The Digital World
The digital world is advancing rapidly. With the introduction of a new industry centric to data, an excess of questions must be asked before continuing the use of internet platforms. Users consented to the terms and conditions before anybody knew what was being consented to. This Big Brother has been hidden in plain sight, and it is now known companies are delving further into our identities than what can or should be considered ethical.
At one time tech giants were the trusted guardians of their platforms, but as user ethics become openly disputed, a demand has increased for transparency. The trust that once existed online has been denounced by awareness. Platforms are more susceptible to human manipulation than users previously thought and because of this new awareness, interface can become more informed.
Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram and Twitter all collect significant amounts of data from users including name, email address, phone number, location, payment information, all web activity, user behaviour and search history. These platforms then sell user data to third-party companies that may not have the same standards of privacy for the unknowing user. If you’ve ever had the uncanny experience of talking about something and immediately seeing an ad for it after, it is likely because permission was given to the camera and microphone function on a platform.
Most users are unaware that after giving permission for an app to use the camera and microphone, these functions can then be used whenever the application is open. A green light on the iPhone is a systemic indicator these are being used, but this is arguably a setting that can be bypassed if a company knows how to disable it or has concealed said details in the fine print.
For example, Facebook was caught selling user data to Cambridge Analytica in 2018, allowing them to build detailed profiles on 87 million users and their friends without consent. Further investigation led to now proven accusations of using said data to create political advertisements targeting users based on psychological profiling and other influential techniques. Facebook’s parent company Meta paid $725 million in fines and no media spoke about the scandal again. Cambridge Analytica claimed insolvency and rebranded as Emerdata.
Silicon Valley has become the new wall street. This can be accredited to billions of uninformed users consenting to their data being harvested for an industry that was inconceivable until recent exposure. Veterans of the Valley began advocating the dangers of this decentralized industry after user ethics were looked at unfavourably to the growth of big tech.
What is left to the user is the ability to learn preventative measure for this overreach. Touching on internet security, and how to find answers to questions one might have regarding the ethicality of all platform’s terms and conditions, this report is to inform the individual. Unknown to most, with the rise of AI intelligence online, a new ability has become available to find accurate and specific answers to the problems we face as users navigating the digital world.
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