Sanral has issued a tender for contractors to take over its e-toll system.
Everyday life in the 21st century is constantly changing due to the increasing amount of data collected and analysed, especially recently in the Global South.
Surveillance has become a central aspect of modern interaction for corporations and governments; it is part of most organisations’ everyday operations, along with social media and the internet.
But this emerging political-economic trend is not considered by all to be an innocent development.
Shoshana Zuboff is the Harvard professor who coined the term “surveillance capitalism” – the commodification of personal data for the purpose of increasing profits. Through the use of surveillance capitalism, businesses can improve their efficiency and create better products by more accurately determining the demand for and supply of their goods and services.
The way in which surveillance capitalism operates is motivated by the desire to control and shape the market. According to Zuboff, the platforms responsible for this economic system carry out actions that complete the data rendition process. The first step in this is the exploration of behavioural surplus. This process involves conducting surveys — without the approval of the public.
For instance, when Google launched its Street View project, it was revealed that thousands of roads were photographed without the permission of the people on them. Following this incident, the company has started to introduce more moderate versions, which normalise its invasive practices, while still maintaining the project’s integrity. Is the National Road Agency (Sanral) trying to do the same thing in South Africa?
Sanral has issued a tender for contractors to take over its e-toll system. The agency is also planning to implement various value-added systems. According to the tender document, prospective contractors will be able to provide information and services such as the average speed of the e-toll system users and the monetising of data collected through it.
The agency noted that the e-toll system could help in reducing speed violations. Since it started collecting data on the average speed of vehicles on 3 April 2020, Sanral has recorded over 12-million infringements and issued thousands of speeding fines. The contractors will need to connect to the National Information System and other government departments to manage the data collected through the system.
The Sanral tender document states that the system will interface with its accounting system to allow the agency to collect fines. An external service provider, which the agency will hire during the contract, will issue legal notices.
BusinessTech reported that the agency is seeking proposals for the maintenance and operation of its Gauteng open road tolling system. The contractors would be responsible for the maintenance and operation of the e-toll system and handling hardware support and other related services.
Sanral has made many attempts to sway public opinion in support of e-tolls but failed – the number of e-toll payments by motorists decreased from 40% in 2015 to below 18% in 2022. The latest attempt to ensure motorists pay is giving power to contractors by selling data to them for the implementation of “value-added systems” and the monetising of data collected by e-tolls.
Sanral has failed to consider the warnings that come with e-tolls, such as the violation of location privacy. This allows people to move as they please without being monitored. The violation of this right means that information about, for example, the whereabouts of motorists, who they meet, the mall they frequent or the attendance of a political party’s rally, could be systematically and secretly collected and used at a later stage.
Selling data reflects Sanral’s ignorance of the warnings raised by e-tolls, such as alienating the public through secretly surveilling motorists. Among the “value-added systems” Sanral has identified are assisting the police and other law enforcement agencies with crime intelligence and the issuing and renewal of vehicle and driver’s licences.
The e-tolls have a facial-recognition feature. This, along with complex video analytics, can help track various behaviours, actions and patterns presented by motorists. These systems can produce metadata that can be used to profile and target people. In addition, such artificial intelligent systems can struggle to recognise distorted images. A consequence of this is that an innocent individual can be falsely convicted.
In addition, under surveillance capitalism, the data collected by e-tolls can be used as predictive cues (under the control of private contractors) to anticipate present and future choices motorists make. There is also the potential for hackers to breach systems and further violate the rights of motorists. Is monetising data from surveilling individuals more important than ensuring individuals enjoy the right to liberty?
Although surveillance capitalism is a relatively new political, economic and social phenomenon, it is still important to understand its operations from a strict operator perspective. Raising awareness about its various modes of operation and the erosion of rights is also vital.
The practice of surveillance capitalism can affect various aspects of people’s lives, including their identities and the ways in which opportunities are opened and closed for them, depending on the categories they fall under.
Thabo Motshweni and Sanele Khakhu are master’s candidates in the sociology department at the University of Johannesburg.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.