Reading 07: Maybe I’m Paranoid, Maybe I’m Just Careful
There’s a great story line in the 7th season of Parks and Recreation that surrounds an imaginary tech company called Gryzzl. In one episode, much of the citizens of the town of Pawnee are offended due to the amount of personal information they realize Gryzzl has collected on them after drones come to their door to deliver personalized gifts.
Ron Swanson especially takes exception.
In order to discover how much information Gryzzl is collecting on them, Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt sneak into the Gryzzl HQ undercover to talk to a company exec named Roscoe, and this is how a portion of that conversation goes:
Leslie: So. Roscoe, how does Gryzzl know all the things that someone wants? Are you guys data-mining?
Roscoe: Hellz, yeah, dawg! Our super-rad algorithm searches all your texts, calls, banking, medical records, blah blah blah, to learn what you really want — from snacks to new books and movies!… I hope you can see now that there’s nothing scary about Gryzzl! I mean, we just wanna learn everything about everyone and track them wherever they go and anticipate what they’re about to do!
As funny as Roscoe’s demeanor is, it is also quite sinister how cavalier Roscoe is about the data mining practices at Gryzzl.
Unfortunately, the implications aren’t that far-fetched when compared to Gryzzl’s real-life counterparts.
Online advertising is as complicated and controversial as is it pervasive.
It’s difficult to visit a website on the modern internet without seeing some kind of advertisement, whether it’s in the form of an obvious banner ad, a promoted tweet, or specially placed (and sometimes disconcerting) advertisement results on a Google search.
The above comes from a Reddit post showing a search for “emergency room near me” that places an ad for an urgent care center first, even though it is much further away. While all ads certainly aren’t quite as damaging, it raises concerns about the potential damages of online advertising.
Advertisements range anywhere from slightly annoying to severely damaging to the web browsing experience.
Additionally, hand-in-hand with online advertisements are data mining and big data. Online advertisers use huge amounts of data on you to target advertisements to you that they think will most likely catch your interest. Naturally, this also leads to valid concerns about privacy and potential abuse of customer information.
On the flip side, companies defend their practices because so many depend on it as a very significant portion of their revenue.
While I do find it ethical to data mine and gather customer information to try to better their business practices, it’s only ethical if done in a certain way.
The ethical way to gather information on customers is with an appropriate level of transparency. A big part of this is to be upfront with customers on what information is going to be collected and how it is going to be used. And “upfront” does not mean burying the information in a sub-clause of a sub-clause in a terms and conditions the size of War and Peace.
This is NOT transparency.
This is knowingly toeing the line of ethical if not jumping across into unethical. Normal people aren’t lawyers and normal people aren’t going to read for several hours just so they can sign up for a Facebook account.
Additionally, since this agreement is usually part of a terms and conditions document, it’s obligatory to agree with in order to use the product. Some would argue the point that “if you don’t like it just don’t use it”, but that’s hardly always a choice.
Using the internet is really no longer a choice. It’s a huge part of modern life.
Even large websites like Google and Facebook dominate large portions of the internet and are often no longer a just a choice to use today. For example, if I stopped using Facebook, I would lose the central platform to hear about events around campus, in my dorm, and various student organizations here at Notre Dame.
We can no longer opt-out of the internet, so we should at least be able to opt-out of being tracked.
Additionally, we as consumers should be able to see the data companies have on us, and be able to request that it be deleted if we desire it to be.
Some companies have gotten better with this aspect, as Google allows you to view practically all the information they have collected on you as part of the Google Takeout project.
Unfortunately, there’s an inclination towards defeatism when it comes to protecting privacy. If people believe that their information has already been collected by a company, they don’t try to do anything to stop it. Or, they feel that there is not anything they can do to stop it, because all of their information will get out anyway.
I strongly disagree with this belief and think I can fight to maintain some level of my privacy. While I know 100% privacy is near impossible unless I manage to completely go off the grid, increased privacy is better than zero privacy.
I’ve requested that information that I know companies have on me be removed.
I use Firefox over Google Chrome whenever I can (sadly some websites still don’t play nicely with Firefox). I could still improve on this certainly by using DuckDuckGo or even Tor if I really prized privacy.
I’m also always connected to a VPN whenever I use the web.
I’ve even intentionally “liked” and clicked on things on Facebook I know don’t represent me in order to ruin their profile on me.
Maybe I’m paranoid, or maybe I’m just being careful.
In general, advertising is far too invasive for me to put up with it.
I happily use ad blocking software because it greatly improves my web browsing experience, and lets me visit sites I would otherwise find unbearable.
It gives me the benefits of much quicker loading times for websites, reduced tracking from websites I don’t want to have my information, and a cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing experience.
Sure, there are concerns from publishers about decreased revenues from ad blocking, but a lot of this is brought on by the current online advertising ecosystem.
I have no obligation to financially support companies that attempt to bring me poor browsing experiences.
Additionally, for content sites that I like to read articles from I’m happy to pay for a subscription of a few bucks a month if it replaces the advertising revenue I would have given them.
However, for the frustratingly invasive or conspicuous advertisements, I’m going to continue to block them and have zero reservations in doing so.
I’m happy to support companies that benefit me, but not those that would do it in ways that are blatantly disrespectful to my privacy or intrusive to my experience.
As Gryzzl says in their motto:
“Wouldn’t it be tight if everyone was chill to each other?”
