One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
those are excellent first lines of defense. But what happens when the Internet becomes the vehicle for ALL information - TV, data, phone calls, everything. At that point it will be hard to hide out anymore.
I can see a business opportunity in starting a company which offered to protect internet users identities. Maybe i shd make that my next business venture? Any angel takers?
There are two ways to skin this particular cat, imo...
1) Clean your Internet Temp files and Cookies after every session
2) Search on such a wide variety of topics that the engine becomes overwhelmed trying to decide what your "profile" is
Oh a bonus idea:
3) Quit using BING, Google, Yahoo, etc. and just Bookmark sites you use and re-use instead of looking for them. If you need to find something use your SN or BN contacts...
I agree with you that search inversion offers terrific opportunities for Internet service providers to make money - lots and lots and lots of money. And yes, it's almost inevitable that they will do so, at the epxense of user privacy.
But that's no reason not to point out what is coming down the pike at the average Internet user, right?
What boggles me is how little this topic has been covered by the mainstream media. It sounds like you are neither boggled, nor especially care that your personal information will be available as the property of companies (everyonew from Nike to Halliburton) within the next few years.
Your analogy almost left me speechless!! Th epoint i was trying to drive at was is simply that the pervasive nature of patents on 'Search inversion' is perhaps the future of the internet industry and as such the FCC may after all not see it as too damaging. But I think Search inversion offers mareketers a way to optimize their online advertising.
Tom Nolle recently just outline the dilemma facing online marketers with regards to fewer clicks for online ads. So what better way for these guys to innovative ways of tailoring their advertisements so as to be able to derive worthwhile ROIs. With an internet population so desperate to hold on to a everyhting free on the internet, i really don't see why we should be so hard on business folks who are just fighting hard to cut their share of the online cake!!!
Paul, what does the patent issue have to do with anything? People own patents on the design of cluster bombs, too. Does that make cluster bombs a good thing?
I thought the major search engines like Google and Yahoo have already secured patents to what you term as Search Inversion? It seems to me there are even tons of patents on this already. So my question is what is really wrong with this search inversion considering the facts that these search giants have been given patents to do likewise. I know it is a real downside with regards to internet anonymity but why keep advocating for anonymity on the internet when it is now becoming a glaringly distinct impossibility!!!
Steve and Nicole are at HCL's Unstructure conference at Disneyworld where Malcolm Gladwell and his hair gave a fascinating keynote on the advantages of being an "outsider."
President Obama appoints a Twitter CEO to an advisory committee; Rep. Anthony Weiner sends a racy, career-damaging Tweet; and Nicole and Steve laaaaaugh and laaaaaugh.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
Google's replacement of CEO Schmidt by founder Page has a lot of Valley types agog with expectations of a renewed 'startup' mindset. But the Google of today can't be a startup, and it may well be that chasing the next Internet fad is the wrong approach for the company.
Google is reportedly working on a pair of Android glasses that will use a low-resolution built-in camera to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings, and friends who might be nearby. Interested?
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