Once data generated by individuals is stored in the cloud, it is the corporations that decide what data other users are allowed to "borrow" from the bank, without those users being able to permanently store it in a way that would let them freely reproduce or transform it. That is why streaming—or downloading content in a format intended for short-term storage and access—is the norm instead of storing content locally and permanently. In this model, users are no longer the proprietors of any data they produce or acquire, and they don't get to decide what is collected or shared or for what purposes. From producers and owners, they pass into being renters of data, laborers who generate data to be sent back to the servers or, as earlier discussed, who are the source of life streams from which such data can be automatically extracted.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 184