A new spin in the surveillance logic seems to be developing. The surveillance is of course still happening and expanding. But also it does not seem to matter that much anymore.
The promise of the surveillance logic was that state actors or large companies find out some “hidden truth” about citizens, to target them with more tailored ads or repress them based on some evidence.
Today, it seems that this logic becomes less important. Surveillance tools are still there, but they become more of a gimmick. The findings do not seem to matter that much anymore, repression happens based on vibes.
Can you elaborate on this part? I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Snowden revealed a lot of this, but surveillance is an important part of the typical repressive action. You have to identify the relevant people before you can do anything about them.
A concrete example would be surveillance (and then regulation) of bank transactions. Another is video surveillance of protesters.
In contrast, today we see blocking of people’s bank accounts out of pure vibes