The privacy cost of Life-as-a-Service
People in the tech and software world are already accustomed to subscription-based apps and services. We even have a special term for it: Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS. But, looking at it from a wider angle, you could say that these days, everything operates on a subscription model.
Rent? That's a subscription for a place to sleep. Utility Bills? Subscription. Gym Membership? Streaming Services? Car leases? Subscription. Subscription. Subscription.
With the advent of gaming services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now, you now also pay a subscription fee to access a variety of video games every month. Ubisoft is really keen on that idea and says the quiet part out loud:
One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.
— Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions @ Ubisoft
Gaming services and other subscriptions are undoubtedly convenient – they eliminate the need for large upfront payments, and you can cancel them when they're no longer needed. Well, rent is a little more complicated, as you have to live somewhere, duh. But there's an ugly side to this convenience.
If everything is a subscription, you end up owning nothing. The latest move from PlayStation proves that – they plan to remove digital content from your library – even if you've paid for it:
Due to our content licensing arrangements, you will no longer be able to watch any of your purchased Discovery content.
This is a concerning trend, and I'm pretty sure there must be a dystopian novel exploring this topic. The one where your parents start paying a life subscription fee when you're born, and you inherit those payments when you're 18 or something. Everything is produced and owned by big corporations and you float in that ocean of content until you die.
But that's why it's called a dystopia. I don't want people to become the sum of only their subscriptions. I think privacy is closely connected to this trend of data ownership and subscriptions. If you own nothing in this world, do you even have your own place? Do you have anything private?
The ending of “Leave the World Behind” beautifully demonstrates the importance of owning data, having a private place, and being offline. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
I left a lot behind when I left Russia in 2022, but the idealist in me still wants to leave something after myself, and I don’t want it to be only the subscription accounts, a mortgage, and a leased car.
P. S. Libraries are also a subscription, but that's a good one. I have nothing against libraries.