"What this means is that even more than it is in the advertising business, Facebook is in the surveillance business. Facebook, in fact, is the biggest surveillance-based enterprise in the history of mankind. It knows far, far more about you than the most intrusive government has ever known about its citizens. It’s amazing that people … Continue reading Facebook Directs Your Eyes
Tag: feudal Internet
Amazon & The Cultural Landscape of Books
The small print publisher 404 Ink's discussion of their finances, particularly the portion on the cost to small press publishers to have their books sold via Amazon, is a bit of an eye-opener. On some level, I was aware that the discounts that Amazon is able to offer on books had to be squeezed from … Continue reading Amazon & The Cultural Landscape of Books
Google’s Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data on Millions of Cellphones
"We audit their practices to ensure they are complying with industry codes of conduct,” said Bowden. “No Google data is used. This extensive audit process includes regular reporting, interviews, and evaluation to ensure vendors meet specified requirements around consent, opt-out, and privacy protections." —Ava Kofman, "Google’s Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data … Continue reading Google’s Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data on Millions of Cellphones
History Rhymes
"Sometime this November, he estimates, half the world’s population—close to 4 billion people—will be connected online, sharing everything from résumés to political views to DNA information. As billions more come online, they will feed trillions of additional bits of information into the Web, making it more powerful, more valuable, and potentially more dangerous than ever.... … Continue reading History Rhymes
Facebook’s Surveillance Machine
"Should we all just leave Facebook? That may sound attractive but it is not a viable solution. In many countries, Facebook and its products simply are the internet. Some employers and landlords demand to see Facebook profiles, and there are increasingly vast swaths of public and civic life — from volunteer groups to political campaigns … Continue reading Facebook’s Surveillance Machine
Swimming Against the Stream of Convenience
A year ago, I deleted my Facebook account. It was a bit of a watershed moment for my digital life because it was the start of a process, where I took a hard look at my use of the "free" services offered by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple and tried to assess whether other … Continue reading Swimming Against the Stream of Convenience
The Case Against Google – The New York Times
"In other words, it’s very likely you love Google, or are at least fond of Google, or hardly think about Google, the same way you hardly think about water systems or traffic lights or any of the other things you rely on every day. Therefore you might have been surprised when headlines began appearing last … Continue reading The Case Against Google – The New York Times
Amazon Health – Stratechery by Ben Thompson
"At the same time, the U.S. healthcare system is inextricably tied up with the post-World War 2 order; indeed, the entire reason employers are so important to the system is because of World War 2 regulations that instituted price controls on wages, incentivizing employers to use benefits as a means of attracting workers (this was … Continue reading Amazon Health – Stratechery by Ben Thompson
How the Feudal Internet Companies Make Their Money
Against Amazon
"Unlike Facebook and Google, that have to wrestle with the possibility that your name and data may be false, and do all they can to get your telephone number because they didn’t request it when you opened your account, from the very start Amazon has all your data—real, physical and legal. Even your credit card … Continue reading Against Amazon
Commercial Surveillance State
"Manipulation campaigns can plug into the commercial surveillance infrastructure and draw on lessons of behavioral science. They can use testing to refine strategies that take account of the personal traits of targets and identify interventions that may be most potent. This might mean identifying marginal participants, let’s say for joining a march or boycott, and … Continue reading Commercial Surveillance State
Giving Up Social Media & The Feudal Internet
Quitting social media is an ongoing theme of this blog with posts discussing various aspects: Arguing against particular social media services, e.g., Be Seeing You, Facebook. Describing new technologies major Internet companies employ for surveillance, e.g., Facebook & Facial Recognition. Describing how third parties use these platforms in the service of both advertising product and manipulating public … Continue reading Giving Up Social Media & The Feudal Internet
Redecentralize the Internet
"Every new medium (read: technology) has four sets of effects, he said, which can be best discovered in answers to four questions: What does the medium enhance What does the medium make obsolete? What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier? What does the medium reverse, or flip into, when pushed to extremes?" … Continue reading Redecentralize the Internet
Notes on an Emergency
"But at the same time, I’m not convinced that a civilization that is struggling to cure male-pattern baldness is ready to take on the Grim Reaper. If we’re going to worry about existential risk, I would rather we start by addressing the two existential risks that are indisputably real—nuclear war and global climate change—and working … Continue reading Notes on an Emergency
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