Deconstructing Digital Capitalism and the Smart Society
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About This Book
Today's critics of big online platforms tend to consider privacy breaches, monopolistic practices, and the deployment of surveillance technologies as the main problems. Internet reformers suggest the answers to these issues reside in more--and better--regulations. While the questions of privacy, data, and size are indeed important, they are secondary however to a deeper set of concerns about platform ownership and control, and who benefits from the current status quo. This book examines these is
Our Review
This sharp critique of modern digital platforms digs beneath surface-level concerns about privacy and monopolies to confront the fundamental question of who truly benefits from our current technological landscape. Van Elteren meticulously analyzes the core economic structures of digital capitalism, arguing that debates over data collection and antitrust regulation miss the deeper issue of ownership and control. The book provides a systematic framework for understanding how platform power is consolidated and maintained, moving beyond the usual tech criticism to examine the foundational mechanics of the smart society.
What distinguishes this analysis is its refusal to accept the inevitability of the current system, instead offering a clear-eyed examination of alternative models and possibilities for genuine digital transformation. Readers seeking to move past simplistic tech criticism will find a sophisticated yet accessible roadmap for understanding how we arrived at this technological moment—and how we might build something different. This is essential reading for anyone questioning the true cost of convenience in our platform-dominated world.
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