Surveillance Capitalism

Surveillance capitalism hinges on the appropriationand commercialisationof personal datafor profit-making. This chapter spotlights three cases connected to surveillance capitalism: data appropriation, monetisationof health data and the unfair commercial practice when “free” isn’t “free”. It discusses related ethical concerns of powerinequality, privacy and data protection, and lack of transparencyand explainability. The chapter identifies responses to address concerns about surveillance capitalism and discusses three key responses put forward in policy and academic literature and advocated for their impact and implementation potential in the current socio-economicsystem: antitrustregulation, data sharingand access, and strengthening of data ownership claims of consumers/individuals. A combination of active, working governance measures is required to stem the growth and ill-effects of surveillance capitalism and protect democracy.