Dark Data: USA

"The flow of the worlds attention is structured to FB, Google, and Twitter." -Zeynep Tufecki

I finished this weeks readings thinking that this personal data dealing is more lethal than drug dealing. Think about it! These companies put on this instantaneous facade of trying to connect people in an easy, non-intimdating way but in reality they are sucking the data out of you with every 'like' | 'sad face' | 'shocked face' | and click. This isn't new to anyone, but what I've started to question is what purpose does this data collection serve. Obvious answer, targeted advertisements. Is this data bargaining / pragmatic advertising a form of modern day slavery? Within the tech and design realm what purpose does it serve? For some reason I believe there's a greater purpose for it.

After reading Wolfie Christl's, “Corporate Surveillance in Everyday Life”, I'm pissed at how easily a HUGE company like Oracle can just go from being a large business software company -> data broker. Do they out of the blue notify their users that they are all of sudden going to pawn off their personal data? ... probably not. Yes we need to start talking about this to bring light to the injustices of it, but I think it's just as important to start teaching individuals how important their data is, and encourage them to treat it as if it's part of their identity.

guys, Get serious about your data