Data and Goliath (42 page)

Dictionary.com installed over 200:
Julia Angwin (30 Jul 2010), “The Web’s new gold mine: Your secrets,”
Wall Street Journal
, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1
000
1424052748703940904575395073512989404.

The apps there track you:
Scott Thurm and Yukari Iwatani Kane (18 Dec 2010), “Your apps are watching you,”
Wall Street Journal
, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1
000
1424052748704368004576027751867039730.

The app required the ability:
Andrew Cunningham (5 Jul 2013), “Samsung and Jay-Z give the Internet a master’s class
in how not to make an app,”
Ars Technica
, http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/samsung-and-jay-z-give-the-internet-a-masters-class-in-how-not-to-make-an-app.

the Angry Birds game even collects:
Frances Zhang, Fuming Shih, and Daniel Weitzner (4–8 Nov 2013), “No surprises: measuring
intrusiveness of smartphone applications by detecting objective context deviations,”
12th ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES’13), Berlin, Germany,
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2517864.

Broadband companies like Comcast:
Douglas Rushkoff (6 Jul 2012), “Will your Internet provider be spying on you?” CNN,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/opinion/rushkoff-online-monitoring. David Kravets (25
Feb 2013), “ISPs now monitoring for copyright infringement,”
Wired
, http://www.wired.com/2013/02/copyright-scofflaws-beware.

Verizon, Microsoft, and others:
Casey Johnston (3 Dec 2012), “How to get targeted ads on your TV? Try a camera in
your set-top box,”
Ars Technica
, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/how-to-get-targeted-ads-on-your-tv-a-camera-in-your-set-top-box.
Christopher Zara (26 Jul 2013), “Is your cable box spying on you? Behavior-detecting
devices from Verizon, Microsoft and others worry privacy advocates,”
International Business Times
, http://www.ibtimes.com/your-cable-box-spying-you-behavior-detecting-devices-verizon-microsoft-others-worry-privacy-1361587.

It’s less Big Brother:
It’s interesting that we commonly use ideas from fiction to talk about surveillance
and privacy: something is Orwellian or Kafkaesque, or akin to Tolkien’s “Eye of Sauron.”
Bruce Schneier (18 Apr 2014), “Metaphors of surveillance,”
Schneier on Security
, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/metaphors_of_su.html.

other ways to uniquely track you:
Peter Eckersley (Jul 2010), “How unique is your web browser?”
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Privacy Enhancing
Technologies
, https://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf. Keaton Mowery and Hovav Shacham
(24 May 2012), “Pixel perfect: Fingerprinting canvas in HTML5,” Web 2.0 Security and
Privacy, San Francisco, California, http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~hovav/papers/ms12.html.
Julia Angwin (21 Jul 2014), “Meet the online tracking device that is virtually impossible
to block,”
Pro Publica
, http://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-online-tracking-device-that-is-virtually-impossible-to-block.
Gunes Acar et al. (10 Aug 2014), “The web never forgets: persistent tracking mechanisms
in the wild,” ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2014), Scottsdale,
Arizona, https://securehomes.esat.kuleuven.be/~gacar/persistent/index.html.

Google tried to compel this:
Google (5 Jul 2014), Post re: Removal of Google+ username restrictions, https://plus.google.com/+googleplus/posts/V5XkYQYYJqy.

Facebook pretty much demands real names:
Facebook has been reconsidering the policy after being confronted by users who are
potentially endangered by it. Facebook (2014), “What names are allowed on Facebook?”
https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576. Reed Albergotti (2 Oct 2014), “Facebook
changes real-name policy after uproar from drag queens,”
Wall Street Journal
, http://online.wsj.com/articles/facebook-changes-real-name-policy-after-uproar-from-drag-queens-1412223040.

It quickly became clear:
People’s willingness to pay has changed somewhat. Lots of us are now used to paying
small amounts, or even large amounts over time, for smartphone apps, but the surveillance
aspect of Internet business has remained. Even apps you pay for spy on you.

“Free” is a special price:
Kristina Shampanier, Nina Mazar, and Dan Ariely (Dec 2007), “Zero as a special price:
The true value of free products,”
Marketing Science
26, http://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/Papers/zero.pdf.

Free warps our normal sense:
Scott Bradner (3 Aug 2010), “The price of free Internet: A piece of your soul,”
Network World
, http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2010/080310bradner.html.

Facebook has done it systematically:
Kurt Opsahl (28 Apr 2010), “Facebook’s eroding privacy policy: A timeline,” Electronic
Frontier Foundation, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline.

Facebook has also changed:
This is an excellent interactive graphic. Matt McKeon (15 May 2010), “The evolution
of privacy on Facebook,” http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy.

Google has done much the same:
Associated Press (2 Apr 2013), “Timeline: A look at developments linked to Google
privacy concerns,”
CTV News
, http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/timeline-a-look-at-developments-linked-to-google-privacy-concerns-1.1220927.

Apple is somewhat of an exception:
Rich Mogull (25 Jun 2014), “Why Apple really cares about your privacy,”
Macworld
, http://www.macworld.com/article/2366921/why-apple-really-cares-about-your-privacy.html.

It uses iTunes purchase information:
Charles Arthur (18 Sep 2014), “Apple’s Tim Cook attacks Google and Facebook over
privacy flaws,”
Guardian
, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/18/apple-tim-cook-google-facebook-privacy-surveillance.

It’s
very big business for Amazon:
Jay Greene (18 Mar 2014), “Amazon easing into $1 billion sideline business: ad sales,”
Union Bulletin
, http://union-bulletin.com/news/2014/mar/18/amazon-easing-1b-sideline-business-ad-sales.
Nadia Tuma and Laura Simpson (23 Jan 2014), “Why Amazon’s data store doesn’t scare
people—but Facebook’s does,”
Advertising Age
, http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/americans-scared-amazon-s-data-store/290953.

Companies have increasingly:
Amy Harmon (24 Aug 2001), “As public records go online, some say they’re too public,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/24/nyregion/as-public-records-go-online-some-say-they-re-too-public.html.
Mark Ackerman (26 Aug 2013), “Sales of public data to marketers can mean big $$ for
governments,”
CBS Denver
, http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/08/26/sales-of-public-data-to-marketers-can-mean-big-for-governments.

data brokers like Acxiom:
This is a good article on Acxiom. Natasha Singer (16 Jun 2012), “Mapping, and sharing,
the consumer genome,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html.

These companies buy:
The World Privacy Forum estimates that there are about 4,
000
data brokers. Pam Dixon (18 Dec 2013), “Testimony of Pam Dixon, Executive Director,
World Privacy Forum, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation:
What information do data brokers have on consumers, and how do they use it?”
World Privacy Forum
, http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2013/12/testimony-what-information-do-data-brokers-have-on-consumers.

The more data you produce:
Craig Timberg (27 May 2014), “Brokers use ‘billions’ of data points to profile Americans,”
Washington Post
, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/brokers-use-billions-of-data-points-to-profile-americans/2014/05/27/b4207b96-e5b2-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html.

The breadth and depth:
Wall Street Journal
ran an excellent series that discussed the enormous amount of surveillance data different
companies collect.
Wall Street Journal
, “What They Know” series index, http://online.wsj.com//files/21/64/47/f216447/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html.

They collect everything:
US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Office of Oversight
and Investigations, Majority Staff (18 Dec 2013), “A review of the
data broker industry: Collection, use, and sale of consumer data for marketing purposes,”
Staff report for Chairman Rockefeller, http://consumercal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/senate_2013_data_broker_report.pdf.

Data brokers use your data:
Lois Beckett (13 Sep 2013), “Everything we know about what data brokers know about
you,”
Pro Publica
, https://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you.

Acxiom can provide you with that:
Natasha Singer (5 Sep 2013), “Acxiom lets consumers see data it collects,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/technology/acxiom-lets-consumers-see-data-it-collects.html.

InfoUSA has sold lists:
Charles Duhigg (20 May 2007), “Bilking the elderly, with a corporate assist,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/20tele.html.

both brokers were fined by the FTC:
US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Office of Oversight
and Investigations, Majority Staff (18 Dec 2013), “A review of the data broker industry:
Collection, use, and sale of consumer data for marketing purposes,” Staff report for
Chairman Rockefeller, http://consumercal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/senate_2013_data_broker_report.pdf.

We use systems that spy on us:
Joseph Turow (7 Feb 2012), “A guide to the digital advertising industry that’s watching
your every click,”
Atlantic
, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/a-guide-to-the-digital-advertising-industry-thats-watching-your-every-click/252667.

If something is free:
It’s not known who first said this. Jonathan Zittrain (21 Mar 2012), “Meme patrol:
‘When something online is free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product,’”
The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It
, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/futureoftheinternet/2012/03/21/meme-patrol-when-something-online-is-free-youre-not-the-customer-youre-the-product.

as Al Gore said:
Nelson Wyatt (7 Nov 2013), “Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore predicts lawmakers
will rein in surveillance,”
Vancouver Sun
, http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Former+vicepresident+Gore+predicts+lawmakers+will+rein/9129866/story.html.

There’s a famous quote:
Laurence Green (5 Jul 2010), “Why creativity will buy you more success than money,”
Telegraph
, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7872084/Why-creativity-will-buy-you-more-success-than-money.html.

If you know exactly who:
At least, that’s the theory. There are people who argue that this isn’t as effective
as one might think. Douglas Rushkoff (2013),
Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now
, Current, http://www.rushkoff.com/present-shock.

a national lawn care company:
Real Green Systems (2014), “Measurement Assistant: An online measuring software application
combining aerial photography and measuring tools,” https://www.realgreen.com/measurement_assistant.html.

This also works in political advertising:
Nathan Abse (Oct 2012), “Big data delivers on campaign promise: Microtargeted political
advertising in Election 2012,” Interactive Advertising Bureau, http://www.iab.net/media/file/Innovations_In_Web_Marketing_and_Advertising_delivery.pdf.

Obama used big data:
Michael Scherer (7 Nov 2012), “Inside the secret world of the data crunchers who
helped Obama win,”
Time
, http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win.
Sasha Issenberg (19 Dec 2012), “How President Obama’s campaign used big data to rally
individual voters,”
MIT Technology Review,
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/509026/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters.

This data is used to target:
Ed Pilkington and Amanda Michel (17 Feb 2012), “Obama, Facebook and the power of
friendship: The 2012 data election,”
Guardian
, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/17/obama-digital-data-machine-facebook-election.
Tanzina Vega (20 Feb 2012), “Online data helping campaigns customize ads,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/campaigns-use-microtargeting-to-attract-supporters.html.

A lot of commercial surveillance:
Many data brokers now allow you to correct errors. Any corrections you make improve
the quality of the data they sell to others. Your corrections help them, yet they
depict it as some sort of right you now have.

this information can be valuable:
In 2014, Shutterfly sent e-mail congratulations to people who had just had a baby,
and made some mistakes. The mistakes were
what made the press. Kashmir Hill (14 May 2014), “Shutterfly congratulates a bunch
of people without babies on their ‘new arrivals,’”
Forbes
, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/14/shutterfly-congratulates-a-bunch-of-people-without-babies-on-their-new-arrivals.

the data is enormously better:
There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence about how wrong targeted advertising gets things,
but much of that comes from the fact that we notice the mistakes more than we notice
the bull’s-eyes.