A particular comic strip in economix that really made sense to me, is a page 153 where the author talks about people being the actual product. This resonated with me because when I think about our consumer economy I always think about how I am constantly trying to be convinced that I need certain commodities. The companies cannot make a product that people will not want, so I can only imagine how much time and money is put into researching their real products, US! It is similar to our talks about drugs, people need to be convinced they have this issue that a drug will fix or will be the cure all to their unhealthy lifestyle.
The extent in which companies have invested in their product (US) is outrageous. Earlier today I went on Petsmart to look at fish tanks; I was on the site for maybe 5 minutes, but in that 5 minutes I had already been analyzed as their product and now they were going to try and convince me I NEEDED a new fish tank. Right now, I have ads from Petsmart on the side panels on just about every website I visit; some even offer a discount if I 'CLICK NOW'!
Data mining is part of our everyday lives and our normal economy now, whether we think it is okay or not; I for one think it is downright creepy. It almost seems like an invasion of our privacy that has been slid under the rug of what is the 'I accept the terms and agreements' button, which has been deemed okay by society. But who actually benefits, I for one have never clicked on the ad link and it does not influence how I shop. With this in mind, I do not benefit from it. Other companies do, however. Over the years I can imagine there is quite the product profile on me and everyone else that companies use. It is not hard to believe they are selling our information, their product that is 'US'; because in case you did not it, people are the real products. My only question is, how far will this go and to what extent has it gone already?
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Louder so the people in the back can here you. No but in all seriousness, data mining has become more of an issue lately due to our increased reliance and time spent on the internet. It's kind of a pain to relinquish small pieces of our privacy to use something that we really need nowadays. And its not like we can exactly give up the internet and live in the middle of nowhere with no internet connection to protect our security because, as tempting as that sounds, most of us plan to use our computer and phones for homework or for our jobs. Yes, we are the product but that doesn't mean we want to be treated like one all the time and especially not at the expense of our privacy.
ReplyDeleteWell I for one, do hope you buy a fish tank because fish are great. But in all seriousness, yes data mining really is creepy. I constantly find pug adored clothing and nerdy zelda collectables advertised to me daily and it's almost preposterous to believe that any of what we do on our computers is in total privacy. And the worst thing about it, is that it's so hard to escape. For example, as nice as it is to be on Facebook for the distant relative and friend connection, once you create a profile, you're almost signing a life long contract with Mark Zuckerberg. You basically cannot delete your profile, it is only suspended, which I can only imagine what that really means for our privacy. What a world we live in...
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