The information market just keeps getting bigger
Autor: Luiz_Alex007 | Publicado: 2016-12-07T08:01:00-11:00





The Terrifying Cost of "Free” Websites  by  CollegeHumor  -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFX2P7JLwA

So, big companies and governments commune together to maintain constant surveillance over everyone, acquire the most information possible and turn that information into practical use over me, you and everyone else. It's actually no real surprise for me and quite natural. They use their acquired power to maintain it and coerce those who have less. It's a manner to maintain the status quo while also trying to improve their own position, an usually natural instinct. &nbsp;

This
 is a subject which most of the people who live in a modern life style sort of 
subconsciously knows, or at least suspects, and has been encourage to think about but also constantly encouraged to
 ignore it. There are several fictional and scientific works in galore, be it theories, movies, books, games, television series, internet videos like this one and/or whatever else people use to convey messages to each other.

Honestly, I can't really say that anyone is wrong about gathering information. It's a natural course of action to develop a good understanding of how the world works to then devise a better plan of action altogether. So, I can't really say that websites are really wrong in doing so as well. I also can't blame the big websites and technology companies for doing what I already consider a natural course of action, gathering and analyzing information to develop better plans using their acquired power. Specially since they oh so kindly don't charge for their services.

After all, this is a capitalist society and so they need to make money to survive. The companies are run by humans who have the same basic needs as everyone els. Besides, they can't operate huge expensive systems without any sort of pay. Somehow, they need to get their investment back as well. It's naive to ignore that. Naive to expect people and companies to be above or different from the way the overall society is. I also am not up to pay a single buck for Facebook's services. I wouldn't mind paying for Google's services, though. 

Still, the real problem that I see and can't ignore is when they start selling information to more than simply companies looking to sell their products and gain public. They also sell information to other types of customers whose uses of such information are seriously dangerous to society as a whole. They sell it to governments so they can track and coerce you, they sell it to politic parties so they can manipulate you into voting for them and they might as well sell to whoever pays for it. It creates an unprecedented market of information in human history. It leaves every single person and organization exposed to manipulation and outright attacks by whoever wants to harm them and has the money to pay for the information.

It may seem exaggeration but surveying every online action of their users is not even all they systems do. Their systems really are becoming more and more invasive, to actual dystopian levels. Ever talked to someone with your phone nearby and got an ad related to the subject later? Yeah, there are several claims that they literally use our smartphones to record our conversations and use their voice recognition software to analyze it. It's not just creepy but really serious.

It really rings a bell to fictional stories usually considered far fetched like The Matrix and 1984. Still, such scenarios just seem more and more likely by the day. There are reasons why the world created by Orson Welles in 1984 and the figure of the "Big Brother" are generally considered negative and dystopian. I don't think I even need to really unravel it to anyone, it's the image of a world where no one can act without the fear of repercussion from someone whose objectives and morals they don't even know.

It's quite sad to imagine that right now it isn't unnatural or a conspiracy theory to expect such world to be a possibility for the not so far future. And the real problem is that to change the course of this sort of system, it would require conscientiousness and awareness of people worldwide.&nbsp;

Not only that, but it would then also require serious talks about the pros and cons of such models and finally decisive actions from the consumer's part. After all, lots of people wouldn't even see any problem with that and I believe that, if they wish so, it's their choice to live in what I consider a dystopian world as it's my right to live in a world they might also consider dystopian.

All the while those who benefit from the current models would fight to their utmost to avoid change. Why would governments, companies and other heavy weights want to change a system which benefits them? Why would those who have power want to change the status quo in a manner which took power from them and redistribute it?&nbsp;

I am really pessimistic about even changing it, I see it as a probable natural course of society. Which I guess only proves the success of the de-motivation and conversion campaigns created by those who do not wish for a change. Then again, it might just be that such a world isn't so bad. Maybe the natural course of society is something good. I really don't know for sure.