Big Data — Our Privacy At Stake
I find it really interesting and quite morbid to think about how many “Big ___” exist in the world. “Big Chicken,” “Big Pharma,” and of course, “Big Data.” We are surrounded by technology, and at every turn, there’s a smart device lying in wait. To our phones, cars, TVs, vacuums, fridges — even sex toys. The most unfortunate part about it is how desensitized we are. Sara Wachter-Boettcher, says it best in her book titled Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech — “while our digital products aren’t solely to blame, they do enable this data collection — and maybe more important, they normalize it in our daily lives.” Many of us go about our everyday lives, not thinking twice about the long terms of service for that new app we download to our phone. Most people aren’t aware that their devices are spying on them, tracking and collecting information on our whereabouts, interests, and behaviors.
In Andy Yen’s TedTalk, “Think Your Email is Private? Think Again,” he describes the internet as a double-edged sword, stating that “we’ve largely lost control over our data and also our privacy. “ This leads to the question, “how do we stop companies and other entities from encroaching onto our privacy?” After being so intertwined with technology, what is the solution? How do we change what’s normal to us? Yen explains that the reason why we lack any control over our information is simply that “[the internet’s] business model of the Internet today really isn’t compatible with privacy.” The issue is that companies make a real profit off our data, tailoring ads that meet our behaviors and interests. The real problem is that our data is too valuable to these companies and large entities.
It’s hard enough to make changes in yourself, let alone in a system that profits at your expense, but I don’t think it’s impossible. Marie Wallace describes IBM’s social network of employees and how they implemented a system that was built on the idea of privacy. In this system, employees were empowered, and their information was protected. Data on their employees wasn’t to be disclosed to outside parties without their knowledge and consent, which turned out to be very beneficial. Wallace states that being transparent with employees created a sense of trust, mutual respect, dialog, and a relationship. When it came to IBM’s social network, Wallace had this to say about their employees and working with analytics in a system of transparency, “I’ve seen employees who would be naturally suspicious of such an analytic system, not only proactively requesting to join but willing to share more data.” I believe it’s possible to regain our privacy, or at the very least, regain some of it. As technology grows, becoming even more intertwined with our lives, more people will demand autonomy over their data.
