[Fredslist] What's the harm in digital profiling?

[Raj Goel, CISSP]

When talking about privacy & surveillance, lots of people say "eh, what's
the harm?  I don't care if Google knows it's my birthday today" or "why
should I worry, I haven't broken any laws".

 

The Atlantic has a summary of a FANTASTIC paper by Prof. Ryan Calo on harm
caused by incessant tracking by corporations.

 

See
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/what-does-it-really-ma
tter-if-companies-are-tracking-us-online/278692/

 

My 3 favorite examples:

Because every website tracks you constantly, and a small handful of
providers (Google, Facebook), control the online ad market, they can 

 

-          Automatically shows ads for UPCHARGING men for flowers a day
AFTER your anniversary

(married guys, you've been warned!)

 

-          Showing predatory ads based on your education and economic status

e.g. encouraging people to get overly expensive or overpriced loans

 

-          Encouraging price discrimination is wider areas of commerce

We already know that every seat on an airplane was sold at a different rate.

How would you feel about paying a different rate for every book, movie,
hotel reservation, toothpaste, etc?

 

                Mass surveillance and big data combined allow very, very
niche targeting and allow firms to extract the most amount of money from
individual consumers.

 

                So, while you may not worry about your privacy rights, how
do you feel about Internet Highway Robbery?

 

--Raj 

Rajesh Goel, CISSP 
cell (917) 685-7731 
CTO: Brainlink International, Inc. 
You run your business, and leave the IT to us. 
 <mailto:raj at brainlink.com> raj at brainlink.com 
 <http://www.brainlink.com/> http://www.brainlink.com 
 <http://www.linkedin.com/in/rajgoel> http://www.linkedin.com/in/rajgoel

 

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