Something bothers me about starting a piece of writing with a quotation such as ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’. It smacks of the lazy speechwriter that begins a composition with an Oxford dictionary definition. That said, in this case, it happens to be an excellent place to start. Whoever formulated this remark about buffet access was on to something. Even when you think you have actually added to your body mass index gratis, you probably haven’t. You may not have passed a cashier, but you likely exchanged something –your witty remarks and charming anecdotes or a bottle of wine at a dinner party, a presentation for the assembled participants or your brain-storming contributions during a workshop or conference, your time, or even intellectual property. Only a seasoned pro will give nothing in return for some grub, and even that is a skill that takes time, effort and skills developed in many a hotel conference room and subsequently restaurant, plate in hand.There are so many instances of so-called free services in our everyday lives that are far from free that I believe we must all collectively do better in identifying as a replacement for some overcooked carrots and beef stew. I am of course referring to free internet and web services such as webmail, search engines, mapping and routing applications, social media, and many others. Sign-up today for your free account. No credit card required. The beat goes on.Have you ever wondered how Google provides traffic data on Google Maps? It is simply location, movement and density of devices logged-in to Google services. And, that is ALL Android devices, and most Apple and other mobile devices, as most people have at least one or more services logged in through Google services on their device/multiple devices. Even your cell phone provider can tell – or infer - what type of transport (public or private) you are using from the location, elevation, speed, movement patterns of your daily commute - without Google Service access.If it is not clear by now, in return for access to these services, ownership of so many aspects of our lives – often referred to as data points - are handed over. It is said that in the ‘more developed’ societies, services such as Google and Facebook have hundreds if not thousands of data points on every member of the public using their services. These points could be as simple as your name or social security/identity number, but as complex as when, where, how and why you spend money on different services. Each one of these may represent one aspect of you or your life, but imagine them combined? Do you really want Netflix knowing your pulse during the season finale of ‘The Witcher’?I have nearly bust a gut laughing so many times when someone with an Android phone sanctimoniously tells me – everything is free on Android. All the apps are free, and all content is free? Apart from the fact that they are now selling content such as movies and TV through Play Store, did you read the terms and conditions, and privacy policy of the Play store and the apps you get ‘for free’? No? Ignoring the ‘in-app purchases’ model, Google are tracking what you are using, when and where you are using it, and everything other aspect of your usage. And before you start wailing on the Apple ‘Fan Boy’, most operating systems, apps and platforms do the same thing. I just find the Android flavour of this conversation the most amusing.One does not need to go as far as fake news and deep fakes, with lies sold as truths, or total fabrications easily passed-off as reality before we should be concerned about our interactions with the internet. Have you ever taken a quiz presented to you on social media – which Game of Thrones character are you? Yes? You just added a data point. Or, at minimum, you just provided the first dimension of how to advertise to you better. Tyrion Lannister – you prefer clever, humorous, subtle approaches. Jon Snow? Conservative and principled, but adventurous approaches. During the UK referendum on EU membership (Brexit), rich social profiles were utilised to select which of a set of complex targeted adverts were pushed to voters and when to ensure that particularly swing voters were nudged in the direction of leave or remain.The trouble is, the services we are being offered for free are useful, helpful, or at least may seem so. Many are habit-forming and have changed our lives forever – good and bad - seeming to offer tangible benefits, ‘making our lives easier’, connecting us with friends, helping us reach fitness goals, or finding a date. But invariably, these apps store and sell our data points.The constant refrain of ‘I have nothing to hide’, while perhaps true individually, is nowhere near relevant online. The information you have on your device is no longer the currency du jour, it is you. Your location, what you are consuming, the words you use in posts inferring attitude and state of mind (mood), and everything you do. Who you are with, when, why, and where. The thing bugging me now is how long will it be before intention becomes a metric in Facebook analytics? All of this information is orders of magnitude more important and valuable than any payment for service that you could expect to initiate. Aggregated, with your peers, neighbours and fellow citizens, these data make gold bullion look like chicken feed. These constant streams of data are what feed industries and economies that you or I never see, and often do not even know about; a new form of capitalist economy known as surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2019).As we look back now at the beginning of the industrial revolution, images of smokestacks billowing tonnes of pollutants into the air come to mind as we shake our heads, simultaneously recognising the human race would not be where it is today without it. However, we are now paying the price for that leap forward in how we do and make everything. As we move from the previous ‘information age’, migrating into the age of surveillance capitalism, we must be increasingly aware of how much is scraped from our everyday activities, interactions and behaviour. Will we look back and say that it was necessary to reach the next stage of economic development? Or will we think, ‘I wish I had been a bit more circumspect about what I told my device’ in order to get that free meal voucher? Works cited:Zuboff, S. 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Profile Books Ltd. LondonThe Great Hack, Neflix, 2019.
Something bothers me about starting a piece of writing with a quotation such as ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’. It smacks of the lazy speechwriter that begins a composition with an Oxford dictionary definition. That said, in this case, it happens to be an excellent place to start. Whoever formulated this remark about buffet access was on to something. Even when you think you have actually added to your body mass index gratis, you probably haven’t. You may not have passed a cashier, but you likely exchanged something –your witty remarks and charming anecdotes or a bottle of wine at a dinner party, a presentation for the assembled participants or your brain-storming contributions during a workshop or conference, your time, or even intellectual property. Only a seasoned pro will give nothing in return for some grub, and even that is a skill that takes time, effort and skills developed in many a hotel conference room and subsequently restaurant, plate in hand.There are so many instances of so-called free services in our everyday lives that are far from free that I believe we must all collectively do better in identifying as a replacement for some overcooked carrots and beef stew. I am of course referring to free internet and web services such as webmail, search engines, mapping and routing applications, social media, and many others. Sign-up today for your free account. No credit card required. The beat goes on.Have you ever wondered how Google provides traffic data on Google Maps? It is simply location, movement and density of devices logged-in to Google services. And, that is ALL Android devices, and most Apple and other mobile devices, as most people have at least one or more services logged in through Google services on their device/multiple devices. Even your cell phone provider can tell – or infer - what type of transport (public or private) you are using from the location, elevation, speed, movement patterns of your daily commute - without Google Service access.If it is not clear by now, in return for access to these services, ownership of so many aspects of our lives – often referred to as data points - are handed over. It is said that in the ‘more developed’ societies, services such as Google and Facebook have hundreds if not thousands of data points on every member of the public using their services. These points could be as simple as your name or social security/identity number, but as complex as when, where, how and why you spend money on different services. Each one of these may represent one aspect of you or your life, but imagine them combined? Do you really want Netflix knowing your pulse during the season finale of ‘The Witcher’?I have nearly bust a gut laughing so many times when someone with an Android phone sanctimoniously tells me – everything is free on Android. All the apps are free, and all content is free? Apart from the fact that they are now selling content such as movies and TV through Play Store, did you read the terms and conditions, and privacy policy of the Play store and the apps you get ‘for free’? No? Ignoring the ‘in-app purchases’ model, Google are tracking what you are using, when and where you are using it, and everything other aspect of your usage. And before you start wailing on the Apple ‘Fan Boy’, most operating systems, apps and platforms do the same thing. I just find the Android flavour of this conversation the most amusing.One does not need to go as far as fake news and deep fakes, with lies sold as truths, or total fabrications easily passed-off as reality before we should be concerned about our interactions with the internet. Have you ever taken a quiz presented to you on social media – which Game of Thrones character are you? Yes? You just added a data point. Or, at minimum, you just provided the first dimension of how to advertise to you better. Tyrion Lannister – you prefer clever, humorous, subtle approaches. Jon Snow? Conservative and principled, but adventurous approaches. During the UK referendum on EU membership (Brexit), rich social profiles were utilised to select which of a set of complex targeted adverts were pushed to voters and when to ensure that particularly swing voters were nudged in the direction of leave or remain.The trouble is, the services we are being offered for free are useful, helpful, or at least may seem so. Many are habit-forming and have changed our lives forever – good and bad - seeming to offer tangible benefits, ‘making our lives easier’, connecting us with friends, helping us reach fitness goals, or finding a date. But invariably, these apps store and sell our data points.The constant refrain of ‘I have nothing to hide’, while perhaps true individually, is nowhere near relevant online. The information you have on your device is no longer the currency du jour, it is you. Your location, what you are consuming, the words you use in posts inferring attitude and state of mind (mood), and everything you do. Who you are with, when, why, and where. The thing bugging me now is how long will it be before intention becomes a metric in Facebook analytics? All of this information is orders of magnitude more important and valuable than any payment for service that you could expect to initiate. Aggregated, with your peers, neighbours and fellow citizens, these data make gold bullion look like chicken feed. These constant streams of data are what feed industries and economies that you or I never see, and often do not even know about; a new form of capitalist economy known as surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2019).As we look back now at the beginning of the industrial revolution, images of smokestacks billowing tonnes of pollutants into the air come to mind as we shake our heads, simultaneously recognising the human race would not be where it is today without it. However, we are now paying the price for that leap forward in how we do and make everything. As we move from the previous ‘information age’, migrating into the age of surveillance capitalism, we must be increasingly aware of how much is scraped from our everyday activities, interactions and behaviour. Will we look back and say that it was necessary to reach the next stage of economic development? Or will we think, ‘I wish I had been a bit more circumspect about what I told my device’ in order to get that free meal voucher? Works cited:Zuboff, S. 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Profile Books Ltd. LondonThe Great Hack, Neflix, 2019.
