Social media is exactly as it is titled – a form of media intended to connect people from around the globe to share thoughts and ideas, arts and writing, and a variety of other information that has become commonplace in our society’s day to day operations. But when it comes to what is not wanted to be shared, how much control do we have over this?
Obviously, there is a lot of talk about larger companies who ‘sell data,’ but what truly is this concept, and how does it impact users of different web-based and phone-based applications?
Taking it back to the basics, data is seen as any identifying information of a user– so that would include phone numbers, full names, emails, and sometimes even other identifying information, such as user-habits (What do they do in the application? Or how do they use the application? Have they purchased anything?), or even other sensitive information.
Data brokers, according to Google, are defined as “an individual or company that specializes in collecting personal data or data about companies, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and selling or licensing such information to third parties for a variety of uses.”
It’s important to note that those within the role are intended to use public information, but where does this area become morally gray? Especially with the different lawsuits that have been seen with larger companies (Amazon, Instagram, Tiktok), so clearly there are issues in where, as some would say, ‘the buck stops.’
Through using these apps, are we giving these companies the right to do these things? Not exactly. Even before the digital age we live in now, data selling and collection from companies has been an issue. With multiple privacy acts being put into action even before the 1980s, it’s easy to understand that clearly, money, as it usually seems to be within our society, seems to be the root of the problem for many US citizens. This is also why these large companies have given millions of dollars of compensation to many of those whose information was unlawfully compromised.
Do I personally see the good in these actions? I don’t see these as positive for users. Much of these actions are based on, again, the cash flow, but most of these go towards marketing other applications, products, and opportunities to influence users to spend their money differently. In the future, hopefully we will have a stronger understanding of these concepts, and more transparency of organizations.
