The recent Cambridge Analytica scandal is a perfect discussion topic for use with students when looking at the implications of big data on our lives, or more importantly on the future lives of the students which currently occupy our classrooms.
For me one of the first areas for discussion is to try and get an appreciation for all of the data which we make available to organisations such as Google, Facebook, etc. As we use their free services we provide them data.
The second area for consideration is the fact that the data provided can then be used to identify further data or to extrapolate probabilities of certain characteristics. A perfect example is how Target gathered data in the hope of identifying which female shoppers were pregnant due to the tendency for pregnant women to be profitable for the organisation. Looking at a women’s spending habits including changes in habits over time, Target were able to assign a pregnancy probability rating to its customers, therefore identifying which customers were the most likely to be pregnant.
Ethics and privacy are another area for discussion. How comfortable are students with the fact that companies such as target might be able to identify such private aspects of our lives such as whether a woman is pregnant? Is this an invasion of our privacy?
One of the main issues which surround Cambridge Analytica is the possible use of data to profile individuals and then to influence them and their decision making. Through targeted marketing, targeted specifically at individuals based on the data which is available on them, they may have had their voting decisions shaped. Their decisions may not have actually been their own decisions. Is such a practice of profiling and influencing individuals ethical?
We also have the issue of information sharing. If we provided the information to Facebook or Google do they have the right to share this with other and if so, are there limitations on what such a third party might do with this data? The Cambridge Analytica scandal highlights this in that the data gathered came from a questionnaire app, however made use of sharing functionality in Facebook to hoover up far more data than it was directly given, gathering data on the friends of users of the app.
The fact we don’t pay for Google or Facebook is another area worthy of discussion. The phrase, If your aren’t paying for it, you are the product, seems appropriate here. We don’t pay for using Facebook as Facebook gets its revenue from advertising. It therefore is sharing data with advertisers to allow them to target the appropriate customers to maximise the return from advertising expenditure. Are we happy that Facebook and Google too are in effect sellings us? This also leads us to the purpose of Google and Facebook. Both appear to be companies providing services which enhance our lives. Although this is true it is also important to remember that they are also companies with shareholders and therefore companies out to make a profit. Does the safe, ethical and responsible use of all the data we provide trump their need to make a profit?
As we use more and more technology, with more and more of it being online, we are generating more and more data. This data is being gathered by organisations. I don’t believe there is any easy answer to this situation as proceeding oblivious or ignorant to the implications is ill advised as is total disconnection and an attempt to avoid generating any data. For me the key is for our students to be consciously aware of big data and its implications.
Being Digitally literate 