LJ 2: We Are Data

John Chenney Lippold's, "We Are Data" is a very interesting read. In the preface, Lippold started off with the question, " Are you famous?" I immediately thought to myself, "No, I'm not famous. How could I be when I don't even post anything. People don't even know me." He then wrote that if you searched your name up in google.co.uk, and saw at the end of the page "Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe," then you are not famous. I did just that, and did not see the phrase. When I didn't see the phrase, I became very confused. I looked through the page and saw that I had indeed popped up. I wanted to try and see if it also happened if I put other peoples names too. So I put some of my friends names, and more information on them popped up (since they use social media more than I do). Some information really surprised me. I was able to see some addresses (previous and present), the name of their parents and extended family, and a whole lot more information. Seeing this was very interesting, but also scary at the same time. The idea that data about us is being collected while on the interenet is kind of insane. Lioppold says, "Today, most of what we do in this world has at least the capacity to be observed, recorded, analyzed, and stored in a databank." (Cheney-Lippold, 2017).

The data that is being recorded goes to a database and becomes what we know as the algorithm. The algorithm is what gets recommended to you from the data that was received. For example, If I searched up "cute baby clothes," Google will see this and add it into the database about me. From then, I may start getting ads about baby food, diapers, or toys. However, I just wanted to buy a gift for my friend, but the algorithm classifies me as the one with the baby.

I found out about this some time ago, and it did change the way I used social media. I always made sure that I was anonymous. However, reading it in depth just really made things clearer for me. I'll try to be more cautious of things I search. I will also make make sure that no personal information like my address, email, or phone number is given to social media websites, or me just searching it up for fun. From a professional standpoint, I think that it is more acceptable to share information. It is important to understand who you are trying to sell your product to, and it is also important for customers to trust the sellers. 

Using the algorithm is great for businesses. However, it does pose some ethical questions in my opinion. One of the biggest questions surrounding the use of the algortihm is of privacy. Lippolid says that Google can deem anyone a celebrity by the amount of information they have out. As a celebrity, your request for information being taken down won't be accepted. This is one of the main eithical concerns regarding the algorithm and the collection of data.

Works Cited:

Cheney-Lippold, J. (2017). We are data: Algorithms and the making of our Digital Selves. New York University Press.