Week 3 Big Data

One of the main reasons that I choose to take this class was because I’ve always been interested in the evolution of technology and how it effects our societies growth. When I think back at my childhood and how I grew up in the 90’s it amazes me as to how much technology has evolved from beepers to iPhone X, Xr? My point is that technology is evolving so fast that as soon as we come out of the store with what we think is a “new” product there is a newer one already being manufactured to replace it. It seems that we are so consumed in keeping up to date with new products that things like internet privacy concerns, what consumer data is truly being used for and state surveillance is the least of people’s worries.  

In one of this week’s watch videos called “Why Privacy Matters” by Glenn Greenwald, he speaks about how the way people use the internet can cause for it to in turn become somewhat of a double edge sword. Not only can consumers use it for good and or bad but companies providing services can also do the same. As Glen mentions in his Ted Talk, “privacy is no longer a social norm” and even when privacy is being advertised by companies and products we must always question how much truth there is to a statement of "privacy". After watching Glenn’s Ted Talk I realized that I had recognized him from the documentary “Citizenfour” which I watched last term for a social media and culture class I had taken and recalled the many controversial moments the documentary highlighted.

While watching “Citizenfour” I remember feeling like I was watching the movie “The Matrix” for the first time, except I was watching a real life NSA agent expose the falseness of freedom constructed through the internet as well as how it is being used as a veil to hide what was really happening. As Glen mentions in his Ted Talk “the internet is a source of freedom” but when we look closely at it and how it’s being used for things that hinder and violate those freedoms we can clearly see how it is actually violating people’s privacy and ethics. The evolution of technology is also so great that it has allowed the lines between what is possible and what is legally allowed to be blurred therefor tilting the power scale and allowing companies to collect data and breach customers privacy with little to no real consequences. Consumers also feel like they are being deceived in to providing their data, which I completely agree with and have experienced myself (WACHTER-BOETTCHER, 2017).

I was fascinated watching Marie Wallace’s Ted Talk “The Ethics of Collecting Data” and how she describes the internet as “a place that allows you to see what it wants you to see”. This again made me think of scenes from “The Matrix” because Marie Wallace describes how deeply constructed the internet has become. If you are not familiar with the movie “The Matrix”, one of the main concepts of the movie is constructed realities and the journey of the few citizens of the “The Matrix” who not only want to know the truth but also question it, learn to decipher it and seek to destroy what is not real. “The Matrix” is similar to the internet in terms of how Marie Wallace describes it to now be a place where everything is fed to the consumer to the point where the consumer should question whether something was actually their choice.

It’s interesting that data collection has gotten to the point where algorithms are created to specifically target consumers individually. In a sense I agree with one of this week’s readings which states that “we are at risk falling victim to a dictatorship of data" (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, 2014). I have to admit that it’s sort of scary to think about how we have technology and algorithms that are specifically targeted for each consumer. It makes me think about where we will be 5 or 10 years from now. How much more will the lines between consumerisms, technology and privacy be blurred? I think it’s time to think about what it will take for companies to start hearing consumers privacy concerns as well as for solutions to be applied. As consumers maybe we can start using our power to shift the scale and start holding companies accountable by withholding the use of their products.