Sharing our personal information online and the extent companies are using them without our consent.
It’s not a surprise to many of us that companies collect our personal information yet we do not care to understand the extent to which their data can be used against them. This leads to companies breaching the trust, respect and confidentiality users expect to have.
Algorithms that are being used to track our digital footprints learn and become more accurate through the vast amount of materials we provide about ourselves. The more companies know about us, our behaviour and actions, the more accurately they can predict our choices and future decisions. The algorithm tailors itself to show you what you want and what they want you to think. For example, if you usually look at memes on Instagram, your explore page will most likely be full of them.
As there have been other cases such as Edward Snowden, who leaked top secret information about how people were being monitored while he was working in the CIA, it is not new to us that digital privacy has been an issue in our current technological society. Recently, Netflix released a documentary called ‘The Great Hack’, which brought light to the company, Cambridge Analytica (CA) and how it was accused in 2018 of collecting personal information from Facebook users and using it to help Donald Trump win the presidential election in 2016. The company had access to an estimated 50 million Facebook profiles after it collated data on each users’ personality based on five traits which included openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. They monitored what people interacted more with, liked or disliked and what they posted. Along with analysing each users’ Facebook activity, they were able to create psychological profiles. CA targeted voters who were deemed more easily swayed by personalising advertisements and content they saw on their social media, subconsciously trying to change their minds without them realising.
Since we do not have autonomy over how our data is being collected and used, it could be sold to other companies to adjust their products to tailor our needs. For instance, there was an article on the New York Times about how your location is constantly being monitored and sold to other companies to analyse consumer behaviour without your consent. Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable with someone else knowing exactly where you were?
In the end, even if the policies of social platforms make it easy for other companies to use our personal details, is it ethical? At the very least, they should make sure consumers understand the extent to which they use their information and to ask for their consent. It’s shocking to think how our personal information could be used on a wide scale to achieve something that CA was accused of doing. The next time you post something online, agree to the terms and conditions or privacy policy for an app and cookies on a website, pause for a second to think about what you want the world to know about you.
