Macomb Community College Presents Author Shoshana Zuboff In A Virtual Presentation On Personal Data And Privacy April 15

Press release from Macomb Community College:

Shoshana Zuboff, author of the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, will discuss the online commercialization of private information and the resulting economic, political and social implications during a virtual fireside chat, The Price of Privacy: The Unprecedented Use of Personal Data in the 21st Century. The virtual presentation will be held at 7 p.m. on April 15 via Zoom. Tickets to the presentation are complimentary but require registration. One ticket is required per streaming device. To reserve tickets, go to MacombCenter.com. A link for the Zoom presentation will be sent once registration is completed.

Zuboff’s presentation is based on her book, which was heralded by Time magazine as one of its 100 must-read books of 2019, by the New York Times as one of the 100 notable books of 2019 and named as one of the books on tech you should read in 2020 by Fast Company. She describes how private companies practicing an unprecedented economic logic, which Zuboff calls surveillance capitalism, have hijacked the Internet and its digital technologies, and points out that their methods are not the inevitable consequences of digital technologies. Zuboff also suggests steps individuals and lawmakers can take to prevent diminishing autonomy and eroding democracy.

Zuboff, who earned a doctoral degree in social psychology from Harvard University, was one of the first tenured women on Harvard Business School’s faculty, where she was the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration. Previously, she was a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

Zuboff is the author of two other books, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power and The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism (with James Maxmin). She is a frequent contributor to a number of publications, including Fast Company, Fortune, Business Week, The New York Times and The Financial Times.

Those who have registered for the presentation can submit questions for consideration in advance of the April 15 event by emailing MacombArts@macomb.edu, using “Shoshana Zuboff” as the email’s subject line. Questions will not be accepted during the presentation.

The presentation is part of the James Jacobs Civic Engagement Project, which was created to bring nationally recognized experts to Macomb County to generate thoughtful dialogue on issues of importance to the region. Jacobs retired as president of Macomb Community College in June 2017. The project is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase and the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.

This press release was produced by Macomb Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.