During the age of exploration, alternatively called the age of exploitation by some historians, European settlers and explorers bought entire countries in exchange for coloured beads and trinkets.
Most people today find such stories comical and or offensive. The idea that native peoples could throw away that which was most valuable to them or that European explorers could be so exploitative is indeed part comedy and part tragedy.
However, at this very moment millions of people around the world (probably including the readers of this article) are playing this story out on a grander scale than even Hernan Cortes dreamed of. Everyday people around the world give away an astonishing amount of a priceless good to exploitative organizations. Such is the value of this good that it is arguably more precious than the Aztec's gold, the Inca's silver and all of Indonesia's spices combined. This good is our data.
Everything that we make readily available online from birthdays to your likes is recorded, quantified and sold. Our data is then used to understand and target us. Many readers may rightly question what the harm is in allowing Facebook to know that we like. "Is the fact that I Liked the 'The Rock' (the movie and the wrestler) on Facebook really so valuable?". Unfortunately it is, a recent study (ironically conducted by Facebook) of 86,220 user revealed that with a meer 300 Likes Facebook's algorithms can understand you better than your spouse. In the study participants were asked to fill out a 100 item-personality questionnaire. Acquaintances, co-workers, friends and family members of the participants were asked to fill out how they thought the participant would answer. Their answers were then compared to the predictions Facebook's algorithm made. Incredibly, 10 Likes allowed it to outperform coworkers, with 70 Likes it outperformed friends, with 150 Likes it outperformed family members and with 300 Likes it outperformed spouses. Furthermore, on sites like Facebook our likes are just a small part of the information available on each and every user! Given the sheer volume of information that users put on Facebook it is safe to say that Facebook knows it users better than anybody (arguably even better than themselves).
Scary though it may be to think that Mark Zuckerberg knows you better than your wife or husband the consequences are much more than just creepy. This unprecedented ability for Mark Zuckerberg to get up close cozy and personal with us translates into wealth and power. The obvious use of our data has been to sell it to third parties to allow for more effective advertising which has made Mr Zuckerberg insanely rich. But if Facebook knows its users at least as well as they know themselves how far fetched is it to say that Facebook also knows who is undecided about how they will vote in the next election? If so, then Facebook has the answer to the ultimate political question for those seeking power in a democracy "what do the voters want to hear?"
Subsequently, as Facebook also has direct access to these people it may now be the best gauge and influencer of public opinion in the world. Those who doubt this statement have only to observe the pronounced role played by news (fake and otherwise) circulating on social media last election. For those still on the fence, consult the latest scandal regarding Cambridge Analytica.
Much like the natives of countless countries in the age of exploration we have given power and wealth to exploitative powers in exchange for junk. Whereas the natives of Manhattan island traded it for iron tools, kettles and fabric we have traded our data ( and the power it gives) for funny cat videos and instant messaging. Perhaps future historians will dub our time “the age of digital exploitation”.
However, this story (unlike that of countless native peoples) is not over. We have the chance to retake control of our data from the exploiters whilst still enjoying the practical benefits and the funny cat videos. The natives could not get iron tools or cloth elsewhere, cat videos and instant messaging services are numerous and can be found in other places to Facebook. If we take action now we can halt and even reverse the trend of exploitation. We must move away from using exploitative services such as Facebook with a central host which compiles our data for sale where it can be sold (or stolen). Our salvation lies in exploring alternatives. New technologies like block explores (such as Steemit) which allows for features like those offered by Facebook but does not store our data in a central host. If after reading this you are still unsure of the importance of change consult any photo of Mark Zuckerberg and ask yourself “am I ok with this man making billions from getting to know me intimately?”
