Surveillance Capitalism - Data Brokers

[upnorth]

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, news articles and commentators have focused on what Facebook knows about us. A lot, it turns out. It collects data from our posts, our likes, our photos, things we type and delete without posting, and things we do while not on Facebook and even when we're offline. It buys data about us from others. And it can infer even more: our sexual orientation, political beliefs, relationship status, drug use, and other personality traits -- even if we didn't take the personality test that Cambridge Analytica developed. But for every article about Facebook's creepy stalker behavior, thousands of other companies are breathing a collective sigh of relief that it's Facebook and not them in the spotlight. Because while Facebook is one of the biggest players in this space, there are thousands of other companies that spy on and manipulate us for profit. Harvard Business School professor Shoshana Zuboff calls it "surveillance capitalism." And as creepy as Facebook is turning out to be, the entire industry is far creepier. It has existed in secret far too long, and it's up to lawmakers to force these companies into the public spotlight, where we can all decide if this is how we want society to operate and -- if not -- what to do about it.

There are 2,500 to 4,000 data brokers in the United States whose business is buying and selling our personal data. Last year, Equifax was in the news when hackers stole personal information on 150 million people, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and driver's license numbers. You certainly didn't give it permission to collect any of that information. Equifax is one of those thousands of data brokers, most of them you've never heard of, selling your personal information without your knowledge or consent to pretty much anyone who will pay for it. Surveillance capitalism takes this one step further. Companies like Facebook and Google offer you free services in exchange for your data. Google's surveillance isn't in the news, but it's startlingly intimate. We never lie to our search engines. Our interests and curiosities, hopes and fears, desires and sexual proclivities, are all collected and saved. Add to that the websites we visit that Google tracks through its advertising network, our Gmail accounts, our movements via Google Maps, and what it can collect from our smartphones.

That phone is probably the most intimate surveillance device ever invented. It tracks our location continuously, so it knows where we live, where we work, and where we spend our time. It's the first and last thing we check in a day, so it knows when we wake up and when we go to sleep. We all have one, so it knows who we sleep with. Uber used just some of that information to detect one-night stands; your smartphone provider and any app you allow to collect location data knows a lot more. Surveillance capitalism drives much of the internet. It's behind most of the "free" services, and many of the paid ones as well. Its goal is psychological manipulation, in the form of personalized advertising to persuade you to buy something or do something, like vote for a candidate. And while the individualized profile-driven manipulation exposed by Cambridge Analytica feels abhorrent, it's really no different from what every company wants in the end. This is why all your personal information is collected, and this is why it is so valuable. Companies that can understand it can use it against you.

None of this is new. The media has been reporting on surveillance capitalism for years. In 2015, I wrote a book about it. Back in 2010, the Wall Street Journal published an award-winning two-year series about how people are tracked both online and offline, titled "What They Know." Surveillance capitalism is deeply embedded in our increasingly computerized society, and if the extent of it came to light there would be broad demands for limits and regulation. But because this industry can largely operate in secret, only occasionally exposed after a data breach or investigative report, we remain mostly ignorant of its reach.

Surveillance capitalism has operated without constraints for far too long. And advances in both big data analysis and artificial intelligence will make tomorrow's applications far creepier than today's. Regulation is the only answer. The first step to any regulation is transparency. Who has our data? Is it accurate? What are they doing with it? Who are they selling it to? How are they securing it? Can we delete it? I don't see any hope of Congress passing a GDPR-like data protection law anytime soon, but it's not too far-fetched to demand laws requiring these companies to be more transparent in what they're doing.

One of the responses to the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that people are deleting their Facebook accounts. It's hard to do right, and doesn't do anything about the data that Facebook collects about people who don't use Facebook. But it's a start. The market can put pressure on these companies to reduce their spying on us, but it can only do that if we force the industry out of its secret shadows.

Source : Surveillance Capitalism - Data Brokers

 

[Deleted member 65228]

I will write a book to kick-start a modern Alien vs Predator sequel. It'll be called "Facebook with Privacy vs Humans of Earth"

 

[Deleted member 65228]

Facebook could always re-brand with a different UI and call themselves "Theftbook", "Databook", "Zuckertracker" or something like that

 

[upnorth]

Yeah I agree but as seen in the video and also in the article there not alone and it's much more worse then many belive they know. Many people and especially here on this security forum and other forums/sites that follows tech and security news the last years ofcourse have the knowledge and as sayed in the article this is not something new but that dosen't automatic means it's not important. The scandal with Cambridge Analytica and there business model was actually genuine news and a keyfactor issue for Facebook as Facebook previously escaped easy and I'm pretty sure all this will be forgotten in a few months anyway ( unless some more scandals occurs ) just as Facebook hope and cross there filthy fingers, IMO.

for every article about Facebook's creepy stalker behavior, thousands of other companies are breathing a collective sigh of relief that it's Facebook and not them in the spotlight. Because while Facebook is one of the biggest players in this space, there are thousands of other companies that spy on and manipulate us for profit.

This could hopefully be one small help : StopDataMining.me - A directory of Opt-Out links to stop data brokers from selling your personal information.

The GDPR is also a step in the right direction. https://www.eugdpr.org

 

[Deleted member 65228]

I think Google is much worse than Facebook personally. I even have to more or less just about drop using all Google services thanks to their stupid privacy policy.

Maybe a month or two more then I plan to drop Google services even further.

 

[vtqhtr413]

Great post upnorth, I didn't see it before I posted a thread on the same topic. I've redirected it to this excellent post.

 

[tim one]

After what happened (but it was to be expected) when we talk of social nerwork, the best thing is not to trust the promises of privacy by sharing personal photos, documents and anything that concerns our lives. And try to hold just for you your political and social views and maybe discuss that elsewhere but not on Facebook.

 

[upnorth]

One example among many is that there been a discussion from children that now grows up and have to live with all those shared picture/videos on all the social media platforms etc. Not all automatic approves and not all is happy chappie and adores every single little part of there life been and still are shared with the world. It's a fair view IMO even if it really can't help much. Hopefully there parents and others get's a reality check and start to think twice before they click the share button.

The example with Shadow profiles that Facebook creates on people that never have used Facebook and even on unborn children is extremely creepy and again it's ofcourse not only Facebook that does this. The list could fill page after page after page.

The Data Brokers literally hates/despice the spotlight and now more then ever and we understand that but they got themself to blame as there business been unregulated far too long.

 

[Arequire]

I think Google is much worse than Facebook personally. I even have to more or less just about drop using all Google services thanks to their stupid privacy policy.

Maybe a month or two more then I plan to drop Google services even further.

Agreed. Google's got its monopolistic, grubby fingers in more pies than Facebook has.
I've dropped most anything to do with Google but I sadly can't find a decent alternative to Chrome.

 

[DeepWeb]

I have gone through a long list of data brokers and opted out wherever I could.
Master List of Data Broker Opt-Out Links -

Some make it really annoying, requiring that you send a letter and those I didn't bother. I will deal with them later. But yeah one day I sat down and opted out of all of the ones that I could opt out of. Now let's hope that they honor their own opt-out clauses... that's another story.

 

[upnorth]

@DeepWeb smart choice!

 

[simmerskool]

@upnorth and others, just saw a YT ad for incogni a company that sends opt out requests to data brokers. Do we know, is this a legit company? If so, is this worthwhile, or if user has spare time, should user opt out directly, (ie, I saw some opt out links above) $78 /year.
PS the opt out links posted above in 2018 seem not to be working or loading in Oct 2023...

Incogni - Personal Information Removal Service

incogni.com