Metrics and Analytics: Learning Journal 2

 How our data is used

    Society is at a point where we joke about how when we say something, we will get an ad for it later on our phones. If there were a time machine and we told people that computers we put in our pockets would be able to track our thoughts, locations, and voices they would think we are lying. The We Are Data reading touched on many topics about data collection that I found very insightful. I first found out about people's information being used and spyware on devices when Snowden first leaked information from the FBI about spying on people through their cellphones. This was breaking news back in 2013, and now people seem to be aware that things like this are still happening, but they do not care. The reading describes information as companies like Google taking as much as they can and making predictions about people based on that data. It is next to impossible to know what information about you is out there because "our algorithmic identity changes by the input: minute by minute" (Cheney-Lippold, 2019, p.6). I had the misconception that there were essentially spreadsheets with everyone's information sorted by their IP address and when advertisers wanted to target their ads they just go off that sheet. Reading this introduction to the book has shown me how much the algorithms are used and how it is almost impossible to avoid.

    After reading about how algorithms, facial recognition, cookies, and privacy are used and respected I feel like I should become more mindful of how I use technology and the internet. I use features like facial recognition on my phone and I am not going to stop because of how it could be used, but I need to be more mindful of the information that the internet gets from me. The book says that "privacy must be a practical response to the lived restriction and control implicit in ubiquitous surveillance" and if privacy was seen that way people would feel safe on the internet (Cheney-Lippold, 2019, p.36). From a professional sense, it is good to know how our information is collected and used. I never use my professional google account for random searches, signing up for services, or online shopping where preferences can be found. I keep my business and personal accounts separate so there is no link between the two. I think that if more people read this book they would still live the same way they have been living, but they would push for more internet privacy laws and that would be a step in the right direction.

References

Cheney-Lippold, J. (2019). We are data: Algorithms and the making of our Digital Selves. New York University Press.

#USFLIS4380MS20