From Print Capitalism to Data Capitalism in Japan: Desertification through Dataveillance

We argue that surveillance technologies, increasingly powered by artificial intelligence, translate print capitalism into data capitalism. We observe this transition as championed in Japan, a country favorable to its development given a strong techno-nationalism, by adopting Aurora Donzelli’s criticism of capitalism as a translation machine. Unlike traditional CCTV that simply records passersby in real-time, retail surveillance systems in Japan sense repeat customers and known offenders. These technologies are justified through Japanese techno-nationalism, recursively translating sociotechnical imaginaries of nationhood into databases. We observe that an epistemology of big data responsible for this transition paves the way for new technological infrastructures while maintaining old imaginaries of print capitalism. The goal of automating interpretation turns society into a closed system that interprets itself. Through this study, we also explore how semiotics can contribute to research on emergent technology, by eschewing the traditional analysis of discourse by differentiating “form” from “content.”