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Zuboff theory that Google and alike live from the metadata exhaust, not from the data itself, explains the lack of respect for the valuable data contributed by
by xorand 8y ago
Zuboff theory that Google and alike live from the metadata exhaust, not from the data itself, explains the lack of respect for the valuable data contributed by the users.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/jit.2015.5 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/jit.2015.5
- Kalium 8y agoI've always found that the key realization is that on the whole things aren't "valuable data". Very few data points are actually valuable. We call it valuable data to feel good about it and indignant about howe we're treated. Coming face-to-face with the possibility that our individual data is worth essentially nothing is uncomfortable.
- RickS 8y agoIndividually, mostly valueless. But in aggregate, the emergent patterns are hugely valuable. Just as a litterer is fractionally culpable for worsening the earth, our data is fractionally responsible for the wealth of these companies, and for the same reason shouldn't be dismissed as worthless.
- Kalium 8y agoThe flaw in the analogy being that litter builds up additively. User data is more like a square law effect. You're completely right, of course. One user's data isn't worthless and should never be dismissed. Yet in financial and practical terms its value far closer to zero than to any useful unit of account.
- xorand 8y agoCuriously, I don't remember Google or Facebook ads saying: "join us! we shall delete or hide your data. remember we are a private company, not a public forum" back then when they were not rich.