We’ve made it all too clear that our data is harvested and sold no matter where we go online…but what’s the driving force behind all this? Well, it’s right there in the verb “sold”: money. We live in a world of Surveillance Capitalism, our data being sold to make “Big Tech” a quick buck. As tech giants continue to grow in size and power, their reach becomes inescapable. Total escape is not easy…or perhaps even feasible…yet.
Everywhere You Go, Google follows
And Amazon, and Apple, and Microsoft, and…you get the gist. Gizmodo reporter Kashmir Hill quit the “Big Five” for an experiment and, in her words, “it was hell.” Why, you might ask? Isn’t’ it as simple as not visiting Amazon.com, or Googling, or the obvious things like that? No, not at all. We don’t realize just how much these tech giants own, but it is a LOT. Probably most of the goods and services you use everyday. In the modern world, it’s almost impossible to do anything without them. And most people don’t know how! Hill had to contact a technology privacy specialist in order to complete her experiment, not to mention buy specialized gear. How can the average person avoid these monopolies and protect their data?
Capitalism’s Ad Money
Colleen A. Reilly in “Critical Digital Literacies and Online Surveillance” explains how companies make money off of data and ads. Ad exchanges “auction” user profiles, filling ad-space on websites with the ad generated by the advertiser who wins the “bid” and pays for the right to display their ad. And of course, companies want their ads seen by viewers who are likely to buy their product, so data is important. It’s clear how those who deal in user data can earn big bucks from advertisers. In order to get this data, tech giants follow users everywhere on the internet and harvest everything they can. Search data, social media profile information, Amazon cart history…it’s all mined and sold.
And why isn’t this regulated? And why are these tech giants allowed to get so giant? Hill tells us that U.S antitrust regulators stay away because, since these tech giants offer free services, they’re viewed as “pro-consumer.” However, I don’t think that the consumer being sold as the product is very, you know, beneficial for them…
Can the Consumer Escape Capitalism?
It’s not realistic to completely avoid tech giants, as Hill has demonstrated. So how can people protect themselves? Reilly believes it starts with becoming informed. As it is, the average person’s lack of knowledge about this surveillance makes it difficult to turn public opinion against these companies. Laws can’t be passed against digital surveillance if the voters don’t know anything about it. We are lucky enough to be taking a class on critical digital literacy, but we’re at at the graduate level. Reilly believes in presenting this information in undergrad writing courses to help spread awareness to more students. As students with access to a critical digital literacy class, I think we are responsible for taking actions to protect ourselves and our privacy online, to “fighting back” against surveillance capitalism. We need to make informed choices and take agency. And as educators and writers, we can begin to spread awareness to others. But purely lecturing isn’t going to work: we need to show others the tools to take agency and become aware of the surveillance situation.
What have I done? I’ve started small, but any steps are good steps. I’ve stopped using Google Chrome and switched to Firefox. I installed the Privacy Badger extension last week. And I’m in the process of taking my files off of Google Drive, something I’ve been using for years to create and store almost all of my writing. I’m switching to CryptPad. It’s not as convenient, but that’s the thing: we’re selling our data for convenience, for cheapness. Those of us who can afford to take a stand should do so, even if it makes our days a little harder.
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