Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. Terms of Service crystalizes this current moment in technology and contemplates its implications: the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what is share-worthy; and the surveillance state operated by social media platforms—Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others—to mine our personal data for advertising revenue, an invasion of our lives that is as pervasive as government spying.

Jacob Silverman calls for social media users to take back ownership of their digital selves from the Silicon Valley corporations who claim to know what's best for them. Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, he reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture—explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to "like," and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from its grip.

社交网络已经发展成为现代社会的主食，但它的持续发展正变得越来越不利于我们的生活。通信和隐私的转变对我们的影响比我们意识到或理解的要大。服务条款》浓缩了这一技术的当前时刻，并思考其影响：在线可见性的身份验证乐趣和危险；我们新近通过什么值得分享的视角来看待日常生活；以及由社交媒体平台--Facebook、谷歌、Twitter和其他平台--运作的监视状态，为了广告收入而挖掘我们的个人数据，这种对我们生活的侵犯与政府间谍活动一样普遍。

雅各布-西尔弗曼呼吁社交媒体用户从声称知道什么对他们最好的硅谷公司手中夺回对他们数字自我的所有权。他整合了政治学、社会学、国家安全、流行文化和技术，揭示了互联网文化核心的惊人的一致性--解释了社交媒体公司如何设计他们的产品，以鼓励浅薄的参与，阻止异议。西尔弗曼反思了我们私人生活和公共生活之间坍塌的壁垒，使我们在决定分享什么和 "喜欢 "什么时感受到的内在冲突成为焦点，并解释了我们如何能够采取我们需要的措施，将自己从其控制中解放出来。