This post in Zeit certainly gave me pause to consider just how much other people, i.e. for-profit companies, know about me and where I go. The German politician, Malte Spitz, apparently sued his cell phone company and won six months worth of data that they had collected about him. He then presented that data as a timeline that you can watch. Speed, zoom level, online posts, etc., are all included. You can see it live here.
While we claim a certain amount of freedom through the use of wireless devices like cell phones, there is clearly an exchange going on that most of us don't think about very much. What is my data worth to the cell phone company that I buy services from? Has that been calculated into my bill? It does seem a bit inequitable that I pay them for the services I use and they harvest massive amounts of very personal data about me. Somebody is getting a two-for-one deal (hint: it's not us lowly cell phone users).
While we claim a certain amount of freedom through the use of wireless devices like cell phones, there is clearly an exchange going on that most of us don't think about very much. What is my data worth to the cell phone company that I buy services from? Has that been calculated into my bill? It does seem a bit inequitable that I pay them for the services I use and they harvest massive amounts of very personal data about me. Somebody is getting a two-for-one deal (hint: it's not us lowly cell phone users).
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