The Geek Chorus: 'Give MARK ZUCKERBERG all the DATA he wants!'

Downstairs Downton Abbey

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If they sold everything they knew to all-comers they would be kicked out and no-one would employ them ever again.

It seems we need more Downton Abbey applied to what is already happening, regardless of whether we get a contextual OS or not.

Wtf does this have to do with socialism or the Internationale? You can still be a running pigdog lackey of the imperialist bourgeoisie and think maybe privacy is a good idea.

unseen maybe, unknown no

"we never see the data collected by our supermarket loyalty cards, our credit cards, our public transport passes, our access passes, the location data constantly being transmitted by our mobiles to our carriers, on and on, world without end."

Presumably the data on my public transport pass says that I stepped onto the S1 bus at 7:35 this morning. Perhaps collating the location data for the bus would say at what stop I did so. But guess what, I know where I got on the bus, and off the bus, though I dare say the transit authority will remember a lot longer than I shall. The carrier could track me on my lunch hour walk, but probably I have a much clearer picture of it.

If you mean that most of us do not often reflect on the amount of data we generate, true enough. If you mean that Faceborg knows better than I do that I like beer and pizza, I have to disagree.

Let me add that my preferred way to purchase books (apart from beer and food, almost the only product I like to purchase) is with cash, both to sustain local bookstores and to let the industry do its own damn market research.

his "popularity"

rests mostly on his messages' popularity with the New Elite. They control the message, and the perception of message. They control the feed (the horizontal and vertical too-everything you see and hear)

It is in their business interest to promote not only his message, but the image of his popularity. Like the payola issues with promoting musical acts on the radio - if it's heard enough, people think it's well liked and want to join in. Even if it's not, simply seeding your media with posts and mentions that this guy is popular, and let the rest follow. Just make sure not to promote the naysayers. A privately owned privately controlled messaging system gets that sort of control from the outset.

So the "message" of "privacy is a dead end, let us have all your valuable data" can actually be hated by all users except for the messenger and the staff at Facebook. And to you and I, it would look exactly the same as a massive "grass roots" campaign to "free your data".

I refuse...

... to even consider the possibility that there will be a cornucopia of benefits for all of us from all those data we are urged to surrender until Internet advertising becomes demonstrably relevant to me.

Scoble. Ugh.

his complete absence of critical facility

I agree with the sentiment, but I'd suggest "critical faculty" would be the better phrase. Scoble is nothing if not facile.

That sounds alluring, a bit like the "upstairs" universe of Downton Abbey, powered by squadrons of "downstairs" servants who constantly monitor, observe, and respond to every whim of their masters. Scoble promises a perfectly pampered lifestyle - and who wouldn’t want that?

I wouldn't want that. It sounds dreadful, and not just because it obviously and immediately falls foul of the master/slave dialectic (which in essence is the argument this article is making), but as a mode of experience. Isn't life fucking mediated enough already by our opportunistic caretakers and cultural curators? Where's jake when I need some support from the curmudgeon contingent, damn it?

It's interesting to contrast Scoble's sophomoric, narcissistic vision with, say, the one Doctorow presents in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. That also posits a "post-scarcity" milieu (the major economic elements are free energy, the "cure for death", and a reputation economy), but the cultural response is for everyone to get their hands dirty as members of ad hoc teams working on projects they're passionate about, not to become a bunch of disaffected, idle super-consumers. I'm not sure I'd want to live in Doctorow's world either, but at least I'd be doing something productive.

if Mr Scoble can;t see that unless the giving up of information is voluntary then it's oppression of the worst kind then he is, as my esteemed commentard colleague above commented, a complete bell-end.

If he also can;t see that he'd be removing the joy of discovery if his dystopian vision were to come to pass, then he's doubly a bell-end. For an easy example, ask anyone who enjoys going shopping whether they'd just like stuff to magically appear on their doorstep the moment they think about it - or woudl they prefer a nice trip to the shops browsing what's on offer with a friend.

Be careful what you wish for, Mr Scoble - and be extra careful what you wish for others, as they may well be extremely unhappy about it.