Revelations that a government surveillance program monitors phone calls and electronic communications has many Americans wondering how this new era of widespread data collection will change their daily lives. In “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think,” authors Viktor Mayer-Sch?nberger and Kenneth Cukier argue that consumers will pay a high price for sharing their data — or having it mined by companies or the government. “How we use data for future predictions and in what context, that’s what I’m worried about,” Mayer-Sch?nberger says.
Whether making an online purchase or posting a photograph on a social-networking site, the authors say that users are helping companies build up increasingly sophisticated portraits of their likes and dislikes, weaknesses and strengths. Armed with this information, they say banks will be able to make a decision on whether to lend money based on a person’s consumer habits. Do they use a prepaid phone? That, they argue, could be a black mark against them. On a more helpful note, they say the sales of flu medication helps websites track the spread of a particularly virulent flu outbreak.
MarketWatch spoke to Mayer-Sch?nberger about what the loss of privacy means for Americans.
Is there any silver lining to the recent leaks about the U.S. government’s top secret program that reportedly taps into the servers operated by companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook?
We don’t know enough yet to come up with a solid assessment.
What could the revelations mean for the future of social networking?
If customers don’t trust Google, Facebook and Twitter anymore, they will go to a different service. If that trust is eroded it’s very hard to win it back. They have stood up in the past and challenged the federal government in court to show that they are siding with the consumers. Now, they apparently are forced by the government to give access. That explains why Facebook, Google and Microsoft this week asked the federal government for permission to reveal details of the classified requests they’ve received.
People won’t walk away from Facebook or Google. They share data willingly. I’d bet that Facebook will still have over a billion monthly registered users at the end of the next quarter.
That is your personal view. You do not have the data to support that.
Employers’ surveillance of workers could be a microcosm of what’s happening at a bigger level.
Screen and keyboard capture tools were there five years ago. That technology hasn’t changed. But companies are beginning to use the data they’ve collected for predictions.
We already know that Wal-Mart knows enough about our buying habits to place Pop Tarts next to flashlights when there’s a storm approaching. What other kind of predictions are you talking about?
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Edward Snowden says he intends to challenge the U.S. in Hong Kong courts. Photo: AP
Whether an employee should get a promotion or be fired. Fico can predict whether a person takes their medicine on time based on their financial information. That’s what I’m much more worried about. A health-care provider could predict you’re going to take up smoking and say, “We’re not going to waste a perfectly good organ on you.” Law enforcement collects data that gives them an idea of the likelihood of someone being involved in a shooting within the next 12 months. A lot of police forces use crime-data analysis to send officers to certain neighborhoods at certain times of the day and week.
Anything that involves risk assessment is perfect for crunching our data?
Most cars now have a black box that captures sensor data and acceleration speed just before an air bag is employed. Insurance companies basically want to insure the good people and get rid of the bad. It’s not surveillance anymore, it’s decision-making.
Is there any way to opt out, or is it too late?
The social costs are so high that it’s not possible anymore. You could go to an island in the South Pacific.
And not use a credit card to get there.
You need to pay cash to go there. But paying a one-way ticket in cash substantially increases the chances of a secondary inspection at the airport.
DNA testing is becoming popular, and it’s now cheaper and easier to find out about where we come from.
You can pay $100 to have a company analyze your DNA or $2,000 for a company to analyze 3 billion base pairs — the building blocks of your DNA. But even if you don’t the government could still end up with your DNA. If your sibling carried out a crime or was even the victim of a crime and a sample of his/her DNA was taken by the police it could be run against a crime database. If they found a match for a crime and your sibling had an alibi, they could look at you as a suspect because siblings have a higher similarity of genetic information. It’s called familial searches.
This all sounds very “Nineteen Eight-Four.”
You don’t have complete control over your information, including your DNA information, anymore.
That’s crazy.
I promised you it would be crazy.
Your book sold very well in China. Does that surprise you?
Yes, it’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies in China since it was released in late December. They’re interested in the economic opportunities as well.
Wait. We can make money too?
Some people think that we will see the rise of platforms online where people can provide their personal information and get a cut from the money made from selling it. For consumers to become part of the data marketing value chain.
Not only does the government appear to be helping itself, but an awful lot of social networkers are giving it away for free.
That’s correct. They don’t know what the full bargain is.
Will you write a follow-up book?
I don’t know yet.
My prediction based on the data I’ve acquired from this interview is that you will.
