Safety For Women In The Workforce

 









Maybe Orwell Was Right, Soon It Will Be Impossible To Have Private Thoughts, Or Even Have Thoughts That Haven't Already Been Predicted By a Computer

By Travis Steber 

Do you remember George Orwell's hit book 1984? What if he was off by 50 years? What if we were at the start of that now? Well, it could very well be the case. In fact, if you're viewing this online, you have already invited big brother into your home. Right now you're using a device that is actively gathering your information, building a profile on you, and selling that data. Even worse, the data it stores can be accessed by the FBI without a judge's approval, permitted by the patriot act.

cartoon depicting that the calendar is back to the year 1984 

    How are they getting this data on you? It is not specifically your electronic devices, they are not bad. It is a function within your electronics, specifically within your internet browsers, "cookies". A cookie is a special type of data packet that's stored on your device, the function of it is to log what you did on a specific website so that when you revisit the website it can remember you. When you type a website into your browser's search bar you send a request to the server that hosts the website. When you send that request the server then sends a request for all cookies that are related to the website. The exchange only takes seconds.  This is a nice function, it allows you to pick up where you left off and makes browsing the internet a much smoother and more enjoyable experience. Cookies when used the way they are intended are incredible and covenant.  the best part is after a set time they will self-destruct and wipe all the data they collected off of your device. When accepting cookies from a website you can do so, those cookies are okay and helpful to have.

    Unfortunately, your data is valuable, online entities will plant a special cookie on your computer when you visit their website, this is called a third-party persistent cookie (TPPC). TPPCs are designed to store lots of data on all the websites you visit, then these cookies will be sold to advertisement companies. They make millions off of people's data without them ever knowing about it. since they are persistent, they never self-destruct. Just last year the data analytics company which is labeled as the largest in data sales, Sisense, reportedly made $140 Million. 

illustration showing workers looking at data from cookies 

The way that online entities get their TPPC onto your computer is quite tricky. When you go onto a website and see ads specifically with a small x in the corner they could be installing TTPC, see the image below for an example of these types of ads. The way that they can do this is because the website you view is not the one hosting the ads, they are being provided by a third party. These third-party servers now that you are on a website that has their ads on it can now install these cookies without your consent. 

picture of an ad with an arrow showing how it's third-party provided. 

    Have you ever been thinking about buying something, log into FaceBook later on, and seen an ad for what you were thinking of? It's not impossible for them to predict your thoughts and movements based on what those TPPCs that they bought told them.  They have been doing this for a while, even before cookies were as good as they are now. In 2012 Target read through some data and predicted that a teenage girl was pregnant, then mailed her a magazine with baby products in it before her father found out.  Furthermore, “In 2011 Stanford did a study using data participants' cell phones collected and used an algorithm to predict the participant's locations at different times during the day, it was accurate within 20 yards.” - Molitorisz. Both of those examples were from over ten years ago, imagine what they're capable of now. The reason they do this is to better serve your ads towards products they know you're interested in, which is nice, but it is not worth the breach of your privacy.

    Your electronics know what you're going to do before you ever do it, and it's been like this for a while. More concerningly is that in 2001 when the patriot act was passed it made it so the FBI could gain access to all of this information collected by your electronics without even a judge approving it. The patriot act was made to combat terrorism, and it was passed 45 days after 9/11. To gain access all the FBI needs to do is write an NSL, a national security letter, and send it to a higher-up within the FBI. With an NSL passed they can legally see everything on your phone, including cookies, phone records, bank records, and all of the personal files on your device. "From 2003-2006 the FBI issued almost 200,000 NSLs, and only one lead to an arrest for a terror-related crime." -ACLU. Not only do advertisers buy and sell your data, but the government is also looking through it. 

      Maybe this isn't all bad, due to NSL there is one less terrorist out there. Of course, that is a good thing. furthermore, it is nice to have ads served to you that are exactly what you want to buy. you can go shopping and never actually have to browse, it is essentially effort-free shopping. Most of the world is in favor of cookies, according to YouGov "The US stands out as the country with consumers most likely to disagree they accept all cookies when asked for consent. Just a third of US consumers agree they accept all cookies while 42% disagree." Overall cookies are liked. They are a useful tool, but maybe their too good at their job.
     How can you escape the ever-watching eye of this big brother? Vote. You can go out and talk to local legislators and push them to make laws that restrict companies and the government from watching you. If this technology keeps advancing they might be able to pin you for a crime you haven't committed yet, perhaps just thought about, even if you were never going to commit it.