Morris Kolman – Week 1 Response Paper – CSCI 102T
This paper's weakness is its internal assumption that the internet is free. The exchange of
information between person and company is a necessary and beneficial transaction for all
involved, as it increases access to goods and services both inside the web and out.
To explain why, let's first examine the counterargument. Branching off of the statement
that "technology can be used for good or bad" (Ableson 14), Connor attacks the practice of
marketers harvesting personal information through varied means and using them to create
targeted advertisements. According to him, this constitutes an invasion of privacy (a
“fundamental right”) because its allowance for more accurate and manipulative advertising
increases prices for those targeted as well as creates a general sentiment of intrusion.
For framing purposes, remember that insofar as they're both rights to personal boundaries
on what can and can't be taken - information or cash - privacy and property ought to be
considered morally equivalent with regard to exchange.
With that set up, the main flaw in his position is that transactions of privacy are necessary
for the internet to exist. That is, it is unrealistic to expect that the vast utility of the web comes at
no expense. Though all you originally needed for a site on the internet was an address (BernersLee 20), the large size and scale now required for its myriad applications require that there are
function-concentrative servers on which to host and process all this information (Metz). These
servers cost money to run and operate and therefore the internet needs some form of revenue to
survive, a form we can either pay directly with cash or indirectly with some other means of
compensation (eg. personal information). Seeing as unlike money, information isn't a thing that
can differ in quantity between people, targeted advertisements actually level access to the web by
making sure things stay free. Not only is this method of payment one that benefits everyone, but
it's also commonly accepted; confronted with the choice of extra internet speed for resignation of
some privacy or a price, most people across income brackets opt to pay with information
(Dowskin and Gryta).
There's also the point that this transaction is actually good for people. Unlike cash,
information provides additional user benefits both personally and in the marketplace of services.
On the micro-level, sites like Google and Facebook give more relevant results based on personal
data (Hof). While that may be disconcerting, this power is also self-limiting due to the fact that
companies are learning that if they over-target ads they run the risk of scaring away customers
(Shoemaker). The societal benefits are something Connor unintentionally proves in his paper;
companies can leverage their higher-income customers’ susceptibility to targeted ads to depress
prices for products aimed at lower-income households. The company benefits from more
customers, and the public benefits with more access.
The web is going to cost something; the question is with what do we pay. While
information feels uncomfortable, it's the highest return, most egalitarian option.
Works Cited:
Ableson, Hal, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis. Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness
After the Digital Explosion. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley Professional,
2008. 14. Print.
Berners-Lee, Tim. Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World
Wide Web by Its Inventor. 2000: Harper, n.d. Print.
Dwoskin, Elizabeth, and Thomas Gryta. "AT&T Offers Data Privacy — for a Price." Wall Street
Journal. N.p., 18 Feb. 2018. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/02/18/att-offers-data-privacy-for-a-price/>.
Hof, Robert. "People Don't Want Personalized Ads. What Should Marketers Do?." Forbes. N.p.,
9 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/03/09/people-dont-want-personalized-adswhat-should-marketers-do/>.
Metz, Cade. "Google Is 2 Billion Lines of Code—And It’s All in One Place." WIRED. N.p., 16
Sept. 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://www.wired.com/2015/09/google-2-billion-linescodeand-one-place/?mbid=social_fb>.
Shoemaker, Stephen. "Online Creep: Targeted Ads May Have Opposite Effect of Marketers’
Intent." Ithaca College. N.p., 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.ithaca.edu/news/releases/online-creep:-targeted-ads-may-have-oppositeeffect-of-marketers-intent-39546/#.VfnOhtNVikp>.