Surveillance, Security, and Democracy

SURVEILLANCE, SECURITY, AND DEMOCRACY
by (Name)
The Name of the Class (Course)
Professor (Tutor)
The Name of the School (University)
The City and State where it is located
The Date
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 ...