Surrendering our hearts and minds
Afollow staff member, who shall remain unnamed to protect the guilty, recently had her older computer replaced with a newer, more powerful machine. The usual transition to switching to updated equipment was made all the more challenging because she had no idea how to log into any of the network servers or subscriber websites we use.
“My old computer remembered everything and I just clicked through,” she moaned, dreading the prospect of having to update all of her passwords.
She’s not alone, of course. Anyone who relies on their smartphone has missed appointments because they entered the wrong date in the phone’s calendar and were waiting for the device to remind them of the event. Who remembers phone numbers and addresses anymore because it’s in the phone’s contacts?
Birthdays? Facebook will send you a reminder.
Increasingly, technology not only does things for us - like wake us up, turn on the furnace or the coffee maker in the morning when we set devices to do so - but it also thinks on our behalf, silently and invisibly. Netflix recommends movies you might want to watch based on what you’ve watched before, Amazon suggests products based on what you’ve previously ordered, Facebook decides, based on your past choices, what you’ll be most interested to read and “like” in your personalized news feed while Google attempts (and often succeeds) at anticipating your search before you’re even finished typing.
Operating behind the scenes are algorithms, a lengthy series of either/or queries that attempts to solve a problem (what do you want?) with limited information. Computer engineers would have you believe that algorithms are benign and nonjudgmental but that’s a lie, of course, because algorithms are only as good as the programmers who create them.
Franklin Foer offers plenty of examples of manipulative algorithms in his book World Without Mind: The Existential Threat Of Big Tech. Netflix recommends more obscure titles to you because the company has to pay more to stream Hollywood blockbusters. Google makes billions each year by selling placements to companies that want top billing in the search results when you are looking for a certain product or service. Based on your clicks, your likes and the pages and people you follow, Facebook will sell targeted advertising to companies hoping to entice you with their goods. Or influence how you vote. There’s no doubt that Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with targeted Facebook ads and inflammatory posts. American intelligence services were saying it was happening in the summer of 2016 but for those who think that the FBI is anti-Trump and fake news, Facebook admitted it happened months after the election (after initially denying it) and grudgingly released the content.
That admission was startling because none of these companies want you to consider how all of that personal data you share with your devices is being used to manipulate your choices, your behaviour and even how you see the world around uyou. This is the power you give away every time you use your “smart” TVs, your tablets, your computers and your phones. Foer singles out the big four players - Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook - for their monopolization of the information economy and their brazen use of personal data for profit and control. And they’re just getting started. Three of those companies are now trying to sell you the amazing benefits of their home assistant devices - small speakers placed in rooms in homes that respond to voice commands. By connecting the home assistant to phones, TVs and any other machine that has a WiFi connection, you can order the device to send a text, record a program or find a recipe online for a raspberry coulis.
When Captain Jean-Luc Picard asked the Enterprise computer to calculate the distance to the Romulan home world and make him a cup of Earl Grey tea, the future seemed so bright. With the reality upon us, it seems far more threatening. Think about it: a computer that listens to all of your conversations in your home while awaiting your orders. That computer is learning how to understand your speech and how to predict what you want and when you want it.
That’s not science fiction, that’s for sale right now.
Worst of all, you pay dearly for these devices and the latest iPhone, even as the companies retain ownership and control of all of your personal information their devices collect. Apple owns every conversation with Siri and all of the personal data entered into an iPhone.
Facebook owns all of those personal pictures, videos and conversations you’ve had on Messenger. There is no such thing as closing and deleting a Facebook account. Through an onerous process, an account can be deactivated but Facebook will hold onto the data. The company cheerfully informs users that deactivated accounts can be reactivated at any time, glossing over the fact that Facebook is not going to delete any of that valuable personal information you gave up to share with your family and friends.
You see your life in those pictures and posts. Facebook sees data that can be used to make money.
Technology is marvelous. It can spare employees having to remember or write down important information. But when technology is owned by a handful of giant companies and their devices start thinking on our behalf, based on personal and private information they collect about us, we trade control for convenience, freedom for fulfillment.
We’re surrendering to that future, one like at a time.
Neil Godbout is editor in chief of the Prince George Citizen and a former reporter with The Penticton Herald.