and not just for Facebook)
• Don’t want to fall into the trap of assuming this is
“normal”

8. Regulation
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in
the European Union a significant step forward
• Individuals should be able to easily find out
what information about them is being
gathered, stored, and shared
– Genuine informed consent
– Challenge inaccurate information
• Outlaw some kinds of information gathering
altogether (e.g., about children)
• Regulations designed to allow other business
models to develop

9. Resistance
• Not use some services, e.g., #DeleteFacebook
movement
• Art directed at the themes of surveillance and
resistance
• Technical resistance
– Blocking 3rd party cookies
– Ad blockers
– AdNauseum and similar
• Limitations of resistance;
interaction with education and regulation

10. A Partial Solution
• A partial solution: for-profit corporations that
provide these services without tracking
personal information. Examples:
–DuckDuckGo
–Brave
• DuckDuckGo and Brave are still advertising-
supported — this seems potentially
problematic because it leaves the companies
vulnerable to the desires of the advertisers.

11. Changing the Funding Model
• Some alternatives:
–Public funding
–NGOs and cooperatives
–Nudging the market by having universities,
libraries, etc. contract for services without
tracking or advertising
–Funding alternatives for specialized
domains

12. Specialized Domains – Example of
Public Transit Information
• In the US, much public transit
information is offered via Google, Bing,
or startups like the Transit App
–In some regions, these are the only way to
get real-time information and trip planning
–In many others, there might be a website
available, but no apps except via
surveillance capitalism

13. OneBusAway
• OneBusAway as an open-
source, privacy-respecting
alternative
– Also considerable attention to
accessibility, responding to local
needs
– Now under Open Transit
Software Foundation
• Possible analogy:
the Public Option

14. Social Media – Pieces of a Solution
• Break up monopolies
– But this alone not enough!
• Require true data portability
– Original server must delete the information
– Require periodic audits by impartial experts
• Encourage the development of open APIs
• For advertising supported services, greater
transparency about how the ads are placed
and who is paying for them
• Foster alternate business models

15. For More Information
• Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance
Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the
New Frontier of Power
• https://democracynow.org, search for “Zuboff”
• Marvin Landwehr, Alan Borning, and Volker Wulf,
“The High Cost of Free Services: Problems with
Surveillance Capitalism and Possible Alternatives
for IT Infrastructure,” LIMITS 2019 Workshop
https://www.cs.washington.edu/people/faculty/borning/publications
• Email: borning at uw