Examples of products determined to render, monitor, record, and communicate behavioral data proliferate, from smart vodka bottles to internet-enabled rectal thermometers, and quite literally everything in between. The business developer for a spirits company thus cites his plan for a “connected bottle”: “The more we learn about consumers and their behaviors, the better services we can connect to them.” Many brands are determined “to give packaging a speaking role in an increasingly interactive marketplace.” Global spirits distributor Diageo promises “smart sensor-equipped bottles” that can track purchases and sales data, and, most importantly, “communicate with consumers’ devices and switch gears—recipes versus sales promos—once the bottle is opened.” A producer of bar equipment states the case plainly enough: “It really is all about… allowing these [bar] owners to see stuff that they couldn’t see before and maximize their profits.”

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 748