Consumers Unite!

Tired of being the guinea pig of targeted marketing? Is your digital feed being overrun with advertisements? Are you worried about your privacy, and what the cloud knows about you? [I just read about the Apple Siri settlement.] Now YOU can do something about it! First, a little background...

Advertising is not new. It's been around at least as long as recorded history [for a history of advertising, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_advertising ]. But with the growing consumer market of the late 1800's, and the widespread use of printed matter for communication, advertising became a way to reach consumers on a mass marketing scale at a relatively low price. Mass media moved to radio, then television, and now internet. Advertising moved with it.

Now, in the age of connection, advertising is at the bleeding edge of research and development that targets consumers based on their behavior through the internet. Is this a good thing? I wrestle with several concerns.

1. Do I feel comfortable with the idea that someone/something is watching me, evaluating me, with the intent to sell me something based on who they/it thinks I am?

2. Should I be concerned about all the data that is being collected about me, building a file on me, that I don't even know about and cannot view or contest?

3. How do I feel about having a model, like AI, deciding what sort of person I am and selling that information to the highest bidder?

As for the first concern, I have to remind myself that I have lived my entire life in the shadow of various people watching me, beginning with my parents, then teachers, then employers and neighbors and acquaintances. In fact, my social behavior is watched by all those around me, and people draw conclusions about who I am. In some ways, social behavior supports trust, which allows me to live in relative peace and harmony with my neighbors and fellow human beings. To that extent, I accept that being observed helps build trust. But what about using that information with the intent to sell me something?

This leads me to a concern, in general, about AI. What if models (including AI) are more complicated than I can understand? How will I ever be able to tell if the intent of the model aligns with my preferred choices, whether those choices are economic, political, or social? How do I support what I believe in, and refuse support for that which I don't?

This is not a new dilemma, just a more complicated one. For example, I often question the intent of reduced choices suggested by institutions like family, government, education, economy, and religion.

My second concern (collecting data, building a file, which is perhaps unknown and unavailable for view and/or challenge) is also not new. For example, people are always building opinions of me through their observations of my behaviors. I don't have access to their brains, nor do I have the right to view and/or contest their content. Knowing this does not help me, though it does give me pause and question my concern. How would I prefer information about me be kept? And isn't it my responsibility to disclose my beliefs through my actions, thereby offering to others their trust in me? If I don't behave predictably, if I don't disclose my beliefs, why would anyone trust me?

My third concern (having a model, like AI, deciding what sort of person I am and selling that information to the highest bidder) is probably no different than my discussions about my first and second concerns, except that the observer is no longer a member of the human species. I have similar qualms about being observed by aliens from another planet, I guess. My gut tells me my concern is more based on a fear of the unknown than particular reasoning.

All this thinking about my concerns has reduced my concern about marketing, but not removed it. And I HATE advertisements!

So, here is something I can play with, if achieving nothing other than confounding the marketing and confusing the advertisers: behave in a way that misleads the database into thinking I am someone I am not!

I've already been testing this out on Facebook. Over time, my Facebook feed has been increasing the number of "unsolicited" posts (posts by entities I don't follow). About a year ago, it got so bad that nearly 80% of all posts on my feed were NOT from people I follow (i.e. - "advertisements"). I saw a post from my "friends" for every five posts from non-friends. I almost quit Facebook.

But then I remembered that my feed was an algorithm based on my previous Facebook behavior. So I changed my behavior. In particular, I quit Facebook every time my feed showed me three unsolicited (unfollowed) posts in a row. I used "back" "back" "back" to exit so that it was clear I was choosing to exit and not just distracted by something else. I figured even a relatively unsophisticated algorithm would be able to hear THAT message. Sure enough, my feed started showing fewer and fewer unfollowed posts. I've been doing this for a few months and, to my delight, I see almost all the posts from my followed "friends" with never more than two unfollowed posts for every followed post. That puts the unsolicited posts down to 66% from 80%. My next experiment is to exit Facebook when there are two unsolicited posts in a row in my feed.

I'm going to do another couple experiments...

- Asking Alexa questions that might lead to Amazon ads that have nothing to do with me, but end up charging advertisers I don't like the finder's fee (I would be generating "fake" leads).

- Using Google to search for things I don't want, again costing advertisers "fake" leads.

If I were really mad, I could target advertisers just like they target me. I could lead a consumer revolution where we'd all target a chosen, strategic advertiser, and generate so many fake leads that the advertiser pulled out!

But first, I better check on Reddit. Might already be a thing. Hope none of the advertising bots are watching or they'll mark me as a "fake" ;-)