My 24-Hour Media Diet: Through the Lens of Data Privacy & Data Protection
Third-Party Tracking, Behavioral Data, & Surveillance Capitalism
Are we the Consumers or are we the ~Consumed~?
Two weeks ago I shared a blog recounting my media consumption over a 24-hour period. This week, I will be executing the same exercise, but with a twist. Many of us have at least a topical understanding of the buzz phrase “you’re not the customer, you are the product” that has been popping up in conversations about the business model of social media. This phrase was the central message behind The Social Dilemma–the 90-minute Netflix documentary responsible for popularizing the phrase and introducing it to a massive audience. Despite its recent popularity, the concept has circulated in social media discourse for several years now. But what does that mean exactly? Karl Hodge answers this question in three simple words: “your data is the product.”
Data Privacy vs. Data Security
To understand how these products of our consumption implicate individuals and society, we must first break down data into two categories: data privacy and data protection. Data privacy refers to the information we generate and the information generated about us, as well as who has access to this data, who does things with it, and what we can do about our data. Data security refers to how our data is stored, how secure the storage is, whether on our personal devices, or elsewhere, and how it’s going between devices.
Surveillance Capitalism: First-Party Data Meets Corporate ‘Third-Party’ Tracking
Nearly every aspect of our everyday lives, from driving to work in the morning, scrolling through social media, to ordering shampoo online, leaves behind a digital paper trail. This paper trail accrues from the use of services and platforms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. In a comprehensive report published by the Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF), researchers Bennett Cyphers and Gennie Gebhart explore the topic of surveillance capitalism; how it works, the data privacy concerns it triggers, and what consumers can do about it. I will be referring to this report several times throughout the following blog.
According to the EFF:
“The biggest companies on the Internet collect vast amounts of data when people use their services. Facebook knows who your friends are, what you “Like,” and what kinds of content you read on your newsfeed. Google knows what you search for and where you go when you’re navigating with Google Maps. Amazon knows what you shop for and what you buy.”
This data often involves sensitive and identifying information like geographic location, financial information, home addresses, and phone numbers, as well as less sensitive information like our likes and engagement with content on social media.
The EFF calls this data, which “companies collect through their own products and services” first-party data. This small sacrifice of our personal privacy seems at first glance a very small and reasonable price to pay for the convenience of the 21st century we have become so accustomed to. From the users’ perspective, this behavior by corporations does not feel like an encroachment on our data privacy because we willingly offer this information to the tech companies. Unfortunately, this is a grave misconception about the data-driven ecosystem of the trillion-dollar tech industry. According to scholar Shoshana Zuboff, professor emerita at Harvard Business School, “the information that we provide is the least important part of the information that they collect about us.”
Zuboff is alluding to “corporate ‘third-party’ tracking, which the EFF defines as, the collection of personal information by companies that users don’t intend to interact with. Using technology like Privacy Badger’s browser extension and IoT Inspector’s software, researchers discovered that the average web page or mobile app “shares data with dozens of third-parties.”
My Day in Data
3:45 am: It is during this ungodly hour that I peel my eyes open to get ready for my opening shift at Starbucks. It’s pumpkin season, which means I will make 500 pumpkin cream cold brews before subsequently turning into a pumpkin during my 8-hour shift. But before I can even think about pumpkins, I mentally prepare myself by waking up to the bright sights and sounds on my TikTok “For You” page, which was curated especially for me by my TikTok algorithm. And just how does TikTok’s algorithm curate these personalized feeds? By analyzing first-party data of course! In a piece for Sprout Social, Jacqueline Zote breaks down how the TikTok algorithm works. Zote cites things like “video likes and shares, accounts followed, comments posted, content created, videos completed, and favorited videos” as some of the “key data signals” used by TikTok’s algorithm.
4:15 am: Normally I turn on NPR for my commute to work, but given the death of Queen Elizabeth, the BBC service that is playing on my NPR station at this hour has been broadcasting non-stop coverage of the Queen’s passing, which is just not my cup of tea (all pun intended). Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only Gen-Zer that still listens to FM radio by choice. So instead of NPR, I listened to my “liked songs” on Spotify. My TikTok algorithm recently introduced me to Elliot Fullman, an artist whose new album “What’s Wrong” mimics the likes of Elliot Smith, Duster, and Alex G. His melancholic ballads are beautifully sad and acutely masterful. “What’s Wrong”, Elliot’s first full-length album, comes as a refreshing surprise from someone who turned 17 earlier this month.
What data does Spotify track? And what do they do with it?
In an article for WIRED, Matt Burgess writes, “its privacy policy says it can use your data for personalization, troubleshooting, developing new features and technology, marketing and advertising, research, and for other legal reasons.” Spotify tracks information based on your activity within the app. This could be the duration of time listening to a single song, the number of times you repeat specific songs, the time of day you listen to music, and other trends and outliers in your listening patterns. The WIRED article goes on to explain that Spotify uses this “behavioral data” in order to make predictions about your preferences. I actually enjoy the “behavioral data” function of Spotify. It allows for the “Spotify Wrapped” feature Spotify users like myself enjoy so much, and it’s what makes my beloved Discover Weekly playlist possible. But the data being extracted by Spotify goes beyond our activity when using the service. Spotify also has access to “cookie data, IP addresses, the type of device you’re using, your browser type, your operating system, and information about some devices on your Wi-Fi network.”
6:30 am: At this point in my day I am finally making myself a cup of coffee and sitting down for breakfast during the first break of my shift. This is generally when I check my email, Instagram, and BeReal apps.
9:00 am: It is now time for my “lunch break,” which means I have 30 minutes to myself. I generally seek out a YouTube video at this time, because let's face it, anyone who sits in silence with no form of media stimulation in 2022 is a red flag. As of late, I’ve been toying with the idea of going to law school, so I’ve been doing some research about the legal industry and the law school application process. I’ve been loving Cece Xie’s content, a law school content creator whose videos I first came across on TikTok. During this particular lunch break I watched this video by Cece:
Since I’ve begun seeking out law school content, I have noticed that I’m being presented with this type of content without prompting it. I’ve watched a few videos of “moot court,” a co-curricular activity at law schools. The algorithm picked up on this and has populated several moot court recordings on my YouTube home page. It’s fascinating to observe how tech corporations communicate with ad agencies in real time. For example, I’ve been seeing advertisements for LSAT prep courses on different platforms across the internet.
8:45 pm: On this evening, I wasn’t completely swamped with coursework from the 18 — credit semester I am currently tackling, so I was able to enjoy some time watching television with my roommate who also happens to be my dad (thank you housing crisis). We have somewhat dissimilar tastes when it comes to entertainment, so it can be difficult to agree on a movie or series to watch. This evening the battle ended in my favor because he agreed to watch the new Netflix documentary about cats: Inside the Mind of a Cat
As a cat lover and cat mom myself, I found the documentary to be very cute, but I was disappointed that it didn’t feature much information or research that I didn’t already know. Although, I would deem the documentary a required viewing for those of you who still think dogs are better than cats. I digress.
