Chapter 11 Quiz: The Data Economy

Select the best answer for each multiple-choice question. Short-answer questions require a written response of 2–4 sentences.

1. Shoshana Zuboff's concept of "surveillance capitalism" refers to:

A) Government surveillance programs that use commercial technology B) An economic logic that claims human behavioral experience as raw material and monetizes it through behavioral prediction and modification C) The use of surveillance cameras in commercial spaces to prevent shoplifting D) Social media companies' practice of sharing data with government agencies

2. Which of the following is an example of declared data?

A) A retailer logging which products you looked at for longer than three seconds B) A loyalty program recording which items you purchased C) A user entering their email address and birthdate during account creation D) An algorithm inferring your political affiliation from your browsing history

3. The Princeton WebTAP study of tracking on the top 1 million websites found that:

A) Most websites collect no data from visitors who don't create accounts B) 88% of websites transmitted user data to at least one third party C) Tracking is primarily limited to social media and e-commerce platforms D) First-party tracking is far more common than third-party tracking

4. "Behavioral residue" refers to:

A) The personal information users deliberately share on social media profiles B) The traces of digital activity — clicks, searches, locations, purchases — left by users as they navigate digital environments C) Data that remains on a company's servers after a user has deleted their account D) The outdated or inaccurate information in credit bureau files

5. Data brokers like Acxiom, Experian, and LexisNexis are best characterized as companies that:

A) Provide direct services to consumers in exchange for their data B) Operate exclusively in the credit reporting industry under FCRA regulation C) Collect, aggregate, and sell personal data about individuals who are not their direct customers D) Partner exclusively with government agencies to provide investigative services

6. Which data type represents the most significant privacy concern according to the "aggregation problem"?

A) Declared data, because users consciously provided it and may have said too much B) Observed data, because it is collected without active user input C) Derived data, because it reveals things that no individual source could reveal on its own D) All data types pose equally significant concerns

7. Former NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker's statement that "metadata absolutely tells you everything about somebody's life" refers to the fact that:

A) The NSA has access to the full content of all digital communications B) Metadata — data about the context of communications — can reveal patterns of behavior, relationships, health, and beliefs even without access to content C) Metadata is more accurate than content because it cannot be falsified D) The NSA primarily relies on metadata rather than content because it is easier to collect

8. The "Third Party Doctrine," established by Smith v. Maryland (1979), holds that:

A) Information shared with a third party carries no reasonable expectation of privacy B) Third parties cannot access personal data without a warrant C) Data brokers are considered third parties and must comply with FCRA requirements D) Users must be notified when their data is shared with third parties

9. The primary reason that raw personal data records often sell for as little as $0.0005 per record is:

A) Personal data has very little value to advertisers or other buyers B) The low price reflects extreme volume — small per-unit value multiplied by hundreds of millions of records produces substantial revenue C) Privacy regulations have forced companies to reduce data prices D) Competition among data brokers has driven prices down to near-zero

10. Which of the following describes the aggregation problem?

A) The difficulty of combining data from multiple sources into a single database B) The way combining individually innocuous data points can produce deeply invasive profiles C) The problem of data being aggregated by competitors without authorization D) The challenge of managing large volumes of data storage

11. The "attention economy" model means that the primary "product" sold by platforms like Google and Facebook is:

A) Search results and social media posts B) User data sold directly to other companies C) Captured user attention sold to advertisers D) Premium subscription access to additional features

12. When Target's data scientists in the early 2010s sent pregnancy-related coupons to a teenager before her father knew she was pregnant, the data they used to make this prediction was an example of:

A) Declared data B) Observed data C) Inferred data D) Derived data

13. The data pipeline that transforms behavioral data from collection to commercial use follows which sequence?

A) Monetization → Analysis → Aggregation → Collection B) Collection → Aggregation → Analysis → Monetization C) Collection → Analysis → Monetization → Aggregation D) Aggregation → Collection → Monetization → Analysis

14. "Identity resolution" in the data pipeline refers to:

A) A legal process for correcting inaccurate data broker profiles B) The technical process of linking records from different sources to construct a unified profile of a single individual C) A consumer's right to know what data a broker holds about them D) The process by which data brokers verify that their records are accurate

15. The chapter argues that the "free service" framing of digital platforms:

A) Accurately reflects the true cost of providing digital services B) Is a rhetorical construction that obscures an actual transaction in which users pay with behavioral data C) Is appropriate because users genuinely receive services worth more than the data they provide D) Is misleading only in cases where users provide sensitive medical or financial information

16. LexisNexis's "CLEAR" platform represents an example of which concept from Chapter 5?

A) Panopticism B) Synopticism C) Function creep D) Dataveillance

17. Which of the following best represents the structural argument about the data economy's problems?

A) Individual users should take responsibility for protecting their own data through privacy settings B) Market competition will naturally produce more privacy-respecting alternatives as users demand them C) The data economy's problems cannot be solved by individual behavior change alone because they are embedded in business models, technical architecture, and regulatory frameworks D) Data brokers should be required to pay users for their data rather than collecting it for free

18. Short Answer: The chapter discusses "visibility asymmetry" as a defining feature of the data economy. Define the term and explain at least two of the specific asymmetries (epistemic, temporal, remedial, or power) through which this asymmetry operates. Use at least one concrete example from the chapter to illustrate your answer.

[Answer space — 150–250 words]

Answer Key

  1. B
  2. C
  3. B
  4. B
  5. C
  6. C
  7. B
  8. A
  9. B
  10. B
  11. C
  12. C
  13. B
  14. B
  15. B
  16. C
  17. C
  18. Rubric: Full credit requires (1) an accurate definition of visibility asymmetry as the disparity between what data companies know about users and what users know about data companies; (2) accurate description of at least two asymmetry types with supporting examples. Strong answers will connect the concept to structural power rather than reducing it to individual ignorance. Partial credit for accurate definitions without supporting examples.

Chapter 11 | Part 3: Commercial Surveillance