Obviously sensitive information like addresses, credit cards, etc. should be protected, but I don’t understand why it’s considered a big deal when companies sell other data? Don’t they just sell things like how much time you spent staring at a picture before you scrolled?
In: Technology
Data, even anonymised, is not harmless and can be/has been used too:
* manipulate elections and other democratic processes.
* manipulate public opinions and/or manipulate facts.
* identity theft, fishing and various other cybercrimes
* manipulation of financial markets
* User profiling to exclude certain demographics, or individual users from services ( healthcare, insurance, credit, … )
* User profiling for unethical marketing tactics ( eg. price changes based on user profiles, extremely targeted advertising, )
* State surveillance and repression ( e.g. China )
* …
You have to know that data gets sold, combined and analysed. Given enough data points you can easily single out individual users even from anonymised data sets. And tracking is all over the place, Facebook/Google probably knows you better than your SO does and you have very little knowledge of how you are manipulated as a result. The various fines both companies have been issued by the EU are a clear sign your data isn’t always handled in a correct way.
Some examples other things that could happen and probably have happened:
* Your health insurance company raises your monthly cost because your supermarket and financial data indicates an unhealthy lifestyle.
* Your search history indicates you have health issues since you googled symptoms, data correlation indicate a high chance of it being a serious condition, your employer determines it’s time to lay you off since you’re going to be sick soon anyways.
* You get denied a loan since the bank deems the risk too high based on your Amazon purchase history which indicates poor impulse control.
* Plane tickets and hotel bookings are 10% more expensive since you visit the site from an expensive computer and have a history of being interested in luxury items.
* …
Because if I know your date of birth and your first name, I have a good chance of identifying you.
Now imagine you are living in a repressive regime or your government becomes evil. Do you really want to be able to be tracked down or would you rather be able to remain anonymous and retain the freedom to protest and act?
And now imagine that I know who you are exchanging messages with. You can see the downsides there, right?
If not, I suggest reading up on the German Stasi or imagine how the story of Anne Franck would have gone if they wouldn’t even have needed to search for her.
Companies are not much better here, they are just less dangerous, which they make up by being more ruthless. So you will not see certain products anymore and the ads you see will be geared towards your past behaviour, locking you in. And you will see news and posts which rile you up, as those get more clicks, so you will not be able to pick and choose your sources and compare them.
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