The Right To Privacy Is Being Eroded
Have you ever noticed a strange phenomenon when you use Facebook?
You're browsing the web, searching for certain items and then when you return to Facebook, those items mysteriously appear as ads in your News Feed.
The same thing happens on Instagram too. Is this magic? A coincidence? Or something more targeted.
The truth is, Facebook knows what you're searching. Their pixel follows you around the web allowing the company to scrape a ton of information on what you like, what you search for and a whole host of other stuff.
This data is then sold to advertisers who are able to micro-target you based on your search history.
That's why if you're searching for holidays in Mexico and adverts suddenly appear all over your social media, it's not a coincidence, it's by design.
This is known as surveillance capitalism and it's how companies such as Facebook and Google make their money. When products are free, that means, you are the product, not the other way around.
Your data is the cash cow and shiny social networks and slick search engines are how it's mined. But it doesn't stop there. Use an Amazon Echo or Google Home device in your house?
They may be recording what you're saying, even when they're not supposed to. After all, what better way to understand customers than by eavesdropping on private conversations.
The privacy implications of surveillance capitalism are profound. If Google can track all of your search history, what's to stop them from tracking your Android phone? In fact, they may be doing so.
The fundamental question we have to ask is, who decides, who decides?
Do we decide to demand privacy, or do the companies decide they have the right to take it from us?
This question will be one of the most important of the 21st century.