Surveillance is not obviously a benefit to citizens (except as a temporary means to counter serious threats), so it must be repackaged or disguised. Here is the source of data colonialism's most interesting contradictions. It is eerie but not uncommon to find the language of personal freedom melded with the logic of surveillance, as in the motto of facial-recognition software manufacturer, Facefirst: "Creating a safer and more personalised planet through facial recognition technology." Google, meanwhile, is marketing Nest Hello, a video doorbell that includes facial-recognition technology, and Amazon has its own facial-recognition service called simply Rekognition. In China, facial-recognition software is becoming the cool new way for customers to pay for fast food and a (less cool!) way for city authorities to monitor public spaces.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 80