3 ms·
>The central dynamic around data collection in the information economy even amplifies that trend. Smaller firms are not going to reap benefits on the same scale
by Aerroon 6y ago
>The central dynamic around data collection in the information economy even amplifies that trend. Smaller firms are not going to reap benefits on the same scale as large firms can
I think data collection and company size is a very interesting topic. It's very hard to effectively anonymize data. It's been shown numerous times that just a little bit of extra information can undo that.
A large company, such as Google, can use the data they collect themselves. They are capable extracting value from this data through other products and ideas. A small company is much less likely able to capture the value from the data they have. So they sell it. They will anonymize it and do everything that is the standard at the time, but in the long term that data probably won't stay anonymous.
Would you rather have a megacorp use your data themselves or for your data to be bought and sold by different (smaller) companies that may or may not use your data? Which one would lead to less abuse of the data?
- luma 6y agoMy intuition hates this but intellectually I’m forced to accept it. I’ve handed a huge portion of my private life to Google in the form of my browser, my phone, my search engine, my email, and a handful of other services. I arrived at that for the reasons you lay out - better all my privacy eggs in one basket where I know what they intend to do with it than to spread them around to several smaller orgs who may have more incentive to use it in ways I wouldn’t approve of.