Data and Goliath

  This is why regulation: Here’s an example of the DHS regulations. Mary Ellen Callahan (Mar 2012), “Handbook for safeguarding sensitive personally identifiable information,” US Department of Homeland Security, http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy/Guidance/handbookforsafeguardingsensitivePII_march_2012_webversion.pdf.

  4: THE BUSINESS OF SURVEILLANCE

  Brightest Flashlight Free: Casey Houser (16 Oct 2013), “Use your flashlight app for trick-or-treating,” Gazelle, https://www.gazelle.com/thehorn/2013/10/16/use-your-flashlight-app-for-trick-or-treating.

  the app collected location information: Cecilia Kang (5 Dec 2013), “Flashlight app kept users in the dark about sharing location data,” Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/flashlight-app-kept-users-in-the-dark-about-sharing-location-data-ftc/2013/12/05/1be26fa6-5dc7-11e3-be07-006c776266ed_story.html.

  researchers discovered it in 2012: Jason Hong (30 Nov 2012), “Analysis of Brightest Flashlight Free for Android,” Jason Hong’s Confabulations, http://confabulator.blogspot.com/2012/11/analysis-of-brightest-flashlight-free.html.

  The US Federal Trade Commission got involved: US Federal Trade Commission (5 Dec 2013), “Android Flashlight app developer settles FTC charges it deceived consumers: ‘Brightest Flashlight’ app shared users’ location, device ID without consumers’ knowledge,” http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/12/android-flashlight-app-developer-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived.

  we are offered a package deal: Sometimes surveillance is coerced. In order for me to get my warranty for a product, I often have to give up personal information to the company that built the product.

  Enterprises like DoubleClick: Within days of searching Google for a particular vacation location, I started receiving Travelocity ads for that location. I don’t even have a Travelocity account.

  Most of the companies tracking you: Peter Eckersley (21 Sep 2009), “How online tracking companies know most of what you do online (and what social networks are doing to help them),” Electronic Frontier Foundation, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/online-trackers-and-social-networks.

  If you want to see who’s tracking you: Samuel Gibbs (28 Oct 2013), “Mozilla’s Lightbeam Firefox tool shows who’s tracking your online movements,” Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/28/mozilla-lightbeam-tracking-privacy-cookies.

  One reporter discovered that 105: Alexis Madrigal (29 Feb 2012), “I’m being followed: How Google—and 104 other companies—are tracking me on the web,” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/im-being-followed-how-google-151-and-104-other-companies-151-are-tracking-me-on-the-web/253758.

  Dictionary.com installed over 200: Julia Angwin (30 Jul 2010), “The Web’s new gold mine: Your secrets,” Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703940904575395073512989404.

  The apps there track you: Scott Thurm and Yukari Iwatani Kane (18 Dec 2010), “Your apps are watching you,” Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704368004576027751867039730.

  The app required the ability: Andrew Cunningham (5 Jul 2013), “Samsung and Jay-Z give the Internet a master’s class in how not to make an app,” Ars Technica, http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/samsung-and-jay-z-give-the-internet-a-masters-class-in-how-not-to-make-an-app.

  the Angry Birds game even collects: Frances Zhang, Fuming Shih, and Daniel Weitzner (4–8 Nov 2013), “No surprises: measuring intrusiveness of smartphone applications by detecting objective context deviations,” 12th ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES’13), Berlin, Germany, http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2517864.

  Broadband companies like Comcast: Douglas Rushkoff (6 Jul 2012), “Will your Internet provider be spying on you?” CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/opinion/rushkoff-online-monitoring. David Kravets (25 Feb 2013), “ISPs now monitoring for copyright infringement,” Wired, http://www.wired.com/2013/02/copyright-scofflaws-beware.

  Verizon, Microsoft, and others: Casey Johnston (3 Dec 2012), “How to get targeted ads on your TV? Try a camera in your set-top box,” Ars Technica, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/how-to-get-targeted-ads-on-your-tv-a-camera-in-your-set-top-box. Christopher Zara (26 Jul 2013), “Is your cable box spying on you? Behavior-detecting devices from Verizon, Microsoft and others worry privacy advocates,” International Business Times, http://www.ibtimes.com/your-cable-box-spying-you-behavior-detecting-devices-verizon-microsoft-others-worry-privacy-1361587.

  It’s less Big Brother: It’s interesting that we commonly use ideas from fiction to talk about surveillance and privacy: something is Orwellian or Kafkaesque, or akin to Tolkien’s “Eye of Sauron.” Bruce Schneier (18 Apr 2014), “Metaphors of surveillance,” Schneier on Security, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/metaphors_of_su.html.

  other ways to uniquely track you: Peter Eckersley (Jul 2010), “How unique is your web browser?” Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, https://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf. Keaton Mowery and Hovav Shacham (24 May 2012), “Pixel perfect: Fingerprinting canvas in HTML5,” Web 2.0 Security and Privacy, San Francisco, California, http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~hovav/papers/ms12.html. Julia Angwin (21 Jul 2014), “Meet the online tracking device that is virtually impossible to block,” Pro Publica, http://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-online-tracking-device-that-is-virtually-impossible-to-block. Gunes Acar et al. (10 Aug 2014), “The web never forgets: persistent tracking mechanisms in the wild,” ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2014), Scottsdale, Arizona, https://securehomes.esat.kuleuven.be/~gacar/persistent/index.html.

  Google tried to compel this: Google (5 Jul 2014), Post re: Removal of Google+ username restrictions, https://plus.google.com/+googleplus/posts/V5XkYQYYJqy.

  Facebook pretty much demands real names: Facebook has been reconsidering the policy after being confronted by users who are potentially endangered by it. Facebook (2014), “What names are allowed on Facebook?” https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576. Reed Albergotti (2 Oct 2014), “Facebook changes real-name policy after uproar from drag queens,” Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/articles/facebook-changes-real-name-policy-after-uproar-from-drag-queens-1412223040.

  It quickly became clear: People’s willingness to pay has changed somewhat. Lots of us are now used to paying small amounts, or even large amounts over time, for smartphone apps, but the surveillance aspect of Internet business has remained. Even apps you pay for spy on you.

  “Free” is a special price: Kristina Shampanier, Nina Mazar, and Dan Ariely (Dec 2007), “Zero as a special price: The true value of free products,” Marketing Science 26, http://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/Papers/zero.pdf.

  Free warps our normal sense: Scott Bradner (3 Aug 2010), “The price of free Internet: A piece of your soul,” Network World, http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2010/080310bradner.html.

  Facebook has done it systematically: Kurt Opsahl (28 Apr 2010), “Facebook’s eroding privacy policy: A timeline,” Electronic Frontier Foundation, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline.

  Facebook has also changed: This is an excellent interactive graphic. Matt McKeon (15 May 2010), “The evolution of privacy on Facebook,” http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy.

  Google has done much the same: Associated Press (2 Apr 2013), “Timeline: A look at developments linked to Google privacy concerns,” CTV News, http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/timeline-a-look-at-developments-linked-to-google-privacy-concerns-1.1220927.

  Apple is somewhat of an exception: Rich Mogull (25 Jun 2014), “Why Apple really cares about your privacy,” Macworld, http://www.macworld.com/article/2366921/why-apple-really-cares-about-your-privacy.html.

  It uses iTunes purchase information: Charles Arthur (18 Sep 2014), “Apple’s Tim Cook attacks Google and Facebook over privacy flaws,” Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/
18/apple-tim-cook-google-facebook-privacy-surveillance.

  It’s very big business for Amazon: Jay Greene (18 Mar 2014), “Amazon easing into $1 billion sideline business: ad sales,” Union Bulletin, http://union-bulletin.com/news/2014/mar/18/amazon-easing-1b-sideline-business-ad-sales. Nadia Tuma and Laura Simpson (23 Jan 2014), “Why Amazon’s data store doesn’t scare people—but Facebook’s does,” Advertising Age, http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/americans-scared-amazon-s-data-store/290953.

  Companies have increasingly: Amy Harmon (24 Aug 2001), “As public records go online, some say they’re too public,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/24/nyregion/as-public-records-go-online-some-say-they-re-too-public.html. Mark Ackerman (26 Aug 2013), “Sales of public data to marketers can mean big $$ for governments,” CBS Denver, http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/08/26/sales-of-public-data-to-marketers-can-mean-big-for-governments.

  data brokers like Acxiom: This is a good article on Acxiom. Natasha Singer (16 Jun 2012), “Mapping, and sharing, the consumer genome,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html.

  These companies buy: The World Privacy Forum estimates that there are about 4,000 data brokers. Pam Dixon (18 Dec 2013), “Testimony of Pam Dixon, Executive Director, World Privacy Forum, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: What information do data brokers have on consumers, and how do they use it?” World Privacy Forum, http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2013/12/testimony-what-information-do-data-brokers-have-on-consumers.

  The more data you produce: Craig Timberg (27 May 2014), “Brokers use ‘billions’ of data points to profile Americans,” Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/brokers-use-billions-of-data-points-to-profile-americans/2014/05/27/b4207b96-e5b2-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html.

  The breadth and depth: Wall Street Journal ran an excellent series that discussed the enormous amount of surveillance data different companies collect. Wall Street Journal, “What They Know” series index, http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html.

  They collect everything: US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Office of Oversight and Investigations, Majority Staff (18 Dec 2013), “A review of the data broker industry: Collection, use, and sale of consumer data for marketing purposes,” Staff report for Chairman Rockefeller, http://consumercal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/senate_2013_data_broker_report.pdf.

  Data brokers use your data: Lois Beckett (13 Sep 2013), “Everything we know about what data brokers know about you,” Pro Publica, https://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you.

  Acxiom can provide you with that: Natasha Singer (5 Sep 2013), “Acxiom lets consumers see data it collects,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/technology/acxiom-lets-consumers-see-data-it-collects.html.

  InfoUSA has sold lists: Charles Duhigg (20 May 2007), “Bilking the elderly, with a corporate assist,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/20tele.html.

  both brokers were fined by the FTC: US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Office of Oversight and Investigations, Majority Staff (18 Dec 2013), “A review of the data broker industry: Collection, use, and sale of consumer data for marketing purposes,” Staff report for Chairman Rockefeller, http://consumercal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/senate_2013_data_broker_report.pdf.

  We use systems that spy on us: Joseph Turow (7 Feb 2012), “A guide to the digital advertising industry that’s watching your every click,” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/a-guide-to-the-digital-advertising-industry-thats-watching-your-every-click/252667.

  If something is free: It’s not known who first said this. Jonathan Zittrain (21 Mar 2012), “Meme patrol: ‘When something online is free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product,’” The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/futureoftheinternet/2012/03/21/meme-patrol-when-something-online-is-free-youre-not-the-customer-youre-the-product.

  as Al Gore said: Nelson Wyatt (7 Nov 2013), “Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore predicts lawmakers will rein in surveillance,” Vancouver Sun, http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Former+vicepresident+Gore+predicts+lawmakers+will+rein/9129866/story.html.

  There’s a famous quote: Laurence Green (5 Jul 2010), “Why creativity will buy you more success than money,” Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7872084/Why-creativity-will-buy-you-more-success-than-money.html.

  If you know exactly who: At least, that’s the theory. There are people who argue that this isn’t as effective as one might think. Douglas Rushkoff (2013), Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, Current, http://www.rushkoff.com/present-shock.

  a national lawn care company: Real Green Systems (2014), “Measurement Assistant: An online measuring software application combining aerial photography and measuring tools,” https://www.realgreen.com/measurement_assistant.html.

  This also works in political advertising: Nathan Abse (Oct 2012), “Big data delivers on campaign promise: Microtargeted political advertising in Election 2012,” Interactive Advertising Bureau, http://www.iab.net/media/file/Innovations_In_Web_Marketing_and_Advertising_delivery.pdf.

  Obama used big data: Michael Scherer (7 Nov 2012), “Inside the secret world of the data crunchers who helped Obama win,” Time, http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win. Sasha Issenberg (19 Dec 2012), “How President Obama’s campaign used big data to rally individual voters,” MIT Technology Review, http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/509026/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters.

  This data is used to target: Ed Pilkington and Amanda Michel (17 Feb 2012), “Obama, Facebook and the power of friendship: The 2012 data election,” Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/17/obama-digital-data-machine-facebook-election. Tanzina Vega (20 Feb 2012), “Online data helping campaigns customize ads,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/campaigns-use-microtargeting-to-attract-supporters.html.

  A lot of commercial surveillance: Many data brokers now allow you to correct errors. Any corrections you make improve the quality of the data they sell to others. Your corrections help them, yet they depict it as some sort of right you now have.

  this information can be valuable: In 2014, Shutterfly sent e-mail congratulations to people who had just had a baby, and made some mistakes. The mistakes were what made the press. Kashmir Hill (14 May 2014), “Shutterfly congratulates a bunch of people without babies on their ‘new arrivals,’” Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/14/shutterfly-congratulates-a-bunch-of-people-without-babies-on-their-new-arrivals.

  the data is enormously better: There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence about how wrong targeted advertising gets things, but much of that comes from the fact that we notice the mistakes more than we notice the bull’s-eyes.

  physical locations of people on Twitter: Jalal Mahmud, Jeffrey Nichols, and Clemens Drews (7 Mar 2014), “Home location identification of Twitter users,” arXiv:1403.2345 [cs.SI], http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2345.

  surveillance-based advertising is oversold: This essay, for example, questions the effectiveness of Internet advertising. Derek Thompson (13 Jun 2014), “A dangerous question: Does Internet advertising work at all?” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/a-dangerous-question-does-internet-advertising-work-at-all/372704.

  one of the kids died in a car crash: In 2014, OfficeMax sent a promotional mailing addressed to “Mike Seay/Daughter Killed in Car Crash/Or Current Business.” That was a database error, but it illustrates the personal nature of data these data brokers collect. Amy Merrick (23 Jan 2014), “A death in the database,” New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/01/ashley-seay-officemax-car-crash-death-in-the-database.html.


  advertising that’s too targeted feels creepy: Blase Ur et al. (2 Apr 2012), “Smart, useful, scary, creepy: Perceptions of online behavioral advertising,” CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, https://www.cylab.cmu.edu/research/techreports/2012/tr_cylab12007.html.

  the “uncanny valley”: Farhad Manjoo (23 Aug 2012), “The uncanny valley of Internet advertising,” Slate, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/08/the_uncanny_valley_of_internet_advertising_why_do_creepy_targeted_ads_follow_me_everywhere_i_go_on_the_web_.html. Sara M. Watson (16 Jun 2014), “Data doppelgängers and the uncanny valley of personalization,” Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/data-doppelgangers-and-the-uncanny-valley-of-personalization/372780.

  People are okay with sloppily: Mike Masnick (11 Mar 2008), “Where’s the line between personalized advertising and creeping people out?” Tech Dirt, http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080311/121305499.shtml.

  “creepy” is relative: Blase Ur et al. (2 Apr 2012), “Smart, useful, scary, creepy: Perceptions of online behavioral advertising,” CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, https://www.cylab.cmu.edu/research/techreports/2012/tr_cylab12007.html.

  depends a lot on our familiarity: Evan Selinger (22 Aug 2012), “Why do we love to call new technologies ‘creepy’?” Slate, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/08/facial_recognition_software_targeted_advertising_we_love_to_call_new_technologies_creepy_.html. Omer Tene and Jules Polonetsky (16 Sep 2013), “A theory of creepy: Technology, privacy, and shifting social norms,” Yale Journal of Law & Technology, http://yjolt.org/theory-creepy-technology-privacy-and-shifting-social-norms.

  ads that follow us around: Sara M. Watson (16 Sep 2014), “Ask the decoder: Stalked by socks,” Al Jazeera, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/16/the-decoder-stalkedbysocks.html.

  click on a link to find out why: Mike Isaac (2 Nov 2011), “New Google ‘transparency’ feature aims to reduce ad-targeting creepiness,” Wired, http://www.wired.com/2011/11/google-ad-transparency-target. Todd Essig (27 Feb 2012), “‘Big Data’ got you creeped out? Transparency can help,” Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2012/02/27/big-data-got-you-creeped-out-transparency-can-help.