Thursday, October 10, 2013
Data collection and distribution
I'm not saying much that hasn't already been said, but obviously many people are unaware of what is happening to them every day in terms of internet trafficking, advertisements, and privacy. With the rate at which technological advancements are being made, it is a bit frightening to think about what might be possible twenty years from now, considering where we're at already in terms of privacy violation. Essentially anyone that wants to use the internet is completely at the mercy of data collection, since a great number of sites sell data to other companies, and because this data is collected and sold without so much as a brief notice to consumers, many people are not even aware that it is happening to them every time they search for something on Google or make a purchase on some other site (among other things). With the data collected, companies are able to make advertisements more specific to individuals, but where they can't do that, they use their standard sale of “pleasure” to apply to a general audience. This constitutes things like comedy and sex and other appeals to emotions through advertisements, which could potentially be combined with the highly personalized advertisements that are sent to people via the internet (if that has not been done already). I wouldn't be surprised if televised advertisements were somehow linked to the internet to appeal to the interests of individual consumers as well. People are incredibly intelligent, so I'm sure that eventually they'll find a way to penetrate more than just the internet with their data collection and distribution. Televised programming reflects harmful stereotypes all the time, so it wouldn't be difficult to find the people most susceptible to this and market to them more specifically, based on what they watch on television. And it doesn't have to stop at television. Any sort of records of people's history could be documented and used later to determine how to best market to that individual, and there are endless forms of media and advertising that could be used to reach that individual.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree with you that there is a vast amount of people unaware of how often and to what extend they are being tracked. Their privacy is invaded without their permission or even knowledge. In the Facebook article Facebook is now taking away the setting that lets people opt-out of being searched for by everyone. This can allow people you don't want to track you to look you up. This can be dangerous depending on the people that were blocked beforehand. In the Google article Google will now use a person's reviews to advertise products to a person's friends. The way that the current trends are going I too wonder and am frightened at what will happen in the coming years in the way of tracking. Will the "bundle deals" people buy turn into a new way to track people with the things in the bundle linked to one another and tracking the consumer?
ReplyDeleteRay, thank you! I read you post. I agree with you in this point that everyone who wants to use the internet is completely at the mercy of data collection, since a great number of sites sell data to other companies. It is really true! The Websites sell data to other companies and many people are not aware that it is happening to them. I think we should be realistic people and we should know, what can we publish and what we should not publish because any sort of records could be documented. You are right!
ReplyDelete