V.A.P.C - Week 14 - Resistance

Shoshana Zuboff’s article warns readers of the dangers regarding surveillance and how companies exploit it. Corporations such as Google obtain data from people via search engines, government databases, sensors and surveillance cameras, among many other methods. Said data is then sold to advertisers and other interested parties without the users’ consent. Worse yet, the information obtained is enough to craft a profile of an individual. Oftentimes the reason why so much information is collected is because the average person is oblivious to the consequences of sharing personal data. It is feared that should this type of scrutiny linger and grow, then it might become powerful enough to be ingrained within society and control the behavior of every single person in touch with technology. It would be to the point where people would give up their own privacy just to obtain the right to drive a car or to be provided with shelter. Despite these fears and concerns, is resisting this type of information gathering feasible? The tools and services available by using Google are useful to the point where most would be unwilling to give up their accounts due to the ease of accessibility that is provided. In addition, despite protests against data-stealing corporations, the latter are adamant to continue their activities; this is likely due to the fines and troubles related to the companies’ actions being negligible. However, despite these cynical odds, if news of these injustices continue to spread, then there might be hope for significant and positive changes regarding privacy.