By: Jessica Crume
Internet privacy and surveillance have been a big part of our discussion this semester. Most people shop online, search Google, or post thoughts and pictures up on Facebook without worrying where their information is being stored or shared.
The problem with privacy on these websites and in general is that most people do not think it is an issue until their privacy has been violated. Many think that if they are not doing anything illegal or have nothing to hide, their privacy, or lack of, is not an issue.
In a recent article from the Huffington post, Eric Clemons explains the issues with privacy and how corporations can invade privacy to target consumers or participate in price discrimination. Although many people think clicking on ads is anonymous and harmless this is not always the case. Insurance companies can advertise to you after they have seen something you search or purchase knowing that they can charge you a higher price. In the article a man that has come back from a bachelor party in New York got so drunk to the point of a black out, only remembering having unprotected sex with multiple women, and remembering them to be prostitutes. He conducted a Google search of the percentage of prostitutes in NY with HIV/AIDS, how long he has to wait for this to show up in a test, and also finds out if it is insurance fraud to deny being exposed to the HIV virus. During this last search he gets an ad for an insurance policy targeted at men in his age who are non-smokers. Sounding like this fit his description he clicks on it. Once he is taken to the insurance companies’ website, they now have all the information he just searched and know that they can overcharge him for insurance even though he may be a healthy individual.
Car insurance can also look at credit card purchases to determine prices. If someone paid a bar tab then paid for a parking lot soon after, it looks like they are driving drunk. This would increase the amount of insurance even if this person was actually not drinking.
The issue with privacy is when is it enough. We can use surveillance like this for crime prevention, which is a positive tool, but should we let already wealthy corporations make more money by documenting what we do on a daily basis, even when this may not be accurate? As technology gets more advanced, privacy becomes more of a concern and we need to be more aware of it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me!? This is outrageous, when are we going to say enough is enough? I pay ridiculous amounts of money for car and health insurance as is, and when I actually need them to do what they are meant to what do I get? A lousy reason to cover or payback the least amount possible. Now you are telling me these ******* crooks are checking our search and credit card histories to find reasons to increase rates? How on earth is this even legal? "The issue with privacy is when is it enough?" Well Jessica, I have had enough. I don't want a society where surveillance is used to heard me into spending more money on frivolous crap (from as you put it, "already wealthy corporations") I don't need. Sorry for rant...
ReplyDeleteRespectfully,
Yunus
The whole process seems like a bad investment for these corporations. While advertisement campaigns are expensive enough by themselves, adding the cost of collecting and processing data that may not provide an accurate assessment of the consumer seems like a waste of resources. It would be interesting to see how these companies are able to cover these costs.
ReplyDeleteThis also seems like an opportunity for developers to create new web browsers to protect users from this sort of surveillance. As new browsers develop, one would think that these advertisement methods will become less profitable and force corporations to adopt different surveillance strategies.
-Yo Kamiya
Interesting considering I have heard people say that they do not mind internet surveillance because it does not really affect them in their real life. I wonder how they would feel if they knew the extent to which companies go to maximize their profits.
ReplyDelete-Maria Campos
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article. I am very concerned with the fact that there is virtually NOTHING we can do to stop our searches from being tracked by corporations and/or savvy individuals. It is true that most people won't do much to stop this from happening because they think that as long as they don't do anything wrong on line, then it is O.K. (myself included)
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThanks for enlightening us on the issue of surveillance and how emails and other search engines can target our online history. What a coincidence that you talk about how corporations use our search history to target us and invade our privacy. A couple of days ago, I was browsing through the tv channels and all of a sudden, I saw a commercial that read, "Have you been scroogled?" It went on to say how google goes through all of our gmail to find keywords to target their customers through paid ads. The ad endorsed a new type of email, Outlook.com, which doesn't invade your privacy and go through your emails. I just thought it was weird how you had just written about this matter and finally people are trying to make people aware of it. Great job.
-Andres Diaz
This is a very interesting post and great comments as well and I definitely agree that the issue of surveillance on the internet is a sensitive subject. There could be some situations where surveillance on the internet could be very helpful, however, it seems that these companies are using this surveillance for their own benefits. I believe that one question needs to be asked. Can we do anything to prevent these forms of internet surveillance from negatively affecting consumers?
ReplyDeleteWow, that really just blew my mind! I mean I knew that Google tracks your behaviors, but I didn't know that that information transfered to other sites who advertise on Google! I agree with Andrew that there are situations where surveillance on the internet is very beneficial to the consumer / user - I appreciate Google being able to find nearby stores when I'm in an unknown location, and I love when they are able to pull up my recent destinations so I don't have to look up old addresses. There is a definite gray area between what's positive and what's negative for consumers, so I'm unsure how to answer Andrew's question... I can tell you, though, that money is a driving force so as long as companies are making a profit they will continue to use surveillance, almost regardless of its effect on the consumer.
ReplyDelete-catherine hall
Wow. This is ridiculous. I recently noticed that ads on my email and Facebook are catered towards things that I "like" or have recently been talking about. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but then figured it was a little too specific, happening a little too often. But to be honest it didn't bother me because I just figured it saved me the effort of searching. Never did I think that they know what I want, so now they are going to offer me a shortcut and then charge me a higher price for it. "Better advertising is not better for you" that is my take away from this article.
ReplyDeleteAlso the part about car insurance is just sad. To think that some poor "DD" is getting penalized for buying his friend a drink or more likely picking up a friend's bar tab because he's too drunk to pay it, and then soberly driving him home... just not a pleasant thought.
This article is shocking. How can corporations be allowed to price discriminate based on one's search history, and even worse, be able to make assumptions about a person's behavior based off of credit card data to charge them higher rates? It also shows the limits of the EU's decision to allow people to receive and edit information corporations have on them because many corporations may not be in the jurisdiction, and thus able to continue these practices.
ReplyDeleteCarly Wasserman
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYou did a really great job illustrating the ways private corporations can use our own private information against us. Generally, people don’t realize how or why personal information is important and valuable to private companies. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of the surveillance that surrounds us. After reading your article, I realized that many of the ads I see on Google are targeted toward me. I notice some of the online shopping websites I visit displaying apparel or household items I browsed through recently. I would really like to read more about the agreements and contracts between web browser powerhouses like Google and other commercial companies. How much do these companies sell our information for? Would people still be as bothered if they were given a cut? Is this really a question of privacy or more so a feeling of unfairness that our information is used without our consent and at our expense? Just some thoughts and questions I have.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteThis article just slapped me in the face. This is outrageous that corporations and corporate insurance companies can use surveillance to make more money at our expense without us even knowing. I mean, we already pay our car insurance premiums and when we get into a car accident they raise our premium for the cost of the payout. This seems unfair, why have we been paying them for years in the first place. Now they look at our credit card bills to see if we bought drinks and rent a parking space? There should be something thing to the extent that requires corporations requesting approval from individuals before viewing their personal information. I mean, with this constant fear of surveillance, people might start using cash instead of credit/debit cards.
Yevgeniy Rokhin
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article you are referring to, although I think - and hope - that the author is exaggerating to some extent. I cannot imagine that a mere Google search or click on ads can be evidence enough to deny a person appropriate health insurance, but then again, I have been surprised many times by the health care system in the United States ever since I moved here 3 years ago.
I find it interesting that you chose an article that examines the violation of privacy rights, after we have looked at surveillance mostly from a perspective that sets this issue aside. Actually, I personally agree that such accumulation, distribution, and usage of personal data is an invasion of privacy, and I have to side with the European stance on this issue. In fact, as Dr. Musheno implying in class, European authorities are watching companies such as Google very closely and are currently challenging Google's privacy policies as they see a lack of transparency as well as a lack of opportunity for the users to opt-out. In contrast to the less rights-emphasizing theories we discussed in class, the European Commission is not only stressing the importance of the right to privacy, but additionally, also the "right to be forgotten," which enables the users to request the deletion of all personal data. So far, Google hasn't taken any action though to comply with the requests by the EC.
The fact that European authorities seem to be more proactive than the U.S. in counteracting such extensive surveillance activities causes me to believe that the right to privacy is actually a really effective tool to regulate modern surveillance. However, I also admit that there is more to it than just the right to privacy; many factors being deeply ingrained in cultural values, e.g. those that allow American companies to gain immense power and autonomy.
Best,
Michaela
**implied
DeleteGreat article. Like everyone before, I found this to be an eye opener. I've noticed this sort of thing happening to me while shopping online, but gave it little attention. It's crazy to think that corporations are adopting such tactics. It really doesn't make you feel safe. Pretty soon there will be another anti virus software that we will have to buy, to protect from this. After reading this article, i'm going to check my security settings on my computer to see if there is anything that I can do to protect from this. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDelete-Alexander
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was aware that sites could monitor trends in what products you look at and then tailor online advertising to more closely reflect a person's interests; insurance companies having access to credit card purchasing history is news to me (and quite frankly, a little unsettling). But I want to say that in the health insurance scenario, the company having access to his search history is a narrowly defined occurrence. I'm assuming that the only way they'd have access to his recent search history would be because he clicked on a linked advertisement that was generated based on the searches he made.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, the responses to this article (my own included) are exactly what's wrong with the situation as a whole. Many people are not aware of the extent that their activities are monitored and the potential consequences of it -- either that or they are simply indifferent, chalking it up to being another unavoidable aspect of living in modern society.
- Donald Chan
To monitor a consumer's purchasing trend to the point where they make assumptions about you as a person is quite ridiculous. A lot of these companies using the monitoring trend to that degree do not take into consideration the context of the situation, such as in the bar/parking tab example. I appreciate the new companies I find out through the ads on facebook, but if they are going to use this data/information against me in the future, I'm going to stop clicking on them from now I know the extent companies to through to invade my privacy to possibly jack up the price of their products.
ReplyDelete-Edwina Yuan
This article is very interesting. I didn't realize that companies could trace online activity in order to make assumptions about a certain individual's life. In today's day and age, privacy is almost completely gone. I wonder what other companies are using tactics like this to gain insight about there customers. I think regulations should be put in place to stop actions like this.
ReplyDelete-Kyle Porter
I think this article is extremely interesting. I was aware that companies could use my Internet search history, however I am concerned about the future implications of the Internet searches I do today. I think that there definitely needs to be some sort of regulation or personal control over the information gained from personal web searches because it seems to be a very major breech of our right to privacy.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. This is an issue I have just recently been contemplating when I began to realize that not only was Facebook using what I liked/searched to target specific advertisements to me, but that they also use my status updates. For example, when my status updates include something about my daughter, let's say, about the great time I had with her on the weekend, I begin to see a bunch of ads on my Facebook page advertising discount baby gear, affordable engagement rings, etc. While some may claim that these ads are helpful because they make searching for products so much easier, I on the other hand feel insulted when I see such ads because they are targeting me based on assumptions they have created about me with the information they have acquired. Why do they advertise DISCOUNT baby gear to me? My presumption is they do so because they clearly know I am a college student, they know my birthdate which informs them that I am young, and I am also a parent. Therefore, they have reduced me to a category, a young, student mom who obviously needs to purchase affordable rather than high end clothing for her baby. Maybe I am reading too much into all but I personally feel like this entire ordeal is just outright creepy and can sometimes even be offensive.
Lissette Morales
It is posts like this that wake people up to the alarming reality we face everyday. From a very holistic sense there is no such thing as privacy, because as we have discussed in the past surveillance is all-encompassing. The issue that Jessica raises at the end is very critical in our understanding between public surveillance and private surveillance. In the public sphere, surveillance is very helpful in crime deterrence and it helps when businesses record information for this purpose. On the other hand the private sphere can be detrimental to society because businesses use information to their advantage at the expense of the consumer. We live in a capitalistic society so it makes sense that businesses would invade privacy and use information to further their own monetary gains. The problem could not be stated more clearly in the insurance example and it's really sad to think that we have no privacy left in this world. Just think about this blog post. Our class isn't the only one who has access to read it...
ReplyDeleteThis is so crazy, I had no idea that surveillance could even get to this point. I don't see how insurance companies even have the ability or authority to do such a thing. How can they even find out who is the one searching in the search engine or clicking on those ads? I feel like they can't possibly raise someones insurance rates based on information that could be as inaccurate as this.
ReplyDelete-Negin Etemad
I don't click on ads online most of the time because I don't really trust buying things online thinking they'll watch and take information from me. But I never thought about my credit card purchases being available to car insurance companies and I didn't think my facebook status was read by companies or facebook until recently. At first, the idea of surveillance everywhere scared me but now I'm starting to accept it, because I have no other choice. My computer has been giving information out since I was a little kid, and now as an adult, I'm too attached to my computer and surfing the web that I don't think I'd be able to live without it. Especially when so many aspects of my social and professional life involve going on the internet and posting/replying to others, like this blog post assignment. The scariest part about surveillance is that often times, data received by surveillance can be put together in a way that portrays the wrong thing. This is lightly mentioned in #4 of the article linked^. One major misconception of surveillance and "better ads" is that consumers are benefitting from it, but we're not. We all need a little privacy, and surveillance can't completely read us accurately. And even if they could, which I'm sure they'll find a way to eventually, this isn't a society we should feel safe living in or want to live in. I can't even freely look at things on facebook anymore because it asks me please "sign in again to verify age or that i'm actual person." I'm already signed on, why does a picture one of my friends looked at need access to my account? Another thing is, my email is so spammed that I have to go through and delete 98% of my email each day to find emails from people I actually want to receive emails from. Privacy is so dead.
ReplyDeleteHeidi Cheung
This is a really great article Jessica. I agree that privacy is increasingly more of a concern in our technologically advanced world. Gilliom and Monahan noted how a Supreme Court justice said that our idea of privacy should be called the right to be left alone, and as your article stated, it is becoming very difficult for this to happen.
ReplyDelete-Jacqueline Galeno-Escobedo
Great article Jessica. I completely agree that the level of privacy infringement is way too great and the direction in which our society is going, in regards to privacy, is misguided. Instead of the government protecting citizens from such violations, they are actually assisting them. Not only does the government assist them, through loopholes and laws, but they also engage in it themselves. People seem to only notice the visible violations of privacy, the ones so out there that a grade school child could see it. However, society as a whole seems to neglect the clandestine operations being carried out that, arguably, have more of a detrimental effect on our daily lives then do the most visible ones. The part of your writing that surprised me the most was the car insurance one. That by itself is ridiculous. For car insurance companies to be able to see my credit card statements, and then base their rates off of that information is not right. I can care less about the legal jargon behind it all, they shouldn't be able to. Nonetheless, you wrote a very interesting piece that will grab the attention of many people. Great job at informing us!
ReplyDeleteI personally find this article very interesting and relevant to my personal life. I always notice that the things I search on the web are logged and used by companies to advertise based on my specific search interest. For example, ads on the side of websites such as Facebook are not random but configured. This is somewhat scary to thing that my every moves on the web are monitored and used against me. How far will this go until there is absolutely no more privacy for individuals.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article, and I think we need to analyze not just the surveillance that government and authorities have through the internet and information in general, but also the power that these internet searches give to corporations. The UK regulation on cookies was passed in May 2011, and it required that internet search users give permission before websites stored their information for later use. Seems like it's respecting the individual internet user's privacy, right? Well interestingly enough, this law was amended as of 2013 due to much protest from companies and particularly marketing agencies that had previously obtained critical consumer information through these cookies. The UK law has been changed so that people are informed of the use of cookies on websites, but their permission is no longer required in order for those sites to store their information.
ReplyDeleteFor a short-lived period of time, it appears we were given some semblance of autonomy in deciding whether or not to be surveilled. However, the complaints of big corporations and credit card/insurance industries have proven that it is not the individual internet user that is in charge of the repercussions of their searches.
- Christine Sun
This is a very intriguing article that is extremely relevant to all of our lives. Ads on the side of social media such as Facebook and sites like Hulu are configured to match consumer's preference. It is interesting that you bring up the example of the bar tab and then parking lot purchase. That really shows that predictive validity is being used as a means to implicate individuals and find an excuse to raise their premiums. This is clearly discomforting considering that our criminal justice system is run on then notion of being innocent until proven guilty. Now guilt is predicted...
ReplyDelete-Amir
I found this to be very interesting and eye opening. I think part of the reason companies are able to do this is because people see searching the internet as more private than it really is. When you are sitting alone with your computer it is easy to forget that all that information is being collected and used in different ways. It seems now we need to not only be wary of what we post online but for what we search online as well.
ReplyDeleteKatie Wellman
You bring up an excellent point because I was always aware that anything I post could be used against me later, but I wasn't aware that it was being taken to this extent. I have seen that if I visit a certain shopping site and then navigate to a different page, there are always ads on the side which show the exact items I was viewing on the previous page which made me think twice about what I look and research online.
ReplyDeleteThis leads me to think about what Prof. Musheno said on how the data collecting norm in our society has led to the categorization of people without room for human differences and explanations. It is useful to remember that only our actions speak to these agencies such as car insurance despite any good intention we may have.
This article seriously opened my eyes to something that seems incredible. I had already known that literally everything we put online in stored somewhere and used for later purposes but I didn't think it would be used against us in every way possible. It's shocking to read that insurance companies may think we're drunk because of two actions like that that can be misleading. However, I do understand how that can be used as a positive tool.
ReplyDeleteI find it unfair how corporations can charge us more because they already know what we're looking for through surveillance, but I also feel that there is not much to be done. Unfortunately, we live in a society that's so advanced that surveillance has become a normal necessity. I do not think that there are settings on the internet browser that allow for invisible or stealthy searches. Furthermore, I have experienced advertisements directed at me related to sites I had just recently visited. For instance, I can visit Karmaloop and look at cute boots, and then I'll be playing music on pandora and advertisements that can show up are the same boots either through Karmaloop or other websites that sell shoes. I definitely feel that the internet keeps track of what I search for and will try every was possible to make sure I see it again to really purchase it.
Corporate and social media surveillance, particularly related to commerce, really struck a nerve with many of you. Are we in danger of seeing public agency surveillance, revolving around issues of criminality and order, less troublesome, leading ultimately to a split in our scrutiny of surveillance based on issues of class and race? Professor Musheno
ReplyDelete