If rendition is interrupted, surveillance capitalism cannot stand, for the whole enterprise rests on this original sin. This fact is amply displayed in the public drama surrounding the ill-fated 2015 attempt to produce public guidelines on the creation and use of biometric information through a voluntary “privacy multi-stakeholder” process convened by the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) under the auspices of the US Department of Commerce. After weeks of negotiations, consumer advocates walked out in protest over the hard-line position of the tech companies and their lobbyists on the single most pivotal issue: consent.

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 789