Our Web ID Tag

I am not a big user of face book. Unless I am expecting some news or information via that medium, or I want to put something up, I might check it out for an hour twice a week.

Don’t get me wrong, I think face book is a great idea. I enjoy keeping up with family and friends. It’s a delight to see younger relations growing and vicariously sharing their development and learning through regular updates on facebook.

When I first accessed this service I was invited to read the conditions and rules. Never did and don’t know anyone else who did. If I wanted to use face book I had to agree, so I would take my chances.

When the recent face book / Cambridge Analytica affair broke cover there was outrage. As the matter progressed I began to feel the outrage was unwarranted and perhaps the type we inflict on others when we have made a mistake and they have exploited it.

You see neither face book or Cambridge Analytica did anything wrong. We, the users of face book had accepted the terms on which we would access and use this communication tool. There may have been some aspects of use not particularly or specifically covered in the agreement, but then there was no rule saying it couldn’t be done.

Instead of being vilified, Cambridge Analytica should be congratulated for their incredibly clever idea and using what they had gathered so creatively and powerfully.

That congratulations should also include thanks for them drawing our own irresponsibility and downright stupidity into such compelling and frightenly close focus. We are now keenly aware of how our data is being accessed and manipulated, often without our knowledge.

Both face book and Google gather information about us from things we actually provide to them, like geotagged photos, messages, emails and profile information. But they and other tech companies can also assemble huge troves of data about us – what we like, what we read, the trips we are thinking of making – by following us around the web.

They can also track us when we go from web page to web page if those pages have like and share buttons on them, or even just comment fields.

It doesn’t even matter if we interact with these buttons and comments or not. Every app we load is another open door inviting organisations and people, completely unknown to us (let alone their motivation), to gather information, make assumptions about us, and share with others for commercial gain.

It’s not just the social media and search giants that use sneaky techniques to follow us around the web. Virtually every other online ad and data company uses another intrusive method known as fingerprinting. This allows us to be identified by them identifying a unique set of characteristics of the device that we are using. These characteristics include configuration, fonts and plug ins that they use to assign us a unique finger print or ID tag and track both us and our device.

And if you put a picture of yourself, and your face is visible, you can be identified by those nosey parkers. Sobering though huh?

 

[First published in the Franklin County News 17th July 2018 page 6.]