Hyperconnectivity and (Im)mobility: Uber and Surveillance Capitalism by the Global South

Abstract

Apart from governments’ increased opportunities to monitor citizens, businesses, civil servants, and services, companies are mobilizing personal data to build profitable, algorithmically based business models with profound ramifications. With companies that have rapidly become giants in this sector, such as Uber, the phenomenon is spreading to various services at the same overwhelming speed as many companies bet on what is known as Uberization. In this paper, we aim to use one example of such a phenomenon from the Global South to show how a potential hyperconnected society is, in fact, creating the possibility for expanded patterns of immobilization for certain groups. We aim to show how highly indirect corporate surveillance involved in businesses such as Uber can run in parallel with a specific direct form of worker surveillance that, without any legal or social safeguards, increases the vulnerability of the weakest link in this chain.

Flexibilization and precarization of working conditions and labor relations in the perspective of app-based drivers

“…From the conceptual characterization and from this context, it is possible to relate flexibilization and precarious working conditions with the definitions of uberization shown in Table 1. Some authors say that, in the uberization model, there is work precarization (Firmino, Cardoso, & Evangelista, 2019; Lima & Bridi, 2019). On the other hand, other authors mention the benefits of flexibility, with the power of choice extended to the worker (Ticona & Mateescu, 2018), and reflect on the influence of this model on self-entrepreneurs (Fleming, 2017).…”

Haavoittuvuuden kudelmat: Digitaalinen subjekti ja haavoittuvuus datavetoista yhteiskuntaa käsittelevässä tutkimuskirjallisuudessa

“…Tämä aiheuttaa yksilötasolla haavoittuvuutta esimerkiksi niin, että vapaa-aikaa ei käytännössä ole. Usein tässä yhteydessä puhutaankin nykypäivän orjatyövoimasta, minkä nimenomaan dataan perustuvan alustan käyttö mahdollistaa (Firmino, de Vasconcelos Cardoso ja Evangelista 2019). Esineiden internet -palvelujen yhteydessä epätasa-arvo näkyy puolestaan esteellisenä pääsynä ja puuttuvina käyttötaitoina.…”

Gender and Technology: A rights-based and intersectional analysis of key trends

“…Calling this shift "surveillance capitalism," Shoshana Zuboff (2015, 75) argues that this form of datafication reflects a "logic of accumulation" that uses data to predict and modify human behavior online for commercial purposes. This emphasis on the revenue associated with the control of vast amounts of data is central to an analysis of Uber's data practices in São Paulo (Firmino, Cardoso, and Evangelista 2019). The researchers observe that the company's reliance on surveillance through data collection compounds their drivers' precarious economic position because it enables them to be watched both by Uber and by Uber's partners and customers.…”