Data for All by John K. Thompson. Today John is Global Head of AI at Ernst & Young. He was an executive partner at Gartner, and he was responsible for the advanced analytics business unit of the Dell Software Group. He holds an MBA from DePaul University.
In fact, John has very extensive data advisory experience including: Curriculum Advisory Board Member, AI Bootcamp Host with The Mark Cuban Foundation, Advisory Board Member Masters & Undergraduate Programs in Business Analytics at The University of Texas at Austin, Advisory Board Member Masters in Data Science Program Oklahoma State University, Executive Advisory Board: AI, Data Science & Computer Science at Oakland University, Nittany AI Challenge: AI for Good at Penn State University, and Advisory Board Member Dearborn AI Research (DAIR) Center at The University of Michigan.
So, data brokers are firms who buy and sell your data. In fact, you do not receive a single penny for all of your online activity. Data Brokers somehow are the owners of your online activity and certainly profit from your web browsing, e-commerce transactions and app activity including notifications. Remember Facebook posted $116 Billion in revenue for 2023.
John is outlining how your data is harvested and ultimately how you are exploited. He is providing a valuable resource to empower users to learn how their parties monetize your data. Many readers may simply be unaware that all your online actions create permanent records of your activity.
Do you own your data?
Data Brokers are firms who buy and sell your data. You do not get a single penny for all of your online activity. The brokers are the owners who profit from your web browsing, e-commerce transactions and app activity including notifications. John is outlining how your data is harvested and ultimately how you are exploited. He is providing a valuable resource to empower users to learn how their parties monetize your data. Many readers may simply be unaware that all your online actions create permanent records of your activity.
The servers where your records are stored are certainly used by those ‘free’ hosting providers (Facebook) to profit from every photo you upload. Many will still replay they just do not care about photos of themselves or family are being exploited by Facebook. So, let’s consider you connecting to genetic testing.
Does your DNA make a difference to your privacy?
Perhaps you now will show deep interesting in protecting your genetics sequencing. In fact, you may become very interested in the vendor’s terms and conditions. Well consider jumping with to “Your genetic data is now for sale on the general market.” So, does this now hold your attention? You are not alone. As of 2019 over 26 million consumers had their DNA added to the four largest commercial ancestry firms.
John outlines the commercialization history of data. Dating back to 1921 in Chicago by ACNelson and others who formed how to use and profit from syndicated data including personal data. It actually began with small grocery stores. While many markets would turn over their data, they never realized the power shift that was at hand.
Now enter social media. Facebook launched in 2004. Only in 2021 when Frances Haugen came forward after working at Facebook did users fully understand how Facebook certainly elevated profit above safety of their customers:
Haugen leaked one Facebook study that found that 13.5% of UK teen girls said their suicidal thoughts became more frequent after starting on Instagram. Another leaked study found 17% of teen girls said their eating disorders got worse after using Instagram.”13 Facebook’s researchers found that about 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.
pg. 11
Yet only in 2018 the Cambridge Analytica scandal suddenly woke up American citizens to learn how their Facebook data was bought and sold without a single penny coming their way.
Data is the new Oxycontin
As John illustrates, you are in fact being tracking and monitoring of your life is a 24/7 operation. He references a powerful article by Tim O’Reilly addressing the idea of data is the new oil. In fact, Tim take a more alarming position:
Like an opioid, data is highly addictive and dangerous when overprescribed, but extremely useful when prescribed correctly. It is harmful when companies turn it against their users to enhance their profits or competitive position, but beneficial when it is used on behalf of the people from whom it is collected.
pg. 13
In addition, readers must understand where data originates including the lifecycle of their data to understand the harvesting of your digital life by large firms. Kate Crawford’s Atlas of AI builds upon John’s work across AI services.
Be clear about the data you own
So, readers will understand the value they have regarding data generated everyday by your phone and digital devices. But will it lead to a payout from Facebook if you are active? No, regrettably the average user is worth just $10.77 per quarter. And at a factor of 10x your data will still generate significant revenue since they can re-mix your data and resell it every day of every week.
In conclusion, Data for All is a real world exploration of how data is a valuable currency but creators have no compensation.