2/24/2017 3 Comments February 24th, 2017Blog 5
http://www.alternet.org/human-rights/facebook-doesnt-tell-users-everything-it-really-knows-about-them This linked article presents a current issue with Facebook’s data collection and targeted advertising practices. Essentially the article states that Facebook deceptively collects data, more than they let on in their reports available to each user. Facebook already collects and classifies activity performed by their users but they also purchase additional information, mostly financial, from third party data collection agencies to further build an advertising profile for that user. I see a few problems with this: First, Facebook does not allow users to opt out of Facebook using these agencies. If Facebook allows a user to opt out of it’s targeted advertising and it is using third party sources it should also allow an opt out option for using that third party data as well. Facebook tries to pass the responsibility along, but they are the ones that decided to use the third party services. Facebook needs to either allow all levels of opt out options or not have an option at all, not a halfway option like they have now. Second, Facebook does not openly disclose the use of these third party services. If Facebook is going to use third party services to build an advertising profile for its users, then this activity should be openly and clearly disclosed to its users. By hiding this activity from users Facebook is making the move appear more shady that it may possibly be. Third, Facebook does not appear to vet which third parties they are affiliating with. If Facebook is advising their users to go to the third parties themselves to perform an opt out then they should only use data collection agencies that have a clear and easily available opt out policy. According to the article linked above, one of the researchers was unable to opt out of approximately a third of the agencies. I strongly disapprove of many of Facebook’s actions which is why I do not have a profile with them. This is just one more mark against them in my book. I do not think Facebook takes any ethical considerations when implementing their technologies and this is one of the reasons I will never be one of their users.
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2/17/2017 2 Comments February 17th, 2017Blog 4
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/10/23/240239062/five-things-to-know-about-the-nsas-surveillance-activities This article goes over the overarching topics that surround the National Security Agency’s (NSA) current surveillance activities. The NSA has the ability to access and monitor many different mediums of communication such as telephone calls, emails, and instant messages. The general idea is that the NSA collects data on the unsuspecting citizens in order to potentially find and identify those who pose a threat to national security. Essentially they are trying to prevent attacks to the government and citizens of the U.S.A. Some people question the ethics of having this program in place. The NSA states that they are doing this to protect the general population, but it comes at the cost of personal privacy. The NSA also intercepts the communications of those outside of the country and these activities are not regulated at all as a result of no U.S. citizens being involved in the monitoring. The ethical dilemma essentially comes down to if the invasion of privacy by a secretive agency is acceptable to ensure the security of the same people being monitored. I think that the monitoring itself is not unethical, at this point in time it is very unreasonable to expect complete anonymity using any modern communication devices. We essentially trade away our anonymity and our privacy for the convenience of the immediacy of the current technology. If one truly wanted to stay anonymous or private there are options available to do so, it is only that most would not chose those options. I think the main issue with the NSA monitoring our communications is that there is no way to currently ensure that agency is following ethical practices with the information they have deemed important enough to track and record. If there is some way to enforce accountability and ethical practices then I feel more people would come to accept that some loss of privacy is necessary to ensure our collective security. 2/10/2017 2 Comments February 10th, 2017Blog 3
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/14/technology/how-self-driving-cars-work.html?_r=1 This article gives some information on the technologies that are being developed for the autonomous and assisted driving vehicles of the future. One of potential dangers that is brought up in the article is about an accident that occurred between a vehicle with assisted driving and a large trailer truck. In this incident the vehicle failed to identify the danger of the situation and assist the driver in avoiding the crash. This inevitably brings up the question of who is at fault for the accident, the driver or the car manufacturer. Ultimately the manufacturer will not be legally blamed for the incident because at the end of the day the assistive software is not currently meant to remove all decisions and responsibility from the driver. But, the manufacturer stated after the accident occurred that if the vehicle in the accident had been updated to the most current software version then it would have been more likely to detect and avoid the crash. It could be argued that the assistive technology is being developed while using the consumers as disposable test subjects, is this method of development ethical? I would like to think that the developers of this technology are not proceeding with a blind eye to the perils they introduce to the general public. The developers could justify the dangers of using the technology by stating that there are warnings and the customers have knowingly decided to use the technology at their own risk. I think that any new technology comes with a risk and it is part of the process of moving society forward. If there was no risk taken then our society would stagnate and fall apart. As the manufacturer stated, the issue was addressed and it would appear if any further issues happened they would be fixed as well. As long as there is a good faith effort to prevent the injury of those involved then I believe the act to be justifiably ethical. 2/3/2017 0 Comments February 03rd, 2017Blog 2
http://digiday.com/brands/2016yearinpreview-targeting-ads-get-lot-creepier/ This article outlines the state of advertising on the internet. Essentially targeted ads work by a marketing company assigning a tracker in the browser the consumer is using and recording the products that consumer is viewing or searching for. Once that marketing company has information related to that tracker, they then send advertisements to the browser of the consumer when that browser loads a page which displays ads from that marketing company. This might not immediately seem like an ethical issue and it really isn’t at the surface level. When used ethically it is simply an efficient use of time and resources by the marketing company, instead of wasting time, money, and screen real estate the marketing company can serve their advertisements to those who would most likely be interested in their products. The real ethical issues come into play when this type of marketing is used to target vulnerable demographics such as young children, the elderly, or those with diminished mental faculty. There is currently nothing to stop an unethical marketing company from using their targeting techniques to identify and aggressively target people who would otherwise not be interested in their products. Another ethical dilemma with targeted advertising is: how much privacy loss is considered too much by these marketing companies. The collection of browsing data seems harmless enough, but when a faceless company is tracking activity without any warning it can be unnerving to be served an advertisement for the same or similar product ten minutes later on a completely different website. The last attempt at governmental regulation occurred roughly five years ago which means that currently the online marketing world is self regulated. This leaves the average internet user at the mercy of the ethical bearings of each of the hundreds of marketing companies on the internet. I think that targeted marketing, like many new technologies, is not inherently good or bad, but can be used in ethical and unethical ways. Because there is currently no regulation specifically for online targeted marketing it is still a vulnerable technology. |
AuthorPearce : CS-SE student Archives
May 2017
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