Surveillance, Security, and Democracy

SURVEILLANCE, SECURITY, AND DEMOCRACY
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Surveillance, Security, And Democracy
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption and implementation of big tech with entire economic sectors switching from high-touch analog systems to touchless digital interactions within a span of a few weeks. Life after the pandemic is now a sped-up version of the previous pre-pandemic world with technologies like digitalization and automation dominating nearly every economic sector from online shopping to virtual work to distance learning. Before the pandemic, the platform business model was largely regarded as a novel infrastructural formation rather than the core organizational structure of an evolving information economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic inspired a tech boom as people were forced to rely on big tech companies to access products, services, and even facts on the coronavirus.
As a result of the nationwide lockdowns and social distancing rules, people had no other way of socializing except through social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. As tech companies became more entwined into the lives of users, critical structures such as education, work, economic life, and fundamental institutional arrangements were upended. The relationship between people and technology deepened as digital connections supplanted analog networks for education, work, social interactions, and daily commercial transactions. This essay will discuss how platforms are redefining economies, education, and work. It will also address the legal implications for privacy, freedom of expression, and cybersecurity.
How Platforms Are Redefining Economies
Big tech companies like Amazon, Google, Etsy, Salesforce, Facebook, and Uber among others created online structures during the pandemic to facilitate a broad array of human activities. For instance, Google and Facebook not only provided search and social media but also a comprehensive structure on which other platforms could be built. Similarly, Amazon offered a marketplace and the infrastructure as well as tools with which other platforms could be built. Big tech companies provide the foundation for the digital economy (Martens, 2016). These value creation arrangements opened the way for a developed digital platform economy post-pandemic. By the time the world reopened, the radical changes in how people worked, interacted, and created value in the economy had already been established and their effects recognizable.
The digital platform economy encompasses an extensive number of digitally facilitated activities in social interaction, commerce, and politics. Unlike the previous economy, which relied on linear value-creation and delivery models, the digital platform economy is based on central infrastructures that facilitate connections between producers and consumers. The proliferation of disruptive platform businesses post-pandemic has resulted in significant consequences for markets, organizations, and society. For instance, the world is shifting away from the pipeline-based model of international trade where big tech companies relied on manufacturing centers in emerging markets to keep production running. The digital economy is restructuring the trade movements between the East and the West by favoring locally aggregated supply chains. Pipeline-based model of global trading is being replaced by the digital economy (Costa, 2016). Advanced digital production structures have reduced manufacturing costs for global firms and made it cheaper to relocate back home. For instance, robotic manufacturing is gradually replacing human labor and it is making more sense for some companies, particularly apparel brands like Adidas, to move their production bases back home through multi-local manufacturing.
Traditional supply chains are slowly contracting as regional manufacturing replaces outsourcing. Furthermore, the services industry is taking more prominence in global trade as products-driven business models convert to service-driven ones. There has been an increase in services trade as companies like Amazon, Siemens, IBM progressively migrate away from selling equipment to offering assorted services. The digital economy also allows small firms to participate in international trade without the need for state support. For instance, Amazon is planning on enabling SME trade by providing the necessary supply chains and finance in a winner-take-all situation. Big tech is providing numerous business opportunities for all kinds of businesses (OECD, 2021). As digital platforms start to take over the control points in global trade, the economy is moving away from pipeline-based global flows to digital cross-country flows. Digital platforms have the power to facilitate this developmental shift in the world economy as a result of their growing influence in social and economic transactions. Platforms connect suppliers to businesses, businesses to customers, content creators to consumers, app developers to device owners, and advertisers to Internet users.
The network effects from these connections have given platform owners formidable economic power similar to the barons of the early industrial revolution. For instance, by 2023, the five tech giants (Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon) accounted for 20 percent of all revenues generated by the S&P 500 (Min and Harring, 2023). The network effects and economic power wielded by big tech is driving the digital platform economic revolution. As the world goes digital, a growing number of businesses are finding themselves significantly dependent on platforms to operate. Moreover, the wealth of data generated by digital platforms concerning buyer and seller behavior has given big tech companies an undisputable competitive edge. Platform owners have created “winner takes all” scenarios by using their information asymmetry to dictate the rules and terms for market participants. For instance, businesses advertising on Facebook get little information on how the platform’s algorithms are tweaked to elicit specific customer reactions. The tech giant providing the platform uses sophisticated algorithms that far outstrip those of other companies. This technological command over algorithmic decision-making allows big tech companies to exercise complete control of the digital eco system.
Tech giants have the capacity to function as monopolies and even define the conditions for how other businesses will operate in the digital economy. The ability of tech giants to monopolize digital markets is slowly taking shape in other traditional industries like energy and finance. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have the economic power and infrastructural capacity to enter and disrupt sectors like banking. For instance, big tech has emerged as the major trend setter and value creator across nearly all industry segments. Most of the biggest creators of value in the post-pandemic era are organizations that have made technology a critical aspect of their operations. Technology is now the primary driver of economic growth, ahead of traditional sectors like consumer discretionary, healthcare, communications and media, materials, financial, energy, real estate, consumer staples, industrial, or utilities. Technology is now an integral part of any modern business or organization (Sutherland and Jarrahi, 2018). Companies that were tech-enabled before or during the pandemic emerged on a stronger footing post-pandemic compared to less tech-centered firms. The pandemic transformed technology from a mere industry to a primary disruptive force across all sectors of the global economy.
Organizations that built their operations around the digital economy during the pandemic, even if their end product was not a traditional commodity, had a competitive edge over their rivals. For instance, brick-and-mortar retailers that implemented a tech-centered business model to reach customers during the lockdown now have a huge customer base. Retailer chains like Walmart, which focused on improving their online presence via e-commerce during the pandemic, will soon be reaping more from their websites than from their stores. E-commerce is slowly replacing traditional brick-and-mortar businesses (Rong, 2022). Similarly, the decision by Disney to execute a streaming video service has helped boost its customer share and revenue generation. The digitization of the economy is not just restricted to converting analog business process to digital ones but also involves sectors understanding how to use big tech ecosystems to gain competitive advantage over their rivals. For instance, the cloud technology services offered by big tech companies like Microsoft, Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba, and Apple have unlocked numerous business opportunities for organizations across all industries.
The digital economy is characterized by companies taking advantage of big tech to improve business and attain market dominance. For instance, the collective value of publicly traded companies in cloud computing infrastructure was several billions of dollars in 2020, with many companies doubling their market value within a year. Cloud infrastructure is empowering entire industries and changing how traditional companies operate. Automakers are now including cloud-based abilities in their cars to reduce overall cost, facilitate navigation assistance, set insurance policy rates, and enhance customer safety. Nearly every company is using cloud computing insights to monitor business operation, efficiency, and other key performing metrics.
How Platforms Are Redefining Education
One of the sectors that was greatly impacted by digital platforms is education. The pandemic forced most learning institutions to shut down and shift to remote learning. To facilitate the transition from traditional learning to distance learning, students and faculty adopted digital classroom learning platforms. Education institutions were some of the first to adopt digital technologies during the pandemic (Chen et al., 2022). This adoption of remote learning was more intense in higher-education institutions, which implemented hybrid models of online learning including virtual classrooms, augmented reality, machine learning-powered teaching, student progress monitoring, and AI adaptive course delivery. There was a marked increase in the use of digital learning technologies during the pandemic with social media-centered discussion platforms, group work tools, and virtual study pools replacing traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms. Classroom interaction technologies were also widely used to facilitate group chatting, polling, and discussions. Technology is shaping how learners acquire knowledge with universities scaling up the use of digital platforms that facilitate interactive and diverse learning models.
The educational sector is currently reaping the technological achievements of the pandemic era to enhance the quality of teaching. Although the pandemic is over and traditional learning has resumed, digital platforms are increasingly being employed within and outside the classroom. Educational technology is now an important aspect of the educational system and there is a whole field of digital platform development devoted towards improving learning. The pandemic brought a new era of learning by pushing digital platform developers to create accessible and economic solutions for the global learning community. More importantly, education technology is focusing on removing the flaws of traditional learning through interactive, personalized, and engaging course materials. The digital platform has made education nearly accessible to everyone with a laptop, power and internet connectivity. Knowledge has become easier to share and more accessible to everyone (Lafuente, Ács and Szerb, 2022). The numerous education apps and platforms have made it possible to master a language, learn a skill, acquire a certificate from a digital school, or even boost a professional skill regardless of location or mastery. Although these developments are not entirely new, the pandemic is largely responsible for bringing educational technology to the forefront and ushering in the age of digital learning.
The importance of leveraging digital platforms to improve learning outcomes, enhance student engagement, and personalize learning experiences has taken a new significance post-pandemic. This digital transformation of learning processes, activities, and materials is a dramatic break from the analog worksheet technologies that have characterized the educational systems for decades. Nearly every school is readying its systems and structures to allow for the digital transformation. Educators in the post-pandemic era have a plethora of digital platform options to choose from. While most of these education technologies are in the early stages of adoption, tutors and students are already familiar with them and possess the digital literacy required to support tech-driven classrooms. On the whole, education experts agree that digital transformation is moving education from being teacher-focused to learner-focused. The digital economy has decentralized education and made it more learner-centered (Hillman, Rensfeldt and Ivarsson, 2019). For instance, data-driven learning software is now being used to track learners’ strengths, preferences, needs, and interests on an individual basis.
Teachers are now using digital platforms to facilitate personalized instruction through adaptive learning where students play a more active role in their learning and achieve mastery of class material at their own pace. Students have different learning needs: some students have special needs while others are early finishers or just gifted. Teachers can now tailor their curriculum using education technology tools to meet the learning needs of these different groups of students. For instance, instructors can modify learning software to be more interactive, complex, or simple depending on the individual needs of the student. Digital platforms have also democratized learning by reducing the reliance on physical infrastructure. The digital economy has facilitated education by allowing schooling to take place outside traditional classrooms (Haleem et al., 2022). Under-resourced schools with limited physical infrastructure can use online resources to provide the same quality of education as more privileged schools. Similarly, education technologies have improved education access for students with special needs by providing appropriate learning resources, thanks to the ability to modify instruction. Moreover, digital platforms have made learning more immersive and engaging for students. Some education technologies like VR have created virtual versions of teaching materials or environments, which are suitable for practical courses like biology.
VR provides a near-real setting where learners can acquire skills while performing potentially risky tasks without suffering any real costs or risks. More importantly, digital platforms continue to provide opportunities for limitless collaborative learning, outside traditional classrooms. As education technologies improve, it will be possible for students from around the globe to participate in cross-cultural interactions similar to those between kids in a traditional classroom. This form of collaborative interactive learning is critical for learners’ interpersonal, cognitive, and social skills development. The increasing utilization of innovative technologies to fill gaps in learning and instruction has attracted the interest of big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple. Some of the educational tools developed by these companies are proprietary and offered free of charge to schools including Google Classroom, Google Apps for Education, Amazon Web Services Educate, Skype in the Classroom, iTunesU, and Office365 for Education. A large number of online education resources are free and can be easily accessed by both teachers and students (Bhat et al., 2020). On-demand tutoring platforms like Studypool have also gained prominence among students who now have access to unlimited revision materials. Digital platforms have directly benefited students who want to crowdsource knowledge more efficiently.
How Platforms Are Redefining Work
Another sector that has also been profoundly impacted by digital platforms is the workplace. Digital platforms have transformed how organizations function as democratization of work and technology empowerment allow firms to separate work from employment. The fundamental belief that work should be done within the bounds of the workplace is being questioned as contractors and freelancers replace regular employees. The digital economy has transformed the traditional workplace and ways of working (ILO, 2021). Digital platforms have allowed employers to deconstruct work from employment thereby creating a growing workforce of contingent workers or staff who do not classify as regular employees in the traditional sense. Digital platforms like Tongal, Topcoder, and Upwork have changed how companies engage with workers: companies can now access the knowledge and skills of free agents and in return providing them with fair compensation and flexible working arrangements that are not otherwise given to traditional employees. Talent platforms eliminate the friction points that characterize traditional employment by matching employers to suitable talent and increasing labor-force participation for currently inactive workers or current part-timers.
These platforms are creating an alternative employment arrangement outside what most organizations have. In traditional employment, work is categorized into roles and assigned in one singular space to staff by the entrepreneur coordinator. The organization is rigid, self-contained, and protective while the reward packages are consistent, unchanging, and include other traditional elements like working conditions, compensation packages, and working hours. However, digital platforms have transformed these traditional work practices by creating a world beyond employment. In the platform economy, work is deconstructed into projects and assigned through various virtual market connections other than an employment relationship. The modern organization is interconnected, cooperative, permeable, and flexible. The digital economy has made the workplace a dynamic, flexible, and agile place for staff (Mäntymäki, Baiyere and Islam, 2019). Moreover, reward packages are constantly changing, individually defines, and involve imaginative facets like reputation and speed of completion. The pandemic sped up digitalization of the workplace and forced enterprises to embrace the gig economy as the mainstay of how employees and organizations work.
Traditional companies with vertically integrated full-time employees are being replaced by a more dynamic and mobile workforce with flexible working hours and arrangements. The rapid digitalization of the workplace post-pandemic is largely owing to the almost ubiquitous Internet connectivity. For instance, the ability to stay connected and collaborate with other workers on a project regardless of the location has created a distinct gig economy culture. Teams across the world can work together on projects virtually via Skype, cloud-stored files, email, or VoIP. The technical and social mobility afforded by digital platforms has changed the traditional relationship between enterprises and workers. Moreover, other digital advances like talent platforms have allowed organizations to hire employees from all over the world in a complex marketplace where employees prefer working on their devices rather than coming into an office. Organizations have minimized their office space by allowing employees to work from home (Fredstrand, 2021). Talent platforms provide the modern worker with a technology-focused work environment that feels more comfortable engaging with. They have also allowed organizations to work at scale by accessing talent pools that are outside their local markets.
Unlike the traditional workplace, which can only reach local talent pools, talent platforms allow organizations to leverage diverse talent across the globe on a daily basis. Teams can collaborate on common projects from their homes regardless of location. For instance, nearly a third of all US workers are contingent, meaning that employing organizations can create “on demand” teams with the same level of agility as traditional workplace teams. The increase in virtual market connections has opened new ways of managing and developing talent. There are several freelance platforms that access, review, rank, and appraise contingent workers based on the required job competencies. Workers have an opportunity to take advantage of the digital economy to improve their job placements (ILO, 2021). Cognitive technologies have allowed organizations to quickly assess worker competency and so tap into extensive networks of seasoned professionals. Moreover, the digitalization has also improved human resource processes in the way organizations facilitate teamwork. Team members can now share information and ideas quickly regardless of location. Besides, the emergence of talent platforms, social media networks, and talent appraisal tools has resulted in a new world of organizational and employee data outside the enterprise that has improved transparency.
Workers can quickly do an online search of an organization’s workplace culture on websites like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or Facebook to determine if they should accept a job opportunity within a company. Similarly, organizations can do a quick scan of a prospective candidate’s social media pages to get a grasp of their personality or cultural fit. The digitalization of both organizational information and employee data has improved transparency by allowing both parties to gauge each other before engaging in any work relationship. On the whole, digital platforms have improved task and information management for both organizations and workers. A core benefit of successful digital platforms is their ability to reduce uncertainty in market connections through sharing of information. Employers and employees can learn about each other before they discuss the terms of employment (Fredstrand, 2021). The ability of employers and workers to interact across a digital ecosystem provides a seamless workplace experience for both parties. Employees can manage their time and achieve work life balance while carrying out their duties. At the same time, organizations can assign work to teams dispersed across the globe, monitor task progress, and even measure worker capacity and capability. Furthermore, having teams worki...