You Are Shedding Data Everywhere

The New Data State

Big Data is here to help you, starting right now.

It's an exceptional report authored by John D. Podesta, a senior White House adviser. Potentially in a ploy to distract from the egregious NSA violations committed in the previous hour, the report is notable in that it has the imprimatur of a White House that is arguably, the most tech-friendly ever. Exploring privacy and data regulations in the marketplace, it states:

(...) the most significant findings in the report focus on the recognition that data can be used in subtle ways to create forms of discrimination — and to make judgments, sometimes in error, about who is likely to show up at work, pay their mortgage on time or require expensive treatment.

In an excellent New York Times piece, an outline of just how voracious Big Data has become -- and how pervasive -- takes shape as a terrifying, sci-fi nightmare. Don't worry about robot overlords; they have already arrived and are judging you by your bank account.

I have this theory about "The Grid," for lack of a better, all-encompassing and high-minded concept. When you are "on" the grid, you can do amazing things. You can withdraw cash from an ATM halfway across the globe. You can communicate to anybody, anywhere and at anytime. You can know anything at once. This ultimate "know-ability" is a a generational phenomenon. Without much hyperbole, this scene from The Matrix comes close to showing how, by many factors, we have increased knowledge. Capital of Myanmar? Easy sneezy. Explanation of String Theory? One moment, please.

The Mandatory Trade-off

"Loyalty Cards" are a great example of how the discussion of privacy in the Internet age has been distorted. You've probably several such cards, ones that reward you with points and discounts at your supermarket, coffee shop or drug store. The narrative is: "you surrender your data and anonymity, we give you a token reward."

I'm all for saving $0.50 on a roll of paper towels. And if it were that simple of an exchange, I'd have rethought writing this article. But it's not that simple. Enter Creepy Big Data: 

The report focuses particularly on “learning algorithms” that are frequently used to determine what kind of online ad to display on someone’s computer screen, or to predict their buying habits when searching for a car or in making travel plans. Those same algorithms can create a digital picture of person, Mr. Podesta noted, that can infer race, gender or sexual orientation, even if that is not the intent of the software.

The end result of this incessant surveillance is not as benign as you might think. In 1999, the Robert Rivera case, a slip–and–fall in a Los Angeles Vons, led to a lawsuit in which the attorneys for the grocery chain threatened to disclose in court Rivera’s history of alcohol purchases [source].

Surely, this is not the marketing pitch that would sell many groceries. Further, why is there even a discussion about my right to privacy? When did this become a bargaining chip? To be certain, this is a constructed concept that benefits only corporations.

Read the full New York Times article: Call for Limits on Web Data of Customers, NYT, May 1, 2014, By David E Sanger and Steve Lohr