When data is capital: Datafication, accumulation, and extraction

Abstract

The collection and circulation of data is now a central element of increasingly more sectors of contemporary capitalism. This article analyses data as a form of capital that is distinct from, but has its roots in, economic capital. Data collection is driven by the perpetual cycle of capital accumulation, which in turn drives capital to construct and rely upon a universe in which everything is made of data. The imperative to capture all data, from all sources, by any means possible influences many key decisions about business models, political governance, and technological development. This article argues that many common practices of data accumulation should actually be understood in terms of data extraction, wherein data is taken with little regard for consent and compensation. By understanding data as a form capital, we can better analyse the meaning, practices, and implications of datafication as a political economic regime.

The Internet of Landlords: Digital Platforms and New Mechanisms of Rentier Capitalism

“…Instead of capitalising on real estate and controlling access to buildings, these new rentiers are gatekeepers to the Internet and owners of software applications. Instead of relying solely on money as a stand‐in for value, these new rentiers also treat data as a source of value—if not fetishise data as valuable in itself (Sadowski ). This section will outline the fundamentals of rentier platforms and foreshadow the mechanisms of their operation that the next section details in more depth.…”

“…While the metaphor of data as oil is somewhat incoherent at best (Martinez ) and a shield for extractive regimes at worst (Sadowski ), it does come in handy as a comparison between the relative performance of two extractive sectors. If we recall the shifts in market capitalisation by top global companies, as illustrated in Figure , then we can see that technology services like platforms—in other words, the business model designed to maximise the extraction of data—have overtaken the oil and gas industry during the last decade.…”

“…For example, relevant work has investigated the operations and implications of specific corporate sectors such as the shadowy, multi‐billion‐dollar data broker industry (Crain ; Roderick ). It has detailed the political economic imperatives that compel increasingly more organisations—from rentier platforms to police departments and everything in between—“to capture all data, from all sources, by any means possible” (Sadowski :1) and are “powerfully equipped with the tools to enact [this imperative]” (Fourcade and Healy :13). And it has analysed the historical relations of inequity and exploitation that are deeply embedded in these modern systems of extraction, such as the accumulation by dispossession of “data colonialism” (Thatcher et al ) and the appropriation and sovereignty struggles of “data grabbing” (Fraser ).…”

“…That is not to say these money rents and data rents are equivalent or interchangeable. When data are valorised, it is done in so many different ways other than just by exchanging them into money (see Sadowski ). If we only look at the monetary rents captured by platforms—e.g.…”

The Internet of Things: Social dimensions

“…Researchers interested in human rights and social justice issues argue that the IoT is implicated in a number of "data harms" (Redden & Brand, 2019), including punitive or exploitative uses of "dataveillance": the watching of people using data generated about them (Best, 2010;Sadowski, 2019;Sadowski & Pasquale, 2015). These harms include becoming the subject of hidden surveillance, identity theft, and denial of opportunities such as access to credit, social services, credit, and insurance (Maras & Wandt, 2019;van Zoonen, 2016).…”