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Surveillance Capitalism

Privacy

Economic model where behavioral data is extracted, analyzed, and monetized for prediction/control.

Definition

Surveillance capitalism describes business models centered on extracting behavioral data, building predictive products, and monetizing influence via targeted advertising and profiling.

In plain English Economic model where behavioral data is extracted, analyzed, and monetized for prediction/control.

Why this matters

Why it matters: Incentives drive data over-collection, opaque profiling, and ecosystem-wide sharing.

Example

Example: Platform collects extensive engagement data to optimize recommender systems and ad targeting.