Can big corporations be trusted with our data?

Recently I watched 'Billion Dollar Deals and How They Changed Your World' a BBC 2 documentary about the emergence of a 'cashless society' whereby all modes of payment will eventually be online and on mobile phones. This means all your data will be stored by both banks and corporations. This brings up the question, can these corporations be trusted? What could they do with our data in the future?

There are many examples of possible data breaches…

It has been reported that the Amazon Echo records everything it hears unless you push the microphone button, which disables any sound. It sounds rather ‘1984’ but Amazon could be listening to our conversations, or even if they’re not they could store that data and use it in the future.

Similarly, location services could propose a possible data breach. Uber, Snap Maps, and Apple are the most obvious when it comes to knowing your location via phone. Uber already predicts locations that my might want to visit using history of previous locations. However that’s only in-app like Snap Maps, what if they can track your location at all times…

If audio and location weren’t intrusive enough, Apple/Android Pay stores your bank information. To use Apple Pay you can make a Touch ID which is good for security, however they now have your fingerprints as well. If someone was able to hack these corporations they’d have access to so much. How do we know we can trust them with such large amounts of data?

There’s an apparent Feudal System to Data holding:

The Kings/Lords are Google and Apple, at the same level (or higher) as banks.

The Knights are Uber, Snapchat, and Air B&B using the data on a personal level.

What this tells us is that as consumers buying into these corporations, we are completely out of order of our own data as they have access to literally everything. We are the serfs.

#BBC #Documentary #DATA #CashlessSociety