How ‘Smart Tech’ Masks an Emerging Era of Corporate Control

How ‘Smart Tech’ Masks an Emerging Era of Corporate Control
‘Smart tech’ is a buzzword that’s been applied to everything from toothbrushes to TVs — and the cute marketing helps hide what’s really going on
Jathan Sadowski
·Follow
Published inOneZero
·
11 min read·
Mar 9, 2020
--
Image: Joy Image/Getty ImagesYou can easily trade all your dumb stuff for smart things. Smart is now becoming the new normal. You don’t even have to…
--
--
Written by Jathan Sadowski
515 Followers
·Writer for OneZero
author — TOO SMART: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World — https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/too-smart
More from Jathan Sadowski and OneZero
Jathan Sadowski
in
OneZero
Landlord 2.0: Tech’s New Rentier Capitalism
By selling us hardware but retaining ownership of software and data, tech companies are treating users like digital tenants
·6 min read·Apr 4, 2019
--
Jack Cohen
in
OneZero
Your iPhone Has A Hidden List of Every Location You’ve Been
It’s called the Significant Location list, and you probably didn’t know it existed
·5 min read·Feb 26, 2019
--
Owen Williams
in
OneZero
Don’t Put Your Work Email on Your Personal Phone
Mobile Device Management potentially gives your company the ability to spy on your location, your web browsing, and more
·5 min read·Jul 23, 2019
--
Jathan Sadowski
in
OneZero
Now Is the Time to Dismantle Our Cities’ Invasive Surveillance Infrastructure
Not all innovation deserves to exist — many surveillance and policing technologies should never have been created in the first place
·5 min read·Jun 17, 2020
--
See all from Jathan Sadowski
See all from OneZero
Recommended from Medium
Zulie Rane
in
The Startup
If You Want to Be a Creator, Delete All (But Two) Social Media Platforms
In October 2022, during the whole Elon Musk debacle, I finally deleted Twitter from my phone. Around the same time, I also logged out of…
·8 min read·Apr 19
--
The PyCoach
in
Artificial Corner
You’re Using ChatGPT Wrong! Here’s How to Be Ahead of 99% of ChatGPT Users
Master ChatGPT by learning prompt engineering.
·7 min read·Mar 17
--
Lists
Business 10125 stories·72 saves
What is ChatGPT?9 stories·64 saves
Stories to Help You Grow as a Designer11 stories·47 saves
Good Product Thinking11 stories·75 saves
Unbecoming
10 Seconds That Ended My 20 Year Marriage
It’s August in Northern Virginia, hot and humid. I still haven’t showered from my morning trail run. I’m wearing my stay-at-home mom…
·4 min read·Feb 16, 2022
--
Aleid ter Weel
in
Better Advice
10 Things To Do In The Evening Instead Of Watching Netflix
Device-free habits to increase your productivity and happiness.
·5 min read·Feb 15, 2022
--
Kristen Walters
in
Adventures In AI
5 Ways I’m Using AI to Make Money in 2023
These doubled my income last year
·9 min read·Feb 16
--
Chris Davidson
in
In Fitness And In Health
Looking Better Than 99% of People Over 40 is About One Thing
Not workouts, diet, supplements or any ‘hack’. Once you nail this there’s no stopping you.
·5 min read·Apr 17
--
See more recommendations
Help
Status
Writers
Blog
Careers
Privacy
Terms
About
Text to speech