Many activists and advocacy groups we talk to are not entirely sure why they should care about big data, nor what this means for their community. Even though big data is seen by government and companies as a quick fix solution for a 'better world', we know very little about the creation and use of these datasets.
No matter where you are in the world, technology has become an intrinsic part of our lives. Most of the things we do, say and even think get recorded. Sometimes because we put our conversations and thoughts out there knowingly, while updating our Facebook status, using Google Search or scribbling down our thoughts in an app on our phone. Other times unknowingly, through CCTV, the location of our phones or by cookies or website analytics that are tracking our behavior online. Once all of this data is collected and aggregated, the question is who owns the data and what do they do with it.
What we know is that there is a data brokering industry that is making billions of dollars out of our information, our user data we knowingly and unknowingly give away every day. This industry is not only collecting information, but it is also pushing the frontiers of ways to identify users, create profiles and use them to influence our behavior and make decisions that affect us. While all these frontiers have implications for our privacy and security, we know very little about the industry and its functions.
In our journey to unravel the data industry, Tactical Tech will explore what this industry is, how data is collected and used, who the actors are, how this impacts our privacy and security and what we can do to navigate this environment.
Source of image: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsjEKpFBHww/VGbmg8nQNVI/AAAAAAAAGEk/xtbmy0Mia4Y/s1600/selling-user-data.png
