Surplus Value

According to Haggerty & Ericson, the information that people leave behind such as browsing histories can be used as a form of surveillance that can be monetized. This information can also be understood as part of a data double. This idea relates back to Marx's concept of "surplus value" (which for Marx was how employers profit from employee uncompensated labor), and both corporations and governments profit from the sale of this information. In modernity then, "surplus value" is being understood as "the profile that can be derived from the surplus information that different populations trail behind them in their daily lives" (p. 616). People are more accepting of the sale of their information thought because privacy can now be traded for products, services or deals (p. 616).

References:

Haggerty, K.D., & Ericson, R. (2000). The Surveillant Assemblage. British Journal of Sociology, 51(4), 605-622.