Slashdot Mirror
Why Web 2.0 Will End Your Privacy
An anonymous reader writes "This is a pretty good insight into some of the dangers of social networking and website customisation -- marketing and loss of privacy. When marketeers know who your friends are and what you are all into, it makes their advertising a lot more effective. From the article: "Why are the companies worth so much money? Why is MySpace worth over half a billion dollars without a proper revenue model? Why is Digg allegedly pitched at over $20m (at the last count) without any idea of where money is going to be pulled from? The answer is - data. Information. Marketing. Every detail about you and me. That is where the money is."
What's worse is people who put too much information online, without realizing that the very same information can be used against them. For example, people like to put personal details on their user pages, whether they're on Slashdot, Flickr, MySpace, or Wikipedia. Unthinkingly, that very same information can be dug up by people and used to threaten your job or your personal life. Wikipedia keeps a record of every iteration of your user page, so that anyone can troll through the personal information you (idiotically) put on the internet. If you are editing an article that's also edited by someone with an agenda, they can dig up your personal information and send an email (or worse) to your employer. This is not unique to Wikipedia's history-versioning, as nearly any user page can be dug up through Google caches or the Internet Archive. If you use the same (or similar) username across multiple sites, someone with a malicious agenda can find out a whole lot about you. Just think of all the information and dumb things you've said on Slashdot, your blog, your Flickr page, your Last.fm/Audioscrobbler page, etc. etc.
The problem is that these online communities work because of personal information: dynamically connecting people with similar interest and opinions is what Web 2.0 is all about (inasmuch as a buzzword can be "all about" something). If we can't trust that the information and content we put online can't be used against us, then Web 2.0 will eventually fail, once enough people get burned.
The Rise and Fall of Online Community
Do "Web 2.0" sites give marketers more information about users? Yes.
Is this an invasion of your privacy? Absolutely not.
You are WILLINGLY entering this data into these sites and if you read their privacy policies they clearly state how it will be used. Don't want to share this info about yourself? Don't use the site. There is no invasion going on here. They are not hiding spy cameras in your room watching what you do on the computer.
Also, better targeted advertising != more advertising. Unfortunately, what happens is that many of these Web 2.0 sites rely on advertising revenue for their business model, thus why sites with large subscriber bases are worth a lot.
Lots of eyeballs = $$$$
So the owners of the sites then realize, "hmmm...I can make more money if I put more ads on the site!" and thus you have ad creep. However advertising that is more narrowly targeted is actually a good thing. Unless you have adblockers running, you WILL see ads on the internet, and rather than bitch and moan about how you want nothing to do with those sites that are being advertised, ads that are more highly targeted will have a better chance of showing something relevant to you that you might actually appreciate an ad for.
And for those of you who claim advertising is useless and it never affects you....you are liars. Period. Next time you make ANY purchase, take a moment to think back to the last time you saw an ad for that product. If you can remember seeing an ad for it, then you were subconsciously influenced by that ad (even if it was by a tiny amount) and your brand awareness increased when you saw the ad. This isn't something that is debateable, it is a logical fact.
Bottom line? If you don't want advertisers to show you more relevant ads, don't use Web 2.0 sites that collect and share this data. If you don't want more ads install an adblocker or blame the owners of the sites whose business models rely on advertising and thus fall victim to ad creep.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
there are more like 100 million MySpace users.
my password really is 'stinkypants'
I think you're putting too much faith in the EU. Granted they have better data protection than the US in some ways. However, if you read the stories regarding the EU decision, it is not over. The EU said the current legal justification would not work, and told the parties involved to try again. The US Ambassador has already stated that the US will work with the afflected parties to come up with an acceptable justificiation.
I have an account on myspace, and, although you are probably right about some people's reason for using the site, I don't use it that way. I use it to get in touch/keep in touch with friends who don't live near me anymore. Most of my friends whom I am in touch with seem to be using it in the same way. Nobody on my friends list is anybody I didn't already know personally. It's an easy way to see what someone is up to, and to keep in touch with them. Back before these sites, I would try to hang on to people's email addresses, or I would look it up on the school directories that always seemed to be out of date. Now, we connect up and it doesn't matter if anyone moves or changes their contact info. They are still in myspace and connected to me. Since it is so popular and so easy, it means that the information is actually useful/current.
I don't put a whole bunch of personal info, just a few fun/humorous things, a current picture, and what I am currently doing. To me, it's worth it.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
> I guess I don't see the point of hanging out in chat rooms and social networking sites
> when there's a ton of people all over the place you could be actually meeting and
> hanging out with.
The point would be to meet them and hang out with them, since you're less likely to stumble across someone in Kyrgyzstan or Milwaukee who just happens to have similar interests to yours without the assistance of the Interwebs.
Same reason people go to trade shows and play pickup basketball, really.
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
Maybe you should ask these guys whome are Information Brokers. I'm not kidding, it's a serious industry. In fact, no doubt there will be college courses in the future providing degrees on the topic.
So yes, data is worth money depending on where, when, and whome you pan it from.
Life is not for the lazy.
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/06/29/137212.shtm
And
So SEVEN YEARS AGO, this very site met the "Web 2.0" criteria that is the next wave
No, seriously, this is just like it was back in 1999. By definition, in fact.
You know what I want? I want a video Podcast of movie trailers. Not commentary, not extra crap, just the trailers. I want my computer to download them automatically as they are released, with new ones marked as unplayed and old ones deleted automatically (according to my preferences in my preferred Podcast client). Since I don't watch TV, I'm often completely unaware of new movies coming out, and I would see more movies if I could subscribe to a Podcast like this.
(For any of you who are confused by the marketing hype surrounding the term "Podcast", it's just a standard XML feed that points to MP3 or video files instead of HTML pages; a Podcast client is like an RSS reader, but automatically downloads the file and, optionally, syncs it to your iPod if you have one. Nothing evil or proprietary about it, and you should know that Podcasting was already popular long before Apple jumped on the bandwagon; Apple neither invented it nor chose the name "Podcast".)
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