Samyak Nayak
Shiv Nadar University
Introduction:
Nowadays, around 84,000 google searches are made every second. About 9000 tweets are made and more than 29,00,000 emails are sent in a second. These statistics have changed significantly from the time when this technology first emerged; At present, the internet accounts for more than 4 billion people are on the internet.
Within a short period, the Internet has gained huge popularity. The number of internet users has increased immensely. This was primarily possible due to advancements in technology and high-speed data at affordable rates.
This huge traffic on the internet has given rise to enormous data—tweets, emails, posts, videos etc.—which is referred to as Big Data. These are extremely large datasets that might be structured (like tables) or unstructured (like videos, emails), which is analyzed computationally using data science methods to reveal patterns and trends, which might benefit stakeholders, company or clients.
Moreover, the advanced technologies have enabled us to collect large data at a minimal cost. With cloud technology, the amount of data one can access isn’t just limited to the storage of any Indvidual’s device. On a single click, one can access a vast amount of data from any server and can process it through your device.
Earlier, we didn’t have much data to collect neither did we have the technology and methods to process that data. Though Statistics had been there from the last few decades it couldn’t be used to analyze large datasets as it has its limitations. The emergence of Data Science, which is built upon statistics, has completely changed the way companies looked at data.
Now the tech giants like Amazon, Google, Netflix, etc. collect huge volumes of data from their users to give and deploy deep learning algorithms to analyze the data and derive real-time business insights. They utilize these insights in maximizing their profit as well as giving their users better services.
With the emergence of artificial intelligence, which is a subset of data science, one can collect data about anything—facial expressions, your voice, type of posts you scroll, type of posts you engage in, etc.
Why is it concerning?
Before understanding why it is concerning one must understand which of your personal information the company has access to? A majority of people are completely unaware of this. Even while agreeing to the terms and conditions of any site, most people don’t even bother to read them, and hence unknowingly permit the sites to do data mining on your personal data.
Take the example of Facebook—While signing in, users automatically agree to the data policy of Facebook, by clicking on ‘Sign up’, and there isn’t any other option for any user to opt-out of the data policy and still use Facebook.
Let’s see, what Facebook itself tells about its data mining processes
What kinds of information does it collect?
User Centric Information—
- Information and content that users provide: this includes the content, communications, and other details which users provide, while we sign up. It also includes the location we provide for our posts, or the date when we posted something. It even collects what we see through its camera. Moreover, one can also include personal details like relationship status, profession, schooling, etc.
- Networks and connections: it include details about which hashtags the users follow, or which person or page users interact with most. Users can even agree to provide address book or SMS log history.
- Your usage: it includes the types of content that we view or engage with, the features we use, the actions we take, the people or accounts we interact with as well as the time, frequency and duration of our activities.
- Information about transactions made on our Products: if we use Facebook’s product for a transaction or other financial service, it records information about the purchase or transaction, which includes payment information, such as the credit or debit card number and other card information. It also includes authentication information, billing, delivery and contact details.
Device Centric Information—
- Device attributes: details such as the operating system, battery level, version (hardware & software), signal strength, browser type, available storage space, app and file names, types and plugins.
- Device operations: details about tasks and behaviors performed on the device for example: mouse movements
- Network and connections: details such as mobile operator’s name or ISP, time zone, mobile phone number, IP address, language, etc. Even in some cases, it also records details about other devices that are nearby or on your network, so that Facebook can do things such as help you stream a video from your phone to your TV.
- Cookie data: data related to cookies (cookie IDs and settings) stored on your device.
You might be amazed to know the amount of information you must agree to give to sign up on Facebook, but data collection isn’t just limited to these things. There have been many accusations on Facebook for violating the privacy of its users and stealing data. It does it by deploying Artificial Intelligence to grab details from them, without their consent.
It’s not limited to just Facebook users; it collects data from non-users also through various other sites: an action which it justifies by calling it a way to protect the personal information of its users.
In 2016, a man, from Missouri, who had metastatic cancer sued Facebook accusing the company of violating the man’s privacy by tracking his activities on cancer related websites and collecting details about his possible treatment options, without his permission. The company got the judge to dismiss the case and stated that tracing users for ad-targeting purposes was a standard business practice and one that its users agreed to when signing up for the service.
Why do companies collect data from their users?
The main reason for collecting the data is giving targeted ads. One would get ads related to things which one searched or looked for. Advertising is the main source of earning for these social sites, and targeted ads prove to be far more effective than normal ads. Companies also use the information to get insights about their users and provide better services. For instance, Facebook recommends friend suggestions, new posts, pages and even videos to its users based on their activities and Netflix recommends movies and shows to its users based on their activities. Some companies even collect data, about the activities of its users, for security purposes, especially banking sites. The collected data is stored in giant servers.
How can your data be misused?
Is your data safe with these companies? What if someone gets access to your personal data? Many people don’t even feel how crucial this information is until someone misuses it. Companies might trade your data for monetary benefits or there might be a data breach.
For instance, The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data breach occurred in early 2018, in which millions of Facebook users’ data was picked without consent by Cambridge Analytica to be predominantly used for political advertising. It isn’t just Facebook, there have been many such data breaches in big companies like LinkedIn, Canva, Netflix, etc.
So, what can someone possibly do with the information that companies like Facebook collect?
Now suppose someone gets hold of your name and address, he/she can use your name and address as a security question and get access to your account on any site, or someone can search for your name and address in any large database and get your other details. Someone can even send you fake offer letters or bills. Details like location or age can be used for political gains. There have also been many reported instances of identity theft. Some hackers can even hack your bank accounts using your personal details.
Do you need to worry?
No. But we must be careful. We must read the terms and conditions of any site or page thoroughly before agreeing to it. Most importantly, we must understand what information we are providing to which company and mustn’t provide details to the sites we don’t trust.
Are there laws related to data privacy present in India?
The Supreme Court of India has recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution as a part of the right to “life” and “personal liberty”. The court stated that every person must have the right to control the commercial use of his or her identity and that the following rights emanate from this right:
- right of individuals to commercially exploit their identity and personal information exclusively.
- right to control the information that is available about them on the internet.
- and right to disseminate certain personal information for limited purposes alone.
REFERENCES:
https://www.facebook.com/policy.php
https://www.internetlivestats.com/one-second/#google-band
