I think as long as users are informed of a the ways in which a company is using their data, or have access to that information, it is ethical for companies to gather and use consumer data. As mentioned in some of the articles, we, the users, get to experience many free services in exchange for our data. I’m sure most people my age would be much more upset by having to pay to use Facebook or their email than they would be by having some of their habits monitored. This may be a generational difference, I think my parents and people their age have a harder time accepting this monitoring because they did not grow up with it. However, they also use social media much less than people my age so there is probably less data collected on them.
Companies definitely need to have an information privacy policy however or disclose to their users in some way, how they will be using the data they collect. This hardly means that users will be deterred from using that service however. For the number of services we use everyday, a very small fraction of users actually look at the privacy policy. Every time I am emailed or notified that snapchat has updated its privacy policy, I simply click agree without reading through it. I would bet that most users do the same. It’s not that I’m ignorant, I just know that I will continue using the service regardless and I would probably rather not know what they’re doing with my data. I feel almost desensitized to this type of monitoring and therefore find it unnecessary to determine how every service I use is using my data. In the case of Target revealing a sixteen year old’s pregnancy to her father before she did, it was a very unfortunate situation, however, the truth would have come out eventually. And, the father probably shouldn’t have been reading the daughter’s mail in the first place.
I don’t always like what comes up on my social media. It does create an uncomfortable feeling when I get an advertisement for say, a specific pair of sunglasses that I know for a fact I only spoke about out-loud in person with my sister. Realizing that my phone is listening to me is not ideal, but I recognize that my information is used in an aggregated form and the advertisers aren’t looking at what I am buying personally or judging me based on my online activity. They are analyzing me automatically for only the purpose of making money.
I think it’s ethical to use ad blockers if it makes you feel safer but I personally don’t because I don’t see enough of a reason. One of my professors last semester did an interesting experiment in class where he asked the students to raise their hand if they would be willing to release their social security number for a free chipotle burrito. The majority of the class raised their hand. I think this illustrates to what extent people are age are unaffected by their privacy.
Nora Garvin 