Data For Money
We live in a world where businesses have evolved so much that data has become the sole source of revenue to some. But whose data? Not theirs. I wonder whose it isđ¤
As the need for privacy increases, these business are finding smarter ways to acquire the data youâre trying really hard to keep private. And when it comes to Africa (no disrespect) boy do we make it super easy for them. Itâs a taboo here to read terms and conditions for apps before clicking âAgreeâ.
What some people donât know is that most if not all of the T&Cs we hastily click âAgreeâ to involve willingly giving permission to the app owners to collect, use and monetize your data. You bring the data, they bring your dopamine.
The free app illusion
A lot of people know apps like TikTok, Facebook and the likes are free to use. Some of them even pay creators for creating content on them. But how many ask where the money to pay the creators come from?
When I started writing on Hive, I told my brother about this incredibly unbelievable platform I found that âpays you for creating content on itâ. Thinking that Hive was operating like TikTok, he tried to scare me into believing that the only way that would be true is that Hive was collecting my data. I think his words were something along the lines of âThe white people re using your pictures and information for somethingâ. I wanted to explain to him that that wasnât the case, but how to explain the fact that the Blockchain prints itâs own money âout of nothingâ was a daunting task, so I silence instead, feigning ignorance.
Cookies you canât eat
You ever noticed how when you visit most websites, they want you to accept cookies first before anything else? The interesting thing is you donât even know what cookies are, so you think âWell, itâs just cookies, right? What could go wrong?â. So you hit accept cookies on all web pages youâre asked. What if I told you what youâre essentially doing is allowing the websites track your online and offline activity? Thatâs A LOT of data they can sell!
But how is all the data theyâre selling beneficial to the people buying this data? Iâll give you an example.
Yesterday, I was in town to get a privacy protector on my phone. I noticed when I got there that the guy selling protectors, phone covers and gadgets was on TikTok, and when he scrolled up, he was looking at an ad for a certain type of strong protector. Coincidence? I think not. Hereâs what probably happened.
Heâs been having âphone protectorâ come up in some of his chats with people frequently. Or maybe TikTok just noticed he spends an unusually long time staring at a phone protector video in the past, maybe he even liked the video. These are all things that these apps tracks. What youâre looking at on the app? what do you spend more time watching than other things? do you watch phone unboxing videos to the end but not any other type of video? What type of content do the majority of the creators you follow create?
But it doesnât just end here. I wish it did
I was telling @nhaji a while back that every time she picks up her phone to unlock it with Face ID, apple is taking pictures of her using her front camera. Essentially, what I was telling her was that in order for Face ID to work, your iPhone has to constantly be taking pictures through your front camera to determine whether youâre looking at it or not, and use the pictures itâs taking to unlock your phone. Apple came out to issue an explanation that those pictures werenât used in anyway that violates privacy. But thatâs what THEY are telling us.
But even aside this, there repositories of cameras all over the world basically providing a global livestream from peopleâs mobile phones, laptop cameras, and CCTV cameras. In some of these cases, the people are not even aware. In other cases like the ones with CCTV cameras, itâs totally not a secret. But still, not everyone knows that theyâre getting filmed as they drive to and from work, or their favorite grocery store.
Iâll give you an example. You can head over to earthcam.com and insecam.com to see global livestreams of cameras that are online right now. People are going about their day unaware that Iâm sitting in Ghana watching them like a reality Tv Show. If this is possible and accessible to a poor and normal person like me, think of what the big corporations and governments have access to.
All images are from pexels.com
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Ahhhhh???? You said apple take pictures of us when we use Face IDs đŚ
Eweee, thatâs how Iâll stop sending phone to the bathroom
Nahh keep sending it. In fact, keep using the camera as a mirror too
đ˘đ˘đ˘đ˘
We are always accepting cookies we canât even eat.đđ itâs funny how we just see everything to be normal but so much is going on around us.
Let me go and be watching people.đđ
Lol have funđ
You are absolutely right đ. Most of the things we see on phones are always eating up our data in the background. But most people of us are not aware of that. All we do is to click whatever pops up on our screen.
I can't believe that some people are not aware that their picture is being taken each they use face unlock. I once noticed an app in a phone that shows all the faces of the owner each time the phone is unlocked as well as other individuals who tried to unlock the phone.
I can understand showing pictures of individuals who tried to unlock the phone, but why is it showing the ownerâs face also?đ¤
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STOPThe lack of awareness makes it so much easier for these platforms to spy on our data in the open and plain sight. Some websites make it mandatory to accept cookies, that's the thing that they throw on your face before seeing anything on their website. I've heard that even when the location is off on your device, they can still track your location and know where you at in real time. The system is all pervasive.
This is wild. Itâs actually the first time Iâm hearing this. I think the reason most people donât care about accepting cookies all the time is because they feel like thereâs nothing on their phone worth stealing, so they accept anything and click any link.
Even I am guilty of accepting a lot of cookies sometimes because there are times I really need to see something on a website and like you mentioned, wonât be allowed to even get a glimpse of it without accepting those damn cookies.
Right. I think that's basically the mindset we approach it with, but this isn't always the case because anything about us can be used as a tool to manipulate us in all sorts of ways.
Same here too, it's a tactic we willingly fall into or accept :)
It's a crazy world out there with web2. Funny thing is that they've integrated their apps into our daily lives so much that we cannot seem to do without them. Facebook is the most diabolical of them all, the way they monetize a person's data without giving anything back to them is coy
I personally donât use Facebook anymore. X is probably the only web2 app Iâm active on.
Exactly. Theyâve studied us to the core and as a friend told me a few days ago, some of these platforms know us better than even ourselves because of how much data theyâve collected of us and how much monitoring they do on us.
As far as giving anything back to them goes, most people are content with the long hours of dopamine they get from using these web2 apps.