Who Tracks Who? A Surveillance Capitalist Examination of Commercial Bluetooth Tracking Networks

TL;DR

This paper analyzes commercial Bluetooth tracking networks by Apple, Samsung, and Tile, revealing how they commodify user data, pose privacy risks, and may turn users into unregulated digital labor within the framework of surveillance capitalism.

Contribution

It provides a critical examination of commercial Bluetooth tracking networks, highlighting their hidden assets and privacy implications within surveillance capitalism.

Findings

Tracking networks commodify user data

Users risk privacy breaches

Networks may exploit users as digital labor

Abstract

Object and person tracking networks powered by Bluetooth and mobile devices have become increasingly popular for purposes of public safety and individual concerns. This essay examines popular commercial tracking networks and their campaigns from Apple, Samsung and Tile with reference to surveillance capitalism and digital privacy, discovering the hidden assets commodified through said networks, and their potential of turning users into unregulated digital labour while leaving individual privacy at risk.