In the fall of 2019, a scandal erupted with the Apple Card service: when registering, it issued different credit limits for men and women. Even Steve Wozniak was out of luck:
A year earlier, it was revealed that the Netflix platform shows users different posters and teasers, depending on their gender, age and nationality. For this, the service was accused of racism.
Finally, Mark Zuckerberg is regularly reprimanded for allegedly collecting, selling and manipulating the data of its users by Facebook. Over the years, he was accused and even tried for manipulation during the American elections, aiding the Russian special services, inciting hatred and radical views, inappropriate advertising, leaking user data, obstructing investigations against pedophiles.
Facebook post by zuck
At the same time, the Pornhub online service annually publishes reports on what kind of porn people of different nationalities, gender and age are looking for. And for some reason this does not bother anyone. Although all these stories are similar: in each of them we are dealing with big data, which in the XNUMXst century is called “new oil”.
What is big data
Big data – they are also big data (eng. Big Data) or metadata – is an array of data that arrives regularly and in large volumes. They are collected, processed and analyzed, resulting in clear models and patterns.
A striking example is the data from the Large Hadron Collider, which comes in continuously and in large quantities. With their help, scientists solve many problems.
But big data on the web is not only statistics for scientific research. They can be used to track how users of different groups and nationalities behave, what they pay attention to and how they interact with content. Sometimes, for this, data is collected not from one source, but from several, comparing and identifying certain patterns.
About how important big data is on the network, they started talking when there was really a lot of it. At the beginning of 2020, there were 4,5 billion Internet users in the world, of which 3,8 billion were registered in social networks.
Who has access to Big Data
According to surveys, more than half of our countries believe that their data on the network is used by third parties. At the same time, many post personal information, photos, and even a phone number on social networks and applications.
It needs to be explained here: the first person is the user himself, which places its data on any resource or application. At the same time, he agrees (puts a tick in the agreement) to the processing of this data second party – that is, the owners of the resource. A third party is those to whom the owners of the resource can transfer or sell user data. Often this is written in the user agreement, but not always.
The third party is government agencies, hackers or companies that buy data for commercial purposes. The former can obtain data by decision of a court or a higher authority. Hackers, of course, do not use any permissions – they simply hack the databases stored on the servers. Companies (by law) can only access data if you yourself have allowed them – by checking the box under the agreement. Otherwise, it is illegal.
Why do companies use Big Data?
Big data in the commercial field has been used for decades, it just wasn’t as intense as it is now. These are, for example, records from surveillance cameras, data from GPS navigators or online payments. Now, with the development of social networks, online services and applications, all this can be connected and get the most complete picture: where potential customers live, what they like to watch, where they go on vacation and what brand of car they have.
From the examples above, it is clear that with the help of big data, companies, first of all, want to target ads. That is, to offer products, services or individual options only to the right audience and even customize the product for a specific user. In addition, advertising on Facebook and other large platforms is becoming more and more expensive, and showing it to everyone in a row is not at all profitable.
Information about potential customers from open sources is actively used by insurance companies, private clinics and employers. The former, for example, can change the terms of insurance if they see that you are often looking for information on certain diseases or medicines, and employers can assess whether you are prone to conflicts and antisocial behavior.
But there is another important task that has been struggling in recent years: to get close to the most solvent audience. This is not so easy to do, although the task is significantly facilitated by payment services and electronic checks through a single OFD (fiscal data operator). In order to get as close as possible, companies even try to track down and “nurture” potential customers from childhood.: through online games, interactive toys and educational services.
How does it work?
The biggest opportunities for data collection are from global corporations that own several services at once. Facebook now has more than 2,5 billion active users. At the same time, the company also owns other services: Instagram – more than 1 billion, WhatsApp – more than 2 billion and others.
But Google has even more influence: Gmail is used by 1,5 billion people in the world, another 2,5 billion by the Android mobile OS, more than 2 billion by YouTube. And that’s not counting the Google search and Google Maps apps, the Google Play store, and the Chrome browser. It remains to fasten your online bank – and Google will be able to know literally everything about you. By the way, Yandex is already a step ahead in this regard, but it covers only the Russian-speaking audience.
👍 First of all, companies are interested in what we post and like on social networks. For example, if the bank sees that you are married and are actively liking girls on Instagram or Tinder, you are more likely to approve a consumer loan. And the mortgage on the family is gone.
It is also important what ads you click on, how often and with what result.
(I.e. The next step is private messages: they contain much more information. Messages were leaked on VKontakte, Facebook, WhatsApp and other instant messengers. According to them, by the way, it is easy to track the geolocation at the time of sending the message. Surely you have noticed: when you discuss buying something or just ordering pizza with someone, relevant advertising immediately appears in the feed.
🚕 Big data is actively used and “leaked” by delivery and taxi services. They know where you live and work, what you love, what your approximate income is. Uber, for example, shows the price higher if you are driving home from the bar and obviously overdone. And when you have a bunch of other aggregators on your phone, on the contrary, they will offer cheaper ones.
(I.e. There are services that use photos and videos to collect as much information as possible. For example, computer vision libraries – Google has one. They scan you and your surroundings to see what size or height you are, what brands you wear, what car you drive, whether you have kids or pets.
(I.e. Those who provide SMS gateways to banks for their mailings can track your purchases on the card – knowing the last 4 digits and a phone number – and then sell this data to someone else. Hence all this spam with discounts and pizza as a gift.
🤷️️ Finally, we ourselves leak our data to the left services and applications. Remember that hype around Getcontact, when everyone was happy to fill in their phone number to find out how it was written by others. And now find their agreement and read what it says about the transfer of your data (spoiler: the owners can transfer them to third parties at their discretion):
Corporations can successfully collect and even sell user data for years, until it comes to a lawsuit – as happened with the same Facebook. And then the decisive role was played by the company’s violation of the GDPR – a law in the EU that restricts the use of data much more strictly than the American one. Another recent example is the Avast antivirus scandal: one of the company’s subsidiary services collected and sold data from 100 to 400 million users.
But does all this have any advantages for us?
How big data helps all of us?
Yes, there is a bright side too.
Big data helps catch criminals and prevent terrorist attacks, find missing children and protect them from danger.
With their help, we we receive cool offers from banks and personal discounts. Thanks to them we we do not pay for many services and social networks that earn only on advertising. Otherwise, Instagram alone would cost us several thousand dollars a month.
Facebook alone has 2,4 billion active users. At the same time, their profit for 2019 amounted to $18,5 billion. It turns out that the company earns up to $7,7 a year from each user through advertising.
Finally, sometimes it’s just convenient: when the services already know where you are and what you want, and you don’t have to look for the information you need yourself.
Another promising area for the application of Big Data is education.
In one of the American universities in Virginia, a study was conducted to collect data on students of the so-called risk group. These are those who study poorly, miss classes and are about to drop out. The fact is that in the states every year about 400 people are deducted. This is bad both for universities, which have their ratings lowered and their funding cut, and for the students themselves: many take loans for education, which, after deduction, will still have to be repaid. Not to mention lost time and career prospects. With the help of big data, it is possible to identify the lagging behind in time and offer them a tutor, additional classes and other targeted assistance.
This, by the way, is also suitable for schools: then the system will notify teachers and parents – they say, the child has problems, let’s help him together. Big Data will also help you understand which textbooks work better and which teachers explain the material more easily.
Another positive example is career profiling.: this is when teenagers are helped to decide on their future profession. Here, big data allows you to collect information that cannot be obtained using traditional tests: how the user behaves, what he pays attention to, how he interacts with the content.
In the same USA, there is a career guidance program – SC ACCELERATE. It, among other things, uses CareerChoice GPS technology: they analyze data about the nature of students, their inclinations to subjects, strengths and weaknesses. The data is then used to help teens choose the right colleges for them.
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