[Commlist] New book: The Costs of Connection

We would like to announce a new publication from Stanford University 
Press, which we hope will be of interest.

*The Costs of Connection*

How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism

*Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias*

*_http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/the-costs-of-connection_*

"A profound exploration of how the ceaseless extraction of information 
about our intimate lives is remaking both global markets and our very 
selves. /The Costs of Connection/ represents an enormous step forward in 
our collective understanding of capitalism's current stage, a stage in 
which the final colonial input is the raw data of human life. 
Challenging, urgent, and bracingly original."*—Naomi Klein, Gloria 
Steinem Chair of Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies, Rutgers University*

"A provocative tour-de-force. A powerful interrogation of the power of 
data in our networked age. Through an enchanting critique of different 
aspects of our data soaked society, Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias 
invite the reader to reconsider their assumptions about the moral, 
political, and economic order that makes data-driven technologies 
possible."*—Danah Boyd, Microsoft Research and founder of Data & Society*

"Couldry and Mejias show that data colonialism is not a metaphor. It is 
a process that expands many dark chapters of the past into our shiny new 
world of smartphones, smart TVs, and smart stores. This book rewards the 
reader with important historical context, fascinating examples, clear 
writing, and unexpected insights scattered throughout."*—Joseph Turow, 
University of Pennsylvania*

Just about any social need is now met with an opportuniy to "connect" 
through digital means. But this convenience is not free—it is purchased 
with vast amounts of personal data transferred through shadowy 
backchannels to corporations using it to generate profit. /The Costs of 
Connection/ uncovers this process, this "data colonialism," and its 
designs for controlling our lives—our ways of knowing; our means of 
production; our political participation.

Colonialism might seem like a thing of the past, but this book shows 
that the historic appropriation of land, bodies, and natural resources 
is mirrored today in this new era of pervasive datafication. Apps, 
platforms, and smart objects capture and translate our lives into data, 
and then extract information that is fed into capitalist enterprises and 
sold back to us. The authors argue that this development foreshadows the 
creation of a new social order emerging globally—and it must be 
challenged. Confronting the alarming degree of surveillance already 
tolerated, they offer a stirring call to decolonize the internet and 
emancipate our desire for connection.

*Nick Couldry*is Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at 
the London School of Economics and Political Science.

*Ulises A. Mejias *is Associate Professor of Communication Studies and 
Director of the Institute for Global Engagement at the State University 
of New York, College at Oswego.


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