The surveillance society: Beyond 1984
Digital colonization has given rise to a phenomenon many science fiction authors anticipated: the surveillance society. Yet, unlike the Orwellian world of 1984, where an omnipresent state openly and coercively watched its citizens, modern digital surveillance is more subtle and pervasive. Rather than relying on fear and oppression, it is based on persuasion and consent.
Today, surveillance is carried out not only by the state, but also by corporations that collect vast quantities of personal data with users’ consent. Through connected devices, social media, and virtual assistants, technology companies obtain information about every aspect of our lives, from our sleep patterns to our political opinions. This data is used to predict and modify behavior, creating an environment in which users’ decisions are increasingly influenced by algorithmic recommendations.
The danger of this new type of surveillance is that it presents itself as a tool of convenience and comfort. People do not perceive surveillance as a threat because they feel they are receiving a benefit in return: personalized recommendations, free services, and access to information that appears tailored to their needs. Yet this constant surveillance has a profound cost: the erosion of autonomy and of the ability to make decisions free from external influence.
Manipulated consent: The illusion of freedom
One of the great dilemmas of digital surveillance concerns consent. Technology platforms often claim that users consent to being monitored when they accept the terms of service and privacy policies. However, this consent is often a sham. Terms and conditions are lengthy documents filled with technical language that most users neither read nor understand. Even when they do read them, users have few real choices: either they accept the terms and use the service, or they find themselves excluded from much of modern digital life.
This kind of consent is not truly free; it is manipulated. Platforms exploit the power asymmetry between themselves and users, presenting consent as a formality that conceals the reality of control. Instead of enabling people to make informed decisions, the current system perpetuates a cycle in which users surrender their privacy in exchange for access to services that are increasingly essential to everyday life.
Algorithmic surveillance and control over the future
The most insidious form of surveillance in the digital age is algorithmic surveillance, where decisions about who is monitored and how are made through algorithms that collect, analyze, and correlate data in real time. Algorithmic surveillance not only records what we do, but also anticipates what we are going to do. It uses machine learning techniques to predict future behaviors and intervene in them before they occur.
This predictive approach is used not only for personalized advertising, but also for more serious matters, such as security and politics. In some countries, law enforcement agencies are already using predictive systems to assess the risk that certain people will commit crimes on the basis of their online behavior. This creates an environment in which decisions about individuals’ futures—whether they can access certain services, whether they are considered a potential threat—are based on opaque and inaccurate algorithmic models.
Algorithmic surveillance raises serious ethical questions: Who decides which criteria to use to predict behavior? How can we ensure that these algorithms do not reflect prejudice or bias? And most importantly, can a society that relies on algorithmic surveillance consider itself truly free?