https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it
'Anyone who says "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product" has
been suckered in by Big Tech and their cargo-cult version of markets and the
discipline they impose on companies.
Here's the way that story goes: companies that fear losing your business will
treat you better, because treating you worse will cost them money. Since
ad-supported media gets paid by advertisers, they are fine with abusing you to
make advertisers happy, because the advertiser is the customer, and you are the
product.
This represents a profound misunderstanding of how even capitalism's champions
describe its workings. The purported virtue of capitalism is that it transforms
the capitalist's greed into something of broad public value, by appealing to
the capitalist's
fear. A successful capitalist isn't merely someone figures
out how to please their customers – they're also someone who figures out how to
please their
suppliers.
That's why tech platforms were – until recently –
very good to (some of)
their workforce. Technical labor was scarce and so platforms built whimsical
"campuses" for tech workers, with amenities ranging from stock options to
gourmet cafeterias to egg-freezing services for those workers planning to stay
at their desks through their fertile years. Those workers weren't the
"customer" – but they were treated better than any advertiser or user.
But when it came to easily replaced labor – testers, cleaning crew, the staff
in those fancy cafeterias – the situation was much worse. Those workers were
hired through cut-out shell companies, denied benefits, even made to enter via
separate entrances on shifts that were scheduled to minimize the chance that
they would ever interact with one of the highly paid tech workers at the firm.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
