Intro comment – this is a very long post. If you are not interested in the background I provide about the online collection of personal information, skip about halfway through this post and you will find a list of specific things I describe that allow you some control over the collection of your information.
Information is becoming the currency of the future
I have been reading the book “21 lessons for the 21st century” by Yuval Harari. The book comes highly recommended by many. I find the picture of the future based on the trends of today as fairly disturbing. One of the issues that comes up again and again in this book is the topic of equality and the related concept of opportunity. It is not so much that folks in the future will not have their minimum needs met, but the likelihood that many will find themselves in situations allowing little meaningful contribution to society and in situations with factors over which individuals will have little control. In so many ways, the rich and privileged will get richer and the rest of humanity will be increasingly left behind.
Harari’s book offers a view of the future impacted by many factors, but he consistently singles out two – AI and biotechnology. The equity issue comes into play because all will not be able to use and benefit from these factors equally. And, over the years, those with greater access (families, groups, maybe countries) will separate themselves from everyone else. AI and biotechnology use data as the essential input and Harari’s reasoning leading to Harari’s conclusion that:
“If we want to prevent the concentration of all wealth and power in the hands of a small elite, the key is to regulate the ownership of data.”
I will likely write about Harari’s book again, but this post specifically addresses the topic of personal data and options for personal control of who is allowed access.
It is not so much that each of us should deny access to our personal data. So many innovations now and in the future will be dependent on access. Rather, it is that we understand the importance of the data we make available and understand and control who we allow to have access. Just to be clear, while I am concentrating on the data potentially generated by our online behavior, data are collected in many ways (e.g., credit card activity) and integrated across many sources for many uses.
Data based on your online behavior
You provide online data in many different ways. When you complete a Facebook survey about your personality or your likes and dislikes, you provide data. When you conduct a Google search, what you search for and how you respond to the results generated, you provides data. When you conduct pretty much any online activity that loads pages that involve “cookies”, you provide data. When you conduct any online activity that goes through your local ISP provider, you provide data. What you do and the frequency with which you do it probably is useful to someone who wants to know about you or at least people generically like you.
Let me start with this. I am not against the collection of personal data. The most likely reason for others to collect data based on your online behavior is to tailor the future information you are shown. Google uses data about you to offer you search results you are more likely to want to see. Many companies collect information about you to deliver ads and other information you will be interested in seeing. More generally, the benefit of providing you information likely to influence you also has value to you because it has value to those who value this information. This information has value to those “others” and they end up funding valuable services so you don’t have to. It is important to recognize that you do not pay for Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. by sending money to the companies providing you access, content, and services. You pay with your attention and your information
Ads, transparency, and control
The online situation is complicated. You want to use these services and you likely find it beneficial that you pay nothing for most. The services need to make money and selling ads is a way to generate income. Note that it is not just the intermediaries (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) who benefit because many content creators also get a cut sometimes when ads appear, but most likely when ads are pursued for additional information. The companies paying to have ads appear and now most importantly paying to have ads appear to those most likely to respond are the final party in this group of players.
I am not against ads and I doubt that blocking ads would allow the positive components of this model to continue. No ads, no free services or free content. What I find objectionable with ads is when information is shared between sites. In other words, I assume it is acceptable when the provider of a site collects information directly (this is the compensation for the service and in some cases the content provider), but not when information collected from the use of one service is shared with another service. It is the lack of transparency when information is shared across services that I think violates the assumption a user makes or at least should make when visiting a given site.
Here are all of the strategies I can think of that would allow you a greater degree of control over who sees your data and what is done with it.
Don’t send all of your data to the same providers
Use options
There are multiple search engines. You are not bound to Google. DuckDuckGo works well.
Limit your dependence on a given company for multiple services. If you use Google for search, there are other email services available. For example, those who use Apple hardware can use the Apple email system.
I also think it would be great if groups of individuals who want to communicate would consider using different services. The network effect is the challenge. This label means people use a service because the people they want to interact with use the same service. The network effect limits exploration and even the consideration of better services. Facebook and Twitter represent great examples. There are alternatives to each – e.g.. Mastodon for Twitter and Diaspora for Facebook. You don’t have to use alternatives continuously. However, those wanting to both explore technology and have a specific purpose for interacting could easily use an alternative service for this specific purpose. For example, educators wanting to engage in an EduChat could easily use Mastodon instead of Twitter for this specific activity.
Become more aware of how you are being tracked
If you use the chrome browser, consider adding the Ghostery extension. Ghostery is a powerful privacy extension. It blocks ads and stops trackers. The extension identifies the cookies that are associated with a given site and allow users to decide whether to block or allow in future visits to a given site.
Block ads that share information among providers
Again, if you are a Chrome browser user, consider the extension Disconnect Facebook™ pixel & FB™ tracking. This extension prevents Facebook from following you when you are not on Facebook.
Limit the information your ISP can collect about you (you already pay the ISP)
1.1.1.1 – This service takes a little more effort to install. 1.1.1.1 is an alternate DNS to that provided by your ISP. A DNS translates web addresses you request into the four number identifier used by servers. An ISP can use the information gleaned from DNS traffic to figure out which websites you’ve been visiting, even if you use HTTPS. By replacing the DNS of your provider with the DNS of a service that does not collect your information, you limit the information you share with your IP.
Consider a system that allows you to pay providers directly rather than pay providers with the information you allow to be collected.
Brave is a new browser now based on Chrome (this recent update is important because it allows users to install Chrome extensions). Brave blocks cookies and scripts unless a user acts to override this extension.
Brave allows a user to make a monthly contribution that is used to compensate the authors of visited sites as a way to replace potential ad revenue.
