EREM Joaquim Távora
Facebook’s exploitation of user data to
Student: _____________________________
Grade: _____ | Teacher: Andréa Moraes
Invisible Manipulation: 10 ways our data is
being used against us
The era where we were in control of the data
on our own computers has been replaced
with devices containing sensors we cannot
control, storing data we cannot access, in
operating systems we cannot monitor, in
environments where our rights are rendered
meaningless. Soon the default will shift from
us interacting directly with our devices to
interacting with devices we have no control
over and no knowledge that we are
generating data. Below we outline 10 ways in
which this exploitation and manipulation is
already happening.
1. Fintech and the Financial Exploitation
of Customer Data
Financial services are collecting and
exploiting increasing amounts of data about
our behaviour, interests, networks, and
personalities to make financial judgements
about us, like our creditworthiness.
2. Profiling and Elections — How Political
Campaigns Know Our Deepest Secrets
Political campaigns around the world have
turned into sophisticated data operations.
3. Connected Cars and the Future of
Car Travel
As society heads toward an ever more
connected world, the ability for individuals to
protect and manage the invisible data that
companies and third parties hold about them,
becomes increasingly difficult. This is further
complicated by events like data breaches,
hacks, and covert information gathering
techniques, which are hard, if not impossible,
to consent to.
4. The Myth of Device Control and the
Reality of Data Exploitation
Our connected devices carry and
communicate vast amounts of personal
information, both visible and invisible.
5. Super-Apps and the Exploitative
Potential of Mobile Applications
For those concerned by reporting of
generate sensitive insights into its users, it is
worth taking note of WeChat, a Chinese
super-app whose success has made it the
envy of Western technology giants, including
Facebook. WeChat has more than 900 million
users. It serves as a portal for nearly every
variety of connected activity in China.
6. Smart Cities and Our Brave New World
Cities around the world are deploying
collecting increasing amounts of data and the
public is not part of deciding if and how such
systems are deployed.
7. The Myth of Free Wi-Fi
Many technologies, including those that are
critical to our day-to-day lives do not protect
our privacy or security. One reason for this is
that the standards which govern our modern
internet infrastructure do not prioritise security
which is imperative to protect privacy.
8. Invisible Discrimination and Poverty
Online, and increasingly offline, companies
gather data about us that determine what
advertisements we see; this, in turn, affects
the opportunities in our lives. The ads we see
online, whether we are invited for a job
interview, or whether we qualify for benefits is
decided by opaque systems that rely on
highly granular data. More often than not,
such exploitation of data facilitates and
exacerbates already existing inequalities in
societies — without us knowing that it occurs.
As a result, data exploitation
disproportionately affects the poorest and
most vulnerable in society.
9. Data and Policing - Your Tweet Can and
Will Be Used Against You
Police and security services are increasingly
outsourcing intelligence collection to third-
party companies which are assigning threat
scores and making predictions about who we
are.
10. The Gig Economy and Exploitation
Gig economy jobs that depend on mobile
applications allow workers’ movements to be
monitored, evaluated, and exploited by their
employers.