Beyond 1984, Alexa is everywhere | Part II

  

Beyond 1984, Alexa is everywhere | Part II

by Craig Willms

In Part I of Beyond 1984, Alexa is everywhere, I described the moment I became aware of the depths to which the surveillance of our personal lives has sunk. The data mining and cross-referencing of our online activity is so extensive it is said "they" know more about you than you do. For me these revelations disturbed me since it seemed the method of collecting data on me (and you) included words spoken out loud person to person. Over time I noticed conversations I'd had on odd or esoteric topics popped into my YouTube feed the next day. One too many times this happened, I was convinced it was no coincidence. Presumably an Internet connected device in the room is listening and uploading the audio to a serverfarm where algorithms then run with it.

I've known "they" use our GPS information for different purposes for years. So, I don't know why it came as a shock when I logged on to my YouTube feed for the first time since coming back from Cleveland and was treated a bunch of Paul McCartney videos. Surprised? Paul McCartney?? Yes, I hadn't been online, and I hadn't spoken to anyone about what I did or where I'd been.

Where I'd been was a classic car street festival in Mayfield Heights Ohio. On stage was a band called The McCartney Experience (quite a good show by the way). I never used my phone in any way the whole evening. So, understanding that GPS is always tracking me, my immediate question was how on earth did YouTube know about The McCartney Experience based on GPS. Obviously, they knew The McCartney Experience was playing at the festival and I showed up and stayed in one place for hours. The algorithm/AI deduced I was there.

Now, it could be that the data farmers collected the GPS data from every phone that night and knowing The McCartney Experience was playing there they flooded all the baby boom aged people with Paul McCartney stuff. It may not have been as personally targeted as I described, but in the end what else is it if not personal.

How far is too far for this kind of thing? Do we have the right to privacy in our personal lives or not? Obviously not. On balance it seems that people don't care. The excellent documentary The Social Dilemma made it quite clear the level of intrusion the social media companies go to in their collecting information on us. We can choose not to use social media, but your data will still be collected and used with or without your knowledge. Should there be an opt out function on these devices? Apple added some protection on newer phones but it's not necessarily common everyday knowledge users understand. 

Any legislature or politician that pursued regulations on this kind of data collection would soon find their opponents had suddenly become well-funded. I doubt we will see a decrease in this phenomenon any time soon. Be informed, choose to be informed, understand what you do and say even in private is likely being collected and collated. Today it is mainly used for commercial purposes - but there's no guarantee it won't be used for control, government control. It's happening in China today, in a big way, and the Biden administration is not to be trusted here in America.

Privacy for all intents and purposes is over.