Axios recently reported that consumers should happily accept being kept under surveillance by Big Tech companies, as long as any privacy concerns that might materialize are quelled with quick perks. “I just don’t care what the company knows,” said one consumer, who admits to enjoying “life under the reign of big tech.”
While some fret over big tech surveillance — especially when taking into account the glaring similarities between Big Tech and China’s “social credit system” — many consumers say they don’t mind handing over their personal data and allowing companies like Amazon to watch them, as long as it comes with a few perceived advantages.
“I would know, I’m one of them,” writes Erica Pandey of Axios, “I, like scores of others, have decided that I’m OK with giving up personal data in order to keep getting convenient, cheap (or free) services. Despite the known episodes of firms misusing data, the ease and quality of life under the reign of Big Tech generally seems worth it.”
“For example, two weeks ago, while in Seattle, I visited my first Amazon Go store,” continues Pandey, “The small, seemingly harmless shop’s capabilities for snooping are immense. It knows I picked up a soda, thought about buying it, but decided not to. And Amazon can later feed me ads for soda, or come out with its own, lower-calorie Amazon soda for me and others like me.”
Not only that, the Axios writer added that she doesn’t mind Amazon Go being able to feel her every movement.
“It knows exactly how I moved about the store, what items I bought together and when I bought them,” said Pandey, “Amazon can use my walking patterns, along with those of hundreds of thousands of others, to better design its store and aisles and sell more stuff.”
“Amazon can combine Go insights with all of its pre-existing data about my online shopping, watching and listening habits through Amazon Prime and Alexa to create an even fuller picture of me,” adds Pandey.
“I just don’t care what the company knows,” affirms the Axios writer of companies such as Amazon Go, Instagram, and Uber tracking her every move.
“As one millennial friend put it, ‘Take my data; give me free shit,'” she added.
Pandey, however, does not appear to be alone in her assessment, as the Axios report notes a February survey by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, which found that 71 percent of consumers say it’s worth sacrificing privacy for the benefits that technology provides.
The report adds that while 81 percent of consumers have admitted to becoming concerned about how companies are using their data, only 45 percent say they have updated privacy settings in the last year, and just 16 percent say they have stopped doing business with a company over data misuse.
Moreover, 46 percent of consumers between the ages of 18 to 24 say they always accept companies’ privacy policies without reading a single word, according to an Axios poll.
Allowing big tech corporations to track consumers might seem convenient to many, but others express concern over the authority these companies can — and will — wield, especially as their services become more centralized. While being given “free shit” might sound wonderful, every good economist knows: nothing is free.
In the case of big tech, one “pays” for these services with personal data and user activity, which in turn, rewards companies with paid advertisements and investor dollars.
“Your data makes the platform valuable to advertisers who want to microtarget, and your activity contributes to their Monthly Active Users (MAU) numbers, which affects their stock price,” notes Allum Bokhari of Breitbart News.
And as these companies become more powerful, it becomes increasingly apparent that this may not be the only price consumers will pay.
As some of these companies have already demonstrated, users can be punished for espousing “Wrongthink” — punishments that are strikingly similar to those that Chinese citizens are already subjected to when they behave or speak in a manner that displeases the Communist regime.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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