Social media has us under surveillance – and your phone is a Stasi agent | Jonathan Freedland

Big business is Big Brother: Admiral is the latest company to offer some customers discounts based on their behaviour – judged by their Facebook posts

Think of it, to use the ingenious phrase coined by my colleague John Harris, as “Stasi capitalism”. That might sound like an overreaction to the announcement of a new car insurance scheme, but hear me out.

Admiral has publicised a new service – firstcarquote – which will analyse the Facebook posts of first-time car owners, looking for evidence that they’re the kind of well-organised, conscientious types who will be safe on the roads. If you use a calendar or bookkeeping apps, tend to write in short, coherent sentences and use lots of lists, you’ll look like a safe bet and might qualify for a discount. But if your social media history is chock-full of exclamation marks, with a heavy use of “always” and “never” rather than the more cautious “maybe”, that might suggest you’re a tad on the over-confident, even reckless side – and you’ll have to pay the full rate.

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