Heads up! To view this whole video, sign in with your Courses account or enroll in your free 7-day trial. Sign In Enroll
Well done!
You have completed Ethical Design!
You have completed Ethical Design!
Preview
Let's evaluate consumer surveillance streams and the rise of surveillance capitalism.
New Terms:
- Cookie: A cookie is a piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user's computer by the user's web browser.
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): provides data protection and privacy
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA): provides protection for children under 13 years of age using the internet
Further Reading:
- Data and Goliath - Bruce Schneier's book
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - book by by Shoshana Zuboff
- Corporate Surveillance in Everyday Life - Cracked Labs
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA")
- Information privacy law - international data protection regulations
- Uber begins background collection of rider location data - Techcrunch
- Designing forms for gender diversity and inclusion - Sabrina Fonseca
- Facebook agrees to overhaul targeted advertising system for job, housing and loan ads after discrimination complaints - The Washington Post
Related Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign upRelated Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign up
MICHELLE: In Bruce Schneier's book, Data and
Goliath, he explains the four basic
0:00
consumer surveillance streams
that existed before the Internet.
0:05
First, companies keep track of their
customers' purchasing behavior.
0:09
This started out simple, such as hotels
keeping track of their frequent guests.
0:14
Then it evolved into monitoring sales
from the initial browsing to the final
0:19
purchase.
0:23
Collecting activity via loyalty cards,
trading consumer lists with other stores,
0:24
and using customer
relationship management tools.
0:30
The second stream is direct marketing,
0:34
where paper mail is sent
directly to people's homes.
0:36
While direct is in the name,
it was roughly based on location,
0:40
demographics, and customer lists
traded from like minded businesses.
0:44
These days it's much more targeted and
data informed.
0:49
Thirdly, credit bureaus collect
personal financial data.
0:53
Credit history affects a person's approval
chances when leasing an apartment or
0:57
taking out a loan.
1:02
The fourth stream is government
records such as birth certificates,
1:04
voter registration records and
driver's licenses.
1:08
Now these streams have been combined
to form large data brokers like Axiom.
1:12
They buy your personal data from the
products you use, combine it with other
1:18
data streams, and sell it to companies
who want to know more about you.
1:22
And it's not just the retail industry.
1:27
It's even healthcare and law enforcement.
1:29
There are new streams as well.
1:33
Cookies are a common way for
browsers to store information.
1:35
This can be anything from a language
preference to how a visitor found out
1:39
about the site.
1:43
A cookie is a piece of data
sent from a website and
1:44
stored on the user's computer
by their web browser.
1:48
Everyday objects are now
data collection tools.
1:52
Smart devices such as Amazon Alexa,
listen in on people in their homes.
1:55
Providing them services, but
2:00
also collecting data which can
be sent to law enforcement.
2:02
HOPE: Harvard professor and author
Shoshana Zuboff defines surveillance
2:07
capitalism as unilateral claiming
of private human experience as
2:12
free raw material for
translation into behavioral data.
2:17
That data is then repackaged
into predictions,
2:22
informing companies about what
we will do now, soon, and later.
2:26
In the corporate surveillance in
everyday life report by crackedlabs.org,
2:31
the primary data collectors are platforms
such as Facebook, Google, Apple,
2:37
the three major credit reporting agencies,
and consumer data brokers.
2:45
MICHELLE: Technology continues to grow at
a much faster pace than the government
2:51
can regulate it.
2:55
The European Union has led
the way with its General Data
2:56
Protection Regulation,
commonly referred to as EU GDPR.
3:00
It provides data protection and privacy
for those in the EU and expands outside of
3:05
its geographical area as it applies to
personal data transfer outside the EU.
3:11
You've probably seen
a cookie consent banner,
3:17
those became widespread because of GDPR.
3:20
Many companies have
become GDPR compliant for
3:23
their entire product,
even though they're not required to do so.
3:26
It is too costly and time consuming
to provide a different experience for
3:30
a subset of users.
3:34
While companies may feel
motivated to stockpile data,
3:36
it's increasingly a liability.
3:40
In the United States,
children are further protected by
3:43
the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Rule, commonly abbreviated as COPPA.
3:46
Enacted in 2000, it applies to personal
information collected from kids under
3:52
13 in the United States.
3:57
It even includes children outside of
the US if the company is US-based.
3:59
These are just a couple of examples
of data protection regulation.
4:04
There are several laws worldwide
that apply to various jurisdictions.
4:08
Check out the link in the teacher's notes.
4:13
HOPE: Sometimes users are pressured
to disclose more data.
4:16
In 2016, TechCrunch reported that
4:20
Uber began tracking riders whereabouts
after they left their ride.
4:23
Previously, location information was
only collected while the app was open.
4:28
The change in 2016 forced users
to choose between allowing
4:34
the app to always track their locations or
never to track their location.
4:39
The latter meant that they would need
to type out their current location for
4:44
every ride request.
4:48
Uber specifically wanted access
to a rider's location from when
4:50
a ride is requested until five minutes
after the driver drops the passenger off,
4:55
even if the app is not in
the foreground of the customer's phone.
5:00
Uber said their intent was
to improve drop offs and
5:05
pickups as limiting
street crossing is safer.
5:09
But the extra location
data could be invasive.
5:13
In 2017, after public pressure,
5:17
Uber re-enabled the option to share
location only while using the app.
5:21
Another ethical aspect to
consider with data collection
5:26
is whether it is inclusive.
5:30
When required to specify one's gender,
often there are only binary
5:32
options of man or
woman instead of a spectrum of genders.
5:37
As for race and ethnicity, sometimes
there isn't an option to select multiple
5:42
options or an appropriate option
that matches one's identity.
5:47
When this information is required,
it can put people in a stressful situation
5:51
if they do not know how the data
will be used or misused.
5:56
Until 2019, Facebook allowed
discriminatory advertising targeting.
6:01
Advertisers could choose to exclude
people based on their gender, race, and
6:07
disability when posting job descriptions,
housing, and credit offers.
6:12
Some companies defend
the selling of our data
6:18
by saying they're
providing a free service.
6:21
But is it a fair and balanced deal?
6:24
MICHELLE: Some people argue in defense
of data collection by saying,
6:28
I have nothing to hide.
6:31
Machines make decisions
on data without context.
6:33
Data can be misinterpreted and predictions
of our future behavior can be wrong.
6:36
Excessive data collection hinders our
basic human needs for freedom, privacy,
6:41
and safety.
6:46
More on that later.
6:47
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign upYou need to sign up for Treehouse in order to set up Workspace
Sign up