The year 2018 will also be remembered for the various incidents and scandals connected to a very new ‘commodity’: data. The tech giant Facebook faced the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the flow of fake news shared on the network, which brought its CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a hearing before the American Congress. Meanwhile, in South America’s largest economy, fake news distributed via WhatsApp, another Facebook platform, were also considered one of the tools used by Brazilian new president Jair Bolsonaro in order to win the elections.
But the polemics around the giant tech firms were not all about fake news. The increase in the use of our personal data as a mean to create more profit also became a hot topic. With Amazon reaching the $1 trillion market cap in 2018, mainly by using their users data to expand the sales business, specialists and the general public started to question if this use of client’s personal data for ‘free’ shouldn’t be taxed, or even bring some financial return for those providing their data to the giant tech companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook.
Data became one of the most powerful commodities of this era and many governments are still not ready to regulate or sometimes even understand this new reality. Some might argue that in return for our data, tech companies are offering people powerful tools and entertainment. However, all things considered, this ‘exchange’ of services is quite unfair for the consumers.
Be aware of your data
People tend to think that the biggest problem with the access to personal data by big tech companies is privacy. Of course your privacy might be at risk, but those big companies are more interested in using all users’ data combined for making money than starting to peep into people’s lives. But no matter if you are concerned with your privacy or with your information being used to enrich those companies, be aware of your data and the ways to control it. All the scandals involving the data leak from Facebook, Google and many other online platforms pushed those firms to be clearer about how they are using your data, and also offer easier ways to allow users to control what they want to share or not. That being said, try to understand how you can control the privacy settings of your smartphone apps and also the information that you share through the websites and online tools that you have been using. Remember that very sensitive information like your address, official documents, bank account and credit cards might be connected to some apps or websites.
by Mateus Bagatini
New Year’s Eve in Denmark
Danish people break plates at their friends’ house front to bring them good fortune but also to show their appreciation to the ones they like.
Illustration by Ewelina Skowrońska
7 New Year’s resolutions for 2019
Make the best of 2019! Read all our resolutions:
