Chapter 24: Quiz — Surveillance Capitalism and AI

20 questions. Each question is worth 5 points. Total: 100 points.

Question 1. Shoshana Zuboff's concept of "behavioral surplus" refers to:

A) The profit margin generated by behavioral advertising over traditional advertising B) Data collected from user behavior that goes beyond what is necessary to deliver the service C) The surplus of behavioral data that exceeds what advertising algorithms can process D) The value created by users' voluntary contributions to platform content

Correct Answer: B Behavioral surplus is the behavioral data generated by user interactions that goes beyond what is needed to deliver the service (returning search results, connecting social contacts). This surplus is the raw material for building behavioral prediction products sold to advertisers.

Question 2. The "prediction product" in surveillance capitalism is:

A) A forecast of market trends generated by AI analysis of consumer data B) A proprietary algorithm that predicts which advertisements will be most effective C) Predictions of future user behavior sold to advertisers to enable targeted marketing D) AI-generated content predictions used to populate social media feeds

Correct Answer: C The product sold in surveillance capitalism's behavioral futures markets is predictions of future human behavior — specifically, predictions about which individuals will respond to which messages under which circumstances. This prediction capability is what advertisers pay platforms for.

Question 3. Zuboff's concept of "instrumentarian power" is best described as:

A) Power exercised through legal instruments and contracts B) Power that operates by shaping the environment in which choices are made, without compelling any specific choice C) Power derived from controlling essential instruments of production D) Power exercised through transparent institutional mechanisms

Correct Answer: B Instrumentarian power modifies behavior not through reward, punishment, or persuasion, but by arranging the environment — what content appears, what options are presented, what information is available — so that individuals are more likely to make choices that serve the surveillance capitalists' commercial interests.

Question 4. Which of the following best describes the "attention economy"?

A) A payment system in which users pay with their attention rather than money B) A framework for measuring consumer attention spans for advertising purposes C) The competition among platforms and media for finite human attention as the scarce resource that generates advertising value D) An economic theory explaining why digital advertising is more effective than traditional advertising

Correct Answer: C The attention economy describes the competition for human attention as the foundational scarce resource in digital advertising. The more time users spend on a platform, the more behavioral data is generated and the more advertising impressions are served. This drives design choices that maximize time-on-platform.

Question 5. Amazon's "time off task" (TOT) metric is problematic for which primary reason?

A) It violates OSHA workplace safety regulations B) It measures non-scanning time without distinguishing between legitimate pauses (bathroom breaks, safety stops) and shirking C) It generates too much data for human managers to process D) It was implemented without adequate negotiation with worker unions

Correct Answer: B TOT accumulates whenever a worker is not actively scanning, regardless of the reason for the pause. A bathroom break, a safety stop, a moment of confusion, and deliberate shirking all accumulate TOT at the same rate. This contextual blindness creates incentives for workers to forego legitimate breaks and creates performance assessments that do not reflect genuine effort.

Question 6. Facebook's "Off-Facebook Activity" tracking collects data:

A) Only from users who have explicitly enrolled in a Facebook data sharing program B) From any website using Facebook Pixel tracking code, regardless of whether the user is logged into Facebook C) Only from third-party apps that have been verified as Facebook advertising partners D) From users' offline activities through partnerships with retail point-of-sale systems

Correct Answer: B Facebook Pixel — placed on millions of third-party websites — sends behavioral data to Facebook whenever a user with Facebook cookies visits a site using the Pixel. This occurs even when the user is not logged into Facebook or actively using Facebook, and extends Facebook's surveillance reach far beyond its own platforms.

Question 7. The 2014 Facebook emotional contagion experiment was criticized primarily because:

A) The experiment produced results that were scientifically invalid B) The experiment cost too much and was not approved by Facebook's executive team C) Users whose news feeds were manipulated had not meaningfully consented to psychological experimentation D) The experiment produced harmful emotional states in users who subsequently sued Facebook

Correct Answer: C The core criticism of the emotional contagion study was that 689,000 users' news feeds were manipulated to test emotional contagion effects without those users' meaningful knowledge or consent. Facebook's defense that the Data Use Policy covered "research" was widely rejected as an inadequate basis for informed consent to psychological experimentation.

Question 8. Which regulatory action imposed the largest fine for children's privacy violations as of the time of publication?

A) The $5 billion FTC settlement with Facebook B) The $170 million YouTube COPPA settlement C) The $92 million TikTok COPPA settlement D) The $5.7 million Musical.ly COPPA settlement

Correct Answer: C TikTok's 2023 $92 million COPPA settlement was the largest COPPA fine ever imposed, surpassing the 2019 YouTube settlement of $170 million (which was actually the second largest at the time this chapter was written). Note that the ordering here places TikTok's 2023 action as the largest.

Instructor Note: Double-check these figures against current enforcement records at time of use, as new enforcement actions may have exceeded these amounts.

Question 9. The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) addresses which concern that GDPR alone does not adequately address?

A) The cross-border transfer of personal data from the EU to third countries B) The systemic societal risks created by very large platforms' recommendation algorithms and content moderation failures C) The liability of platforms for user-generated content that infringes copyright D) The security standards that platforms must meet to protect personal data from breaches

Correct Answer: B The DSA addresses systemic risks — including threats to democratic processes, public health, and vulnerable users — created by very large platforms' algorithmic systems. It goes beyond GDPR's focus on individual data protection to address collective and societal harms from platform design choices.

Question 10. Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework reduced Facebook's projected 2022 revenue by approximately:

A) $1 billion B) $5 billion C) $10 billion D) $25 billion

Correct Answer: C Facebook disclosed that ATT was expected to reduce its 2022 revenue by approximately $10 billion, by limiting its ability to track iOS users across apps and measure advertising conversions. The actual impact was somewhat smaller as Facebook developed measurement alternatives, but the ATT headwind was a significant factor in Facebook's first-ever revenue decline.

Question 11. "Contextual advertising" differs from behavioral advertising in that contextual advertising:

A) Places advertisements based on the content of the page or app being viewed rather than on a profile of the individual user B) Requires explicit user consent before displaying any advertisements C) Uses machine learning to analyze user context rather than stored behavioral data D) Limits advertisements to the geographic context in which the user is located

Correct Answer: A Contextual advertising matches advertisements to the content context — food advertisements on recipe pages, travel advertisements on destination articles — rather than to behavioral profiles of individual users. It does not require tracking individual users across sessions or platforms.

Question 12. The Carpenter v. United States Supreme Court decision is significant for surveillance capitalism because:

A) It prohibited the sale of personal data between private companies without consent B) It held that the government needs a warrant to obtain historical cell phone location data from telecommunications companies C) It classified behavioral advertising as a form of search and seizure requiring a warrant D) It required platforms to disclose surveillance practices to users before collecting data

Correct Answer: B Carpenter v. United States (2018) held that historical cell phone location data held by telecom carriers has a reasonable expectation of privacy, requiring a warrant for government access. The decision established limits on government access to commercially held data but left many questions about other types of commercial data unresolved.

Question 13. Which of the following best characterizes the commercial relationship between Facebook users and Facebook?

A) Users are customers who receive free services in exchange for viewing advertisements B) Users are the raw material from which behavioral prediction products are manufactured and sold to advertisers C) Users are co-creators who contribute content and share in the value their contributions generate D) Users are shareholders in a cooperative enterprise from which they receive dividends in the form of free services

Correct Answer: B In the surveillance capitalism framework, users are not customers — they do not pay for services and their interests do not drive design decisions. They are the source of behavioral data that is processed into prediction products sold to advertisers. Advertisers are the real customers; users are the raw material.

Question 14. Amazon's warehouse injury rates compared to industry averages are:

A) Approximately equal to the industry standard for fulfillment operations B) Lower than industry average due to Amazon's investment in worker safety technology C) Significantly higher than industry average — documented at two to three times the standard rate for musculoskeletal injuries in some facilities D) Not publicly available because Amazon does not report injury statistics

Correct Answer: C Research by the Strategic Organizing Center and reporting by major news organizations has documented that Amazon's fulfillment center injury rates significantly exceed industry averages, with some facilities reporting musculoskeletal injury rates two to three times the industry standard. Amazon disputes the characterization of its reporting methodology.

Question 15. The "pay or consent" model introduced by Meta in Europe was challenged by the European Data Protection Board on what basis?

A) The subscription price was too high relative to the market value of the data collected B) The model did not offer a genuinely free alternative without tracking, making consent coerced by economic pressure C) The model violated the EU's competition rules by tying payment to privacy choices D) The model was implemented without adequate notice to users of the new pricing structure

Correct Answer: B The EDPB's challenge to the pay-or-consent model was that it did not offer a genuine "free" alternative — users who refused tracking had to pay. This means the choice between privacy and platform access was coerced by economic pressure, making consent to tracking not "freely given" as GDPR requires.

Question 16. COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) prohibits:

A) Any website from collecting data from users under 18 without parental consent B) Online services directed at children from collecting personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent C) Online platforms from allowing children under 16 to create accounts D) The sale of children's data to any third party regardless of parental consent

Correct Answer: B COPPA applies to websites and online services directed at children under 13, and to any site that has actual knowledge it is collecting from children under 13. It requires verifiable parental consent before collection, not merely a statement that the site is for users 13 and older. It does not cover 13-17 year olds.

Question 17. Which feature of China's social credit system most distinguishes it from commercial surveillance capitalism in democratic countries?

A) China's system collects more types of data than commercial platforms B) China's system explicitly connects behavioral scores to government-enforced access to services and mobility C) China's system uses more advanced AI than commercial platforms D) China's system has better transparency mechanisms than commercial platforms

Correct Answer: B The most significant distinguishing feature of China's social credit system is the explicit connection between behavioral scores and government enforcement — travel bans, restrictions on business licenses, limited access to education. Commercial surveillance in democratic countries generates similar data collection and behavioral modeling but is not formally connected to state enforcement of social conformity.

Question 18. A "data cooperative" in the context of surveillance capitalism alternatives refers to:

A) An agreement between competing platforms to share behavioral data for mutual benefit B) A government database that aggregates commercial surveillance data for regulatory purposes C) An organization in which individuals collectively pool and govern their data, making collective decisions about its use D) A commercial enterprise that purchases data from multiple sources and resells it to advertisers

Correct Answer: C A data cooperative gives individuals collective governance over their data — including the ability to negotiate compensation for commercial uses and to collectively prohibit uses members reject. It shifts the balance of power from platforms to data subjects by enabling collective action.

Question 19. The "gig economy" creates a particularly challenging surveillance context because:

A) Gig workers generate more behavioral data than traditional employees B) Gig platforms use less sophisticated monitoring than traditional employers C) Workers classified as independent contractors lack employment protections but are subject to intensive algorithmic management D) Gig work is not covered by any labor or privacy law in the United States

Correct Answer: C The combination of independent contractor classification (removing employment law protections) and algorithmic management (intensive behavioral monitoring and automated performance decisions) creates a power dynamic where gig workers have neither the protections of employment nor the genuine independence of self-employment.

Question 20. The Myanmar/Facebook case illustrates which limitation of the surveillance capitalism business model?

A) Advertising revenue can decline when content becomes too controversial B) Engagement-optimized recommendation algorithms amplify harmful content because engagement maximization is indifferent to content quality or social effect C) Social media platforms are legally liable for user-generated hate speech D) AI content moderation systems cannot accurately classify content in non-English languages

Correct Answer: B The central lesson of Facebook's role in amplifying anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar is that recommendation algorithms optimized for engagement do not distinguish between content that produces engagement through positive response and content that produces engagement through outrage or hatred. The optimization objective — maximize engagement — is structurally indifferent to social harm.