Abusing your data

I've been reading with interest many of the positive #deletefacebook and #joinsteemit messages recently in light of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal where peoples personal data has been data warehoused and used to manipulate public opinion. This is clearly an abuse of your personal data and in response I have deleted one of my business Facebook accounts and removed the Facebook app from my phone, but actually this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Use of your data

Back in the days of supermarket loyalty cards big retailers began amassing huge amounts of data on their customers that they could use to provide them with promotions and offers, as well as pay them a few loyalty points for the privilege of using their data. Amazon then took this data analysis to the next level, using predictive analytics to understand customer behaviour and create suggestions based on what other customers had purchased. For the most part this was a useful feature than provided the customer with useful recommendations and helped Amazon to sell more products. Amazon didn't pay their customers however, they just decided that they owned their customers data and by providing the small benefit of recommended products customers went along with it. Unfortunately we have reached an entirely new level of data analysis.

Abuse of your data

Large organisations now make millions from your data, it is bought and sold on the open market to be used in almost any way that serves the interests of the corporations that buy this data. There are rules and certain things that they can and cannot do with your data, but those rules are often bent to allow shady organisations to abuse their analytical power and manipulate public opinion, decision making and societal norms. This has been going on for many years in marketing and advertising, where corporate data firms will build a profile of their customers giving them the ability to understand them more then they know themselves. The use of data however to manipulate political opinion and create division is a new low for these shady organisations. Not only is this scary, it's immoral if it is done without the explicit consent of the individual whose data is being used. Ticking a small disclaimer box is not good enough. Corporations need to be much more up front about what data they hold on their customers and how they intend to use it. Many major corporations now gather and analyse your personal data, from major consumer IT companies to financial services to retailers. They all gather and share your data.
We now see that your data has been used to manipulate and sway political opinion creating division in society, influencing political outcomes and causing unrest and possibly even death and destruction in societies that were manipulated. This is a step too far, and we must stand up and inform these corporations that our data does not belong to them. Our data is our data, and if we have no understanding as to how it is being used then there should be no implied permission to use that data. Corporations must become more open about their use of personal data and reward individuals if they intend to use it.

Some tips to minimise the data they hold on you

• Never complete online surveys, quizzes or profiling questionnaires, no matter how innocent they seem to be.
• Only post light hearted information that you don't mind sharing with friends and family. Avoid posting opinions and comments on politics or current affairs.
• Remove the option within common operating systems for them to analyse your data use and use your information for marketing. It takes some time to do so but a simple online search will take you through the various steps. Even better you can browse the internet anonymously and use alternative operating systems such as Linux that don't gather personal usage data.
• Remove apps from your mobile device that might gather data on you. Many apps run in the background and have access to far too much usage information. If you don't use it, delete it. I still use Facebook on my phone, but I simply use a browser shortcut to the webpage instead of the app.
• Always read the tickbox text carefully and tick, or untick the relevant box that does not give corporations permission to use your data.

Let's take back control of our data and request governments and organisations to become more responsible, ethical and open about how they use our data. The Facebook scandal has proved that they cannot be trusted and they must be held accountable. Deleting Facebook is a powerful statement, but we really need to look at the bigger picture and demand more control over our personal data, which belongs to us, not them.

image source: Pexels