I thought in my article today, it would be interesting to discuss online privacy. It seems that there are a lot of articles out there about the kind of information that companies have on people - the real question in my mind is what kind of information is it and how is it being used?
Let's start with a basic example: Facebook. On top of the typical stuff (that is used in many security questions) such as birthday, where you went to school, etc, Facebook also collects all the other information that you share. This includes everything you "like" from Coca-Cola to your friend's comments on last nights Breaking Bad episode. If you ever wondered how all that data is used, go into the Facebook advertising tool. It is absolutely absurd how deep you can target with Facebook advertising - age, sex, region of the country, job description, music tastes, salary info in some cases and a lot more. This is why Facebook is worth so much - it is an advertisers dream to be able to target so precisely.
Funny thing is, Facebook is child's play to some other companies when it comes to pushing privacy concerns. Take any variety of behavior targeting advertisements and scrutinize them to understand why. Behavior targeted ads are essentially ads online that glean information based on your past search history and then try and predict relevant advertising content for you on future pages that you browse. Have you ever wondered why when you are doing research on what new TV to buy or what stereo is the best that suddenly your banner and side bar advertisements start showing "the best deal ever" on that sweet Samsung 32' flat screen? That is behavior based advertising in a nutshell.
Why worry about behavior based ads? Well the fact most likely is that you never opted-in to allow these companies to pull data from your internet browser that enables them to "cater" these ads to you. Furthermore it is a complete breach of privacy because these ads are set up as algorithms that don't really have much (if any) human touch - imagine how embarrassing it would be if you found out you have irritable bowel syndrome and were browsing online for information on it when later on you are showing a colleague something on your web-browser and all it is showing is IBS drug ads stating that you have IBS and need to take this drug. Maybe not the worst thing in the world, but the same thing could apply if you are pregnant and the company is downsizing (that might make you first on the chopping block) or if you have a mental problem that you don't want your boss or colleagues to know about (could make it hard or impossible to move up in the organization if they find out by looking at your browser ads). Essentially, no user really gains much from these behavior based ads in exchange for giving up a huge chunk of their privacy.
Another example that I think is really becoming egregious is location based tracking mechanisms. There have been stories written about people that check-in on Foursquare only to come home and find their house robbed. Turns out criminals have access to enough data to find out who you are, where you live, then wait for you to not be home and rob you. What about a more futuristic example where someone is tagged at a party then is pulled over on the way home and immediately accused of DUI - there is evidence they were at a party with alcohol and driving... clear cut case right (except maybe they didn't drink at all or had 1 drink in 2 hours)?
Apple was in the news a few months ago for "inadvertently" tracking where every owner of an iPhone was for something like a year (assuming they brought their phone with them). Why should you be concerned about that? Well, first of all, if I'm giving that kind of info to Apple, I damn well better get a discount. Back to the point though, Apple can sell that data to any of their app providers to make more targeted ads. If it shows you live in Phoenix, but fly to San Diego every week viola you have airline offers and hotel companies breathing down your neck. Again, not the biggest deal maybe, but I'm no hacker or crook either - I'm sure there are a myriad of ways to use this data to hurt someone too if it was ever accidentally leaked.
Am I too paranoid about my privacy? Probably yes. I'll tell you right now though that it is worth it - I can sleep easy at night knowing that I'm not going to get robbed because I'm disclosing I'm away from home or that I lost out on a good job because my friend tagged me on Facebook with a embarrassing picture. The bottom line for me is, if I'm giving up all this control and risking identity theft or worse, I better be getting something awesome in return. Let me know your thoughts down below and subscribe if you haven't already!
See you next time.
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