Evangelists of technological connection such as Kevin Kelly see things differently. In his recent book The Inevitable, he names tracking as one of the twelve dimensions of technology's transformation of society. By attributing this transformation to “what technology wants” (the name of his previous book), Kelly seeks to quarantine today's profound transformations from ethical critique. His goal is to help us “work with [technologies'] nature, rather than struggle against it.” The entire edifice of data colonialism and capitalist data relations is obscured by this rhetorical move.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 511