Data-driven Marketing & Privacy: A Brief Insight
Hey there! The article you’re about to read is a summary of what I covered in Episode 7 of The Modern Z podcast. If you like this post and are more interested, feel free to check out the full version here. Enjoy!
In the early 1900s, Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla teased mankind, saying that he envisioned a future with a ‘world wireless system’. As computer engineers received more and more funding and incentive from the government, Robert Thomas, a researcher at BBN technologies realised the possibility of creating a program capable of moving in a network and leaving behind a trace, or a trail. This discovery led to the invention of the CREEPER, the world’s first computer worm that displayed the following message on computer screens:
I’m the creeper, catch me if you can
Although it wasn’t malicious, it did freak some people out at the time.
So much of what we do nowadays happens on the internet. While there is no doubt about the fact that technology has made our lives a whole lot easier, the internet does come with its own set of risks.
The dark web, as its name suggests is as part of the internet that isn’t indexed by conventional search engines. These overlay networks are programmed to require specific softwares, configurations or authorisations to be accessed, and are typically where you can find credit card numbers, drugs, counterfeit money, subscription credentials and hacked accounts to access someone else’s computers.
All those websites we visit, the links we click, the posts we like and the content we watch; is being recorded, scanned and analysed for user-specific purposes. Believe it or not, our favourite internet services, i.e. Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube all use our data in some way or the other. Given how much we use these platforms, knowing the ‘why’ behind certain pop-ups, ads and content can help us manage our usage on the internet in a safe, secure manner, without having much to worry about.
Data-driven Marketing
So to begin with, let’s talk about why companies want to use our data. Is it because we’re particularly interesting individuals with seemingly happy lives?
Not quite.
Data-driven marketing is the process of using customer data to form possible predictions of future behaviour. Customers like you and me, have various interactions and engagement patterns that are recorded within algorithms that track activity.
A great example of this in action, is international streaming service: Netflix. Approximately 75% of all watching on Netflix is based on suggestions the company’s software makes to its customers. The algorithm used by Netflix, analyses viewer preferences and personalises movie or series’ artworks to best appeal to different individuals. In short, a movie’s artwork could very well appear to be different for me as it would for you. There are essentially 33 million versions of Netflix, not one for everyone.
The Privacy Dilemma
One of the most controversial and recent incidents of data privacy breaches on the internet was that of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in early 2018, including data from over 50 million Facebook users.
Names are irrelevant here, since all these companies need is our demographic, interests and online activity to deliver a customised web-browsing experience with ads and content. That’s not to mention the presence of a black market and the dark web, where our data can potentially be sold or stolen. This data might be spread across a handful of servers owned by organisations. But that simply means it only takes a little bit of effort for someone, another company or even the government to intervene and put the pieces together.
If privacy is so important, should there be any laws for the tech world to abide by? In May of 2018, the European Union (EU) implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that required every company doing business with citizens of EU countries to inform authorities in cases of a data breach within 72 hours of discovery. Many claim that this was a step in the right direction.
Unlike a shopping mall, e-commerce activity does not allow us to be completely anonymous. Large companies often have substantial, detailed data based on customers’ buying preferences and web browser cookies. These are small pieces of code that record online activity while we’re browsing a website. They can collect things like login details, browsing history, IP address and some web browser data. Is that invasive of our privacy? Well, at the same time, these cookies are the ones that allow us to log into a website without having to fill in our credentials each time.
Ultimately, the trade-off is between privacy, and convenience. Take your pick.
Enter Artificial Intelligence…
While data on social media can be used for a variety of purposes, many may argue that a significant portion of it is controllable. Let’s assume that these companies are harmless, that they don’t really care about the average social media user who posts selfies and statuses each day.
Is that it? End of story?
Over the past few years or so, areas of Graphic Design, Photoshop and Video editing have gained popularity as more and more people acquire the skillset associated with these technologies. Aspiring YouTubers for example, show us incredible video manipulation clips that many of us don’t think about until we get our own hands dirty. Stemming from this, is a technology that seems entertaining from the outside, yet has the potential to be dangerously misused by the human mind. A technology, known as Deep-fakes. Have a look:
Deep-fakes are videos that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning to formulate fake events that look and sound like the real thing. With this technology, people can use celebrities’ faces and map them on other individuals to create a convincing video that is hard to refute.
The talking point though, is how this technology may be used and for what purposes. While they may be used for entertainment purposes, many claim that if misused, this technology has the potential to wreak havoc on societies. On a national security level, Deep-fake technology can be used to fabricate evidence to gain an upper hand in court cases, mimic biometric data and even trick facial recognition software systems.
They say ‘data’ is the new language of the 21st century. It’s here to stay, so the sooner we learn how to live with it in harmony, the better off we’ll be.
If you’re a student, nervous about the future, worried about your thoughts, or overwhelmed with your beliefs, you’re not alone. The Modern Z is a blog and podcast channel, dedicated towards providing Gen Z individuals and students to share ideas, stories and experiences to relate to and resonate with.
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This blog post included contribution from Yannick Bikker, check out his Medium page here.
