Surveillance Is the Business Model of the Internet. What's Coming Next?

The reaction shouldn39t be a surprise It would take a Herculean memory to recall a week when Americans didn39t find someone somewhere had invaded their privacy From neverending hacks and cyberthefts to the admission by Google that its YouTube division illegally collected data on children without their parents39 consent reports of cybercrime security breaches and corporate overreach have become little more than background noise amp8212 rather than red alerts amp8212 in daily life on the webIntrusions into what once was quaintly considered private life of course aren39t just online Along with the cybercrooks and social media surreptitiously sucking up personal data there are doorbell cameras videoing front stoops office badges clocking cubicle time school security software monitoring students39 texts and tweets and smartphones tracking their owners to mention only a few Whether on the street or staring at a screen who wouldn39t be forgiven if they simply surrendered to a surveillance society that watches their every moveFortunately there are some signs that attitudes about privacy are changing Half of Americans last year said they didn39t trust either the government or social media to protect their information The awareness that Big Tech is playing fast and loose with their personal data is one reason Congress is targeting Silicon Valley39s giants The attention also follows multiple investigations in Europe Irish regulators who are leading a European Union inquiry will soon make a decision about Facebook which could be hit for violating new tougher privacy rules If fines happen they won39t be pennyante In March Brussels slapped Google with a 17 billion penalty amp8212 its third in two years amp8212 for anticompetitive practicesLike the European scrutiny of Big Tech privacy is only one subject on Congress39s agenda Silicon Valley39s worry is obvious on K Street the line of lobbyists and lawyers schooled in antitrust and regulatory intricacies on Big Tech39s payroll already circle the block Google has spent 10 million on lobbying so far in 2019 it ponied up more than 20 million last year For its part Facebook has laid out 12 million since January With several presidential candidates calling for both companies to be broken up it39s a safe bet that the lobbying crowd will bank even bigger retainers in 2020 to keep Capitol Hill39s wolves at bayWhether checkwriting alone will do the trick remains to be seen Polling suggests that the privacy issue will be tricky for Congress and companies alike For instance the divisions in public opinion about who39s behind the growing intrusions into private life cut both ways For people who think big government is the default demon in their Orwellianwired world President Trump also is hard at work fueling their suspicions More attacks on intelligence agencies and FBI amp8212 his mythical quotDeep Statequot enemies amp8212 are only one example of his campaigning that could confuse the issue in an election yearThe fact is despite their power to pry spies and cops are the wrong suspects to consider for making Orwell39s quotSuper Statequot come true What intelligence and law enforcement pull in about Americans pales beside the reach of Big Tech now making big money playing 198439s Big Brother role Bad press or not Facebook Google the media conglomerates as well as the middlemen who purvey Americans39 personal data also couldn39t be happier They see dramatically growing opportunities in hoovering up and selling Americans39 information Their business forecasts show whyThe global market in big data an estimated 189 billion in 2019 is expected to hit 274 billion by 2022 Last year the United States accounted for half of that total and analysts forecasted doubledigit growth rates into the next decade both here and abroad To be sure when it comes to personal data and what it depicts not everyone cares about an Instagram influencer39s cologne choice or who clicks on a congressional candidate39s ads For Dell IBM Oracle and others that provide hardware and IT services the machines and software that comprise big data39s backbone whether their servers and clouds process pizza sales or an assembly line39s widget production isn39t an issue It39s all digits to themThis is not so for the companies that collect and peddle information on what you buy eat watch or believe and where you do it Collecting and selling your particulars to advertisers in 2018 by one estimate represented a total market worth some 210 billion according to the DataDriven Marketing Institute For Facebook Instagram and Twitter it39s not a sideline As Shoshana Zuboff describes in detail in her book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism quotit39s all about collecting data to build products that predict what people will doquot Bruce Schneier a technologist and fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School put it succinctly Surveillance is the business model of the InternetWhat39s coming next from Big Tech is hardly a secret Take the explosion of data from the Internet of Things refrigerators that monitor your beer inventory wired cars that transmit engine performance including when you speed and cell phones that track their owners to say a political rally Add those details to current personal profiles from consumer credit search engine reporting and social media What insurance company wouldn39t want to know more about a policy applicant39s health habits and driving behavior Or if you39re a hiring manager a job seeker39s political viewsIn any democratic society defining and enforcing the right to privacy admittedly is complicated But it39s downright impossible when companies dissemble or worse deceive their customers about what they do with the information they collect about themWho buys personal data and for what purposes aren39t questions that should stump Facebook Google or myriad other companies that are building businesses around its collection and sale They also are not irrelevant for Americans who should have a right to accountability as they watch their privacy disappearClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Surveillance Is the Business Model of the Internet. What's Coming Next?

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Kent M. Harrington

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