Rebecca Fiske
“Who has seen an advertisement that has convinced you that your microphone is listening to your conversations” asked David Carroll, Associate professor at Parsons School of Design. This clearly means whatever it is Big Data companies are doing is working and our behavior is being predicted accurately. While watching “The Great Hack” it shows a sparkle of every little thing you do that results in big data being analyzed. It goes from swiping your credit card at a coffee shop or even buying a metro ticket for the subway. As you walk by people, you see them searching on google, getting likes on Instagram, scrolling through Facebook. The internet has become a place where everyone is sharing personal experiences which results in feeling less alone as well as accepted, a fact checker, a source of entertainment, and many more things. The data doesn’t just disappear just because you clean out your files on your device. Every little thing we have or do that involved technology is used by big technology companies evidently becomes a “trillion dollar a year industry.” As technology began to take over our lives that’s what we looked forward to as human beings. We are so obsessed with the social aspect of technology and all the platforms we forgot to read the terms and conditions of what we were allowing these companies to have access to. Every single thing we do is being monitored, credit card use, web searches, likes, posts, locations, are all used to formulate an “emotional pulse” which is what these big technology companies are using to create marketing strategies to lure the right audience. For example, big data analytics will see who’s post you like on social media, who you follow, what kinds of things you post to get an idea of what your audience is like. They will use this information to then create advertisements based on the individual and ultimately luring that individual in. It becomes scary when it is not just based on a social media platform but based on emotions such as our fears, what gets our attention, and our boundaries. This is when there can be a dark side of social media. Regarding the documentary the “The Great Hack”, it shows that Cambridge Analytics said to have had over 5,000 data points on every American who voted although that American has no idea that this company has data on them. Data right should be fundamental rights because when it comes to politics and using American’s information regarding the election isn’t right. Cambridge Analytics worked on Trump’s campaign and made many surveys for Americans that allowed them to compile thousands of data points where they can predict the personality of every adult in America. Personality drives behavior and behavior influences how you will vote. It turns out that Cambridge Analytics were not only using artificial intelligence, but they were mining details from millions of Facebook without their consent and used it towards political advertising. This turned into a huge political scandal called The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. According to Christopher Wylie a former Cambridge Analytica Employee and Whistleblower said, “It is incorrect to call Cambridge Analytica a purely sort of data science company. It is a full-service propaganda machine.” I believe after watching this documentary there are pros and cons of big data. In regard to social media I believe it is essential to collect data for marketing strategies as well as finding the target audience, yet there are limits. Referring back to the Cambridge Analytica Scandal they used individuals’ profiles on Facebook to their advantage without any form of consent. In the world we live in it is inevitable that people will use data to their advantage, but at the same time collecting data is a positive thing when it comes to social media.
Rebecca Fiske 