All things Tech!

Esme nha Maire · 04-12-2018, 12:25 PM

I hope this isn't entirely outside the remit of this thread. With regard to the above, about the huge amounts of data gathered about each and every one of us by companies, whether or not we have actually used their services or not, what bothers me is that it seems to me to be a very unsubtle assault on the individual in a subtle sort of way.

To clarify that last - who am I? Well, I am me, sat at this keyboard tying this - but to you, reading this, I am the impression that you form of me from reading these words that I type. If we engage in interpersonal communication, what will regulate that interaction is the impression you have formed of me - which may not be accurate, or fair, or you may pick up on some minor point or trait and imagine from that that I am either lovable/hatable, employable/unemployable etc.

We all, to greater or lesser degree, show different aspects of ourselves in different situations, contexts. But these huge data-gathering mechanisms don't care about context. They care about fact - you visited these sites, made those purchases, watched that film, bought that toy, liked this celebrity, commented in that thread, and so on. And from all this, a model of you is created. But at no point is anyone checking to see if it is a real model of you, an accurate one. It is one made on a set of assumptions, and those assumptions are driven purely by corporate entities desire to make more money from you, to get you to buy their products, by targeted advertising.

They do not care about context, about mistakes - every really liked someone only to find years later that they went to jail for doing something abhhorent? Ever bought something as a joke for a friend? Ever made a social mistake you later regretted, or said something in ignorance because you simply didn't know enough at the time? Pre-internet, that information either wasn't known, or was known to very few aside from yourself. Now - once it;s out there, it;s simply not forgotten. Your rationale for whatever it was isnt known, it's assumed, and you may be judged based on those potentially. incorrect assumptions.

And companies do abuse this data, as do outright criminals. The extent to which businesses are data-driven should not be underestimated. What if your
ability to land a job is affected by a trawl of available data on you done by a company, a job you may be a perfect fit for, except that, oh, I dunno, maybe you looked something up on the net out of sheer curiosity, or to try to help a friend, regarding drugs, so clearly you have an interest in drugs, and that's an immediate no-hire for the company offering the job?

The utility you may find in social media sites does not come free of charge. It comes at the expense of your privacy and the extent to which you are happy to let others make decisions about your life based on assumptions made on the gigabytes of minutiae gleaned from your use of the internet, whether you're sitting at a computer typing, as I am now, or buying something in a shop with a card, or whether you just happen to be visible in a picture someone puts of an event onto a social media site, and somebody recognising you add the information about who you are.

It boils down to who are we - the warm body making their way through life trying to do the best they can, or the assumptions made by others who've never met us based on gigabytes of minutiae about our lives. The one is not the other - and yet increasingly, it seems to be the horde of data that is treated as being the real person. And there is seldom, if ever, any effective appeal against mistakes made on that basis.

The "I don't mind because I've got nothing to hide" line some come out with is so naieve it's painful. It isn't a question of skeletons in teh closets - it's whether trivia about you is more real than you are - and to companies - and criminals - and, unfortunately, all too many folk who don't see the human behind our postings online, it IS more real than you. It is all they know about you, after all, and as you're not a warm body to them, why should they care any hurt they cause you as a result?

04-12-2018, 12:25 PM	#14
Esme nha Maire Member How Do You Identify?: Tomboyish eccentric antique femme Preferred Pronoun?: She/her Relationship Status: single Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: UK Posts: 642 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,196 Thanked 2,088 Times in 541 Posts Rep Power: 19310768	I hope this isn't entirely outside the remit of this thread. With regard to the above, about the huge amounts of data gathered about each and every one of us by companies, whether or not we have actually used their services or not, what bothers me is that it seems to me to be a very unsubtle assault on the individual in a subtle sort of way. To clarify that last - who am I? Well, I am me, sat at this keyboard tying this - but to you, reading this, I am the impression that you form of me from reading these words that I type. If we engage in interpersonal communication, what will regulate that interaction is the impression you have formed of me - which may not be accurate, or fair, or you may pick up on some minor point or trait and imagine from that that I am either lovable/hatable, employable/unemployable etc. We all, to greater or lesser degree, show different aspects of ourselves in different situations, contexts. But these huge data-gathering mechanisms don't care about context. They care about fact - you visited these sites, made those purchases, watched that film, bought that toy, liked this celebrity, commented in that thread, and so on. And from all this, a model of you is created. But at no point is anyone checking to see if it is a real model of you, an accurate one. It is one made on a set of assumptions, and those assumptions are driven purely by corporate entities desire to make more money from you, to get you to buy their products, by targeted advertising. They do not care about context, about mistakes - every really liked someone only to find years later that they went to jail for doing something abhhorent? Ever bought something as a joke for a friend? Ever made a social mistake you later regretted, or said something in ignorance because you simply didn't know enough at the time? Pre-internet, that information either wasn't known, or was known to very few aside from yourself. Now - once it;s out there, it;s simply not forgotten. Your rationale for whatever it was isnt known, it's assumed, and you may be judged based on those potentially. incorrect assumptions. And companies do abuse this data, as do outright criminals. The extent to which businesses are data-driven should not be underestimated. What if your ability to land a job is affected by a trawl of available data on you done by a company, a job you may be a perfect fit for, except that, oh, I dunno, maybe you looked something up on the net out of sheer curiosity, or to try to help a friend, regarding drugs, so clearly you have an interest in drugs, and that's an immediate no-hire for the company offering the job? The utility you may find in social media sites does not come free of charge. It comes at the expense of your privacy and the extent to which you are happy to let others make decisions about your life based on assumptions made on the gigabytes of minutiae gleaned from your use of the internet, whether you're sitting at a computer typing, as I am now, or buying something in a shop with a card, or whether you just happen to be visible in a picture someone puts of an event onto a social media site, and somebody recognising you add the information about who you are. It boils down to who are we - the warm body making their way through life trying to do the best they can, or the assumptions made by others who've never met us based on gigabytes of minutiae about our lives. The one is not the other - and yet increasingly, it seems to be the horde of data that is treated as being the real person. And there is seldom, if ever, any effective appeal against mistakes made on that basis. The "I don't mind because I've got nothing to hide" line some come out with is so naieve it's painful. It isn't a question of skeletons in teh closets - it's whether trivia about you is more real than you are - and to companies - and criminals - and, unfortunately, all too many folk who don't see the human behind our postings online, it IS more real than you. It is all they know about you, after all, and as you're not a warm body to them, why should they care any hurt they cause you as a result?