The growth of computer-to-computer monitoring for marketing purposes was only part of a more general growth, starting in the 1980s, in the monitoring and shaping of life at a distance. Much of this data gathering requires no subterfuge, because it is a basic mode of operation in corporate intranets, networks of environmental sensors, and scientific data collection—that is, “new types of sensors are constantly becoming available.”

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 115