In today’s online world, corporations are recording everything users do– from where meals are eaten, to sleeping habits and exercise routines. Corporations analyze text messages, emails, professional, and personal contacts. They record users’ location history twenty-four-seven through mapping programs and GPS permissions on phone applications. Banks even sell customer’s account statements and other financial information. Through this, data brokers buy and sell personal, and what many people assume is private data to create wildly accurate profiles of people that are leveraged to influence purchases, thoughts, and behavior with advertising. This recent significant shift within the realm of Information Technology has been the mining and monetization of personal user data, which comes with both positive and negative effects.

The driving force behind this mass data collection is indisputable for companies– increased revenue. Since 2014, social psychologist Shoshana Zuboff has popularized the term to describe the commoditization of personal information as “Surveillance Capitalism” (Starr, 2019). Due to mass data collection and modeling, companies accurately categorize people online that advertisers can target, influence, and even predict their future behavior. Targeted audiences can be selected through advertising tools on major social media platforms by running advertisements that are charged per impression and click. This data collection and monetization is how Alphabet, the parent company of Google, became the most extensive and profitable digital advertising company in the world. Today’s technology giants are utilizing users’ data to increase revenue and are continually engineering new ways of receiving it.

The positive effects of this data collection and categorization are a better user-experience on these companies’ platforms. Google claims that this type of data collection helps better their products for users. For example, by tracking location history and having the ability to detect which method of transportation is in use, Google Maps can suggest alternate routes to take to avoid traffic and car accidents. Another example is how Facebook recommends new connections and groups of like-minded individuals based on the collected information. Additionally, Spotify can create playlists its algorithms predict users may enjoy. Companies are building smarter applications powered by user data that create a more positive experience tailored to the user.

Alternatively, the adverse effects of this data collection are profound. Technology companies have unrestricted access to users’ lives when using their ecosystem of applications and platforms, frequently breaching privacy. For example, location is detected with cell towers to triangulate positions if GPS is not accessible. Companies can also monitor wireless networks and Bluetooth frequencies to pinpoint which floor or even room a user is in (Warren Ruktanonchai, 2018). Additionally, users utilize native payment systems that track purchases, net worth, income, and transactions. Furthermore, search and browser history, as well as text messages and emails, flow through specialized hardware, which contents are then analyzed by custom software with virtually no oversight. Although custom-tailored applications and platforms are convenient for the user, the scope of data collected and its effects on privacy cannot be ignored.

In recent years, there has been a more substantial discussion about this collection and monetization of data. A monumental moment of publicity is when Cambridge Analytica was discovered to have influenced the 2016 United States Presidential Election through a targeted misinformation advertising campaign on Facebook. There are activist groups today lobbying the United States Congress to pass laws to oversee and regulate bulk data collection. Europe has recently passed legislation to regulate how private companies handle data with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As companies continue to collect data in such a broad scope, these discussions must continue and evolve into perhaps government oversight.

The mining and monetization of personal user data is one significant shift within the realm of Information Technology, which comes with both positive and negative effects. Society as a whole needs to decide if these bulk data collection programs by corporations are acceptable and not a violation of our privacy (Orange, 2019). Currently, users are providing private personal data for more convenient user experiences, but the balance between privacy and convenience needs to be considered as Information Technology progresses.

References

Garcia, D. (2017). Leaking privacy and shadow profiles in online social networks. Science Advances, 3(8).

Orange, M. (2019). How Free Is Too Free? Surveillance Capitalism, Market Democracy,and the Dangers of Modern Freedom. Virginia Quarterly Review, 156–159.

Starr, P. (2019). The New Masters of the Universe. Big Tech and the Business of Surveillance. PublicAffairs, 191–197.

Warren Ruktanonchai, N. W. (2018). Using Google Location History data to quantify fine-scale human mobility. International Journal ofHealth Geographics.