Terms of Disservice. Dipayan Ghosh

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      “Powerful internet platforms, driven by a ruthless commercial logic, have caused tremendous harm in the United States and around the world. With technological sophistication and crystal-clear writing, Terms of Disservice provides the analytical tools necessary to understand the structural roots of this crisis and the policies we need to confront it. Anyone who thinks democracy is worth saving should read this compelling book.”

      —Victor Pickard, professor, University of Pennsylvania; author of Democracy Without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society

      “Ghosh’s deep knowledge of the way digital companies undermine our cognition, agency, and democracy is scary but required reading. Thankfully, his deep faith in the ability of government and civil society to develop a new social contract makes this a hopeful and actionable proposal.”

      —Douglas Rushkoff, professor of media theory and digital economics, Queens College; author of Team Human

      “Terms of Disservice addresses the big picture of social media—both its place in our national economy and its corrosive effect on the individual. Ghosh concludes with a proposal for a social contract that preserves the strengths of social media while respecting the autonomy of the individual. The result is a roadmap for policymakers—we can only hope that they pay attention.”

      —Stephen B. Wicker, professor, Cornell University; author of Cellular Convergence and the Death of Privacy

      TERMS OF DISSERVICE

      How Silicon Valley Is Destructive by Design

      DIPAYAN GHOSH

      BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS

      Washington, D.C.

      Copyright © 2020

      THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION

      1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

      Washington, D.C. 20036

       www.brookings.edu

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Brookings Institution Press.

      The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to research, education, and publication on important issues of domestic and foreign policy. Its principal purpose is to bring the highest quality independent research and analysis to bear on current and emerging policy problems. Interpretations or conclusions in Brookings publications should be understood to be solely those of the authors.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Ghosh, Dipayan, author.

      Title: Terms of disservice : how Silicon Valley is destructive by design / Dipayan Ghosh.

      Description: Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019048652 (print) | LCCN 2019048653 (ebook) | ISBN 9780815737650 (cloth) | ISBN 9780815737667 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: Information technology—Social aspects. | Information technology—Political aspects. | Information technology—Moral and ethical aspects. | Internet industry—Social aspects. | Social responsibility of business. | Information society.

      Classification: LCC HM851 .G474 2020 (print) | LCC HM851 (ebook) | DDC 303.48/33—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048652

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048653

      9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Typeset in Whitman

      Composition by Elliott Beard

      For my grandparents

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Foreword

      JOHN PODESTA

       Introduction

       ONE

       The Business Model

       Data, Algorithms, and Platform Growth

       TWO

       Data

       The Harvesting of All Knowledge

       THREE

       Algorithms

       The Commercialization of Bias

       FOUR

       Platform Growth

       Capitalism Consuming the World

       FIVE

       A New Social Contract

       The Case for Radical Reform

       Notes

       Index