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Ever since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the company has been (figuratively, though things seem to be getting closer to the literal as each day passes) on fire, and not in the good way, like one might say, “He’s doing so well, he’s on fire.” Rather, Elon’s performance so far has been more like, “Look, there’s a dumpster and it’s on fire.”
You may not have ever “gotten” the big deal about Twitter or how to use it, but for journalists trying to break news in real time, for experts debunking fake news, for protesters in war-torn or autocrat-controlled countries trying to organize and let their repressed voices be heard, and for average users seeking news and connection with their friends, peers, and idols, Twitter, while it certainly had its bad points, was a positive force or at least useful tool in many people’s lives.
However, after purchasing Twitter just two weeks ago, with Elon’s erratic corporate decisions, massive layoffs of key personnel, and seeming desire to turn Twitter into some monetized combination of 4chan, Gab, and OnlyFans, advertisers,1 users,2 and Twitter executives who had not yet been fired, like their Chief Privacy Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Chief Information Security Officer,3 have fled or are fleeing the platform as Twitter turns day by day into more of a haven for racist and antisemitic trolls, cryptobros, and authoritarian wannabees. Some are calling this the mass #TwitterMigration.
As just one example of Twitter running off the rails, consider what happened almost immediately after Musk implemented his plan to monetize the “verified” Twitter blue checkmark system:
and
and
What’s not to love for an advertiser?
There’s obviously a lot wrong with this situation, but for now I just wanted to comment on one aspect that should concern everyone–your privacy. Not only was Twitter one of the many tech companies that take advantage of and monetize your private data or that provides eyeballs to advertisers, but now your private data, including your private Twitter messages and conversations, is now in the hands of Elon Musk. Musk’s takeover of Twitter should have automatically been a wakeup call for us to consider the implications to our private data and what he might do to the platform, and for some it was,4 but for most it wasn’t. In fact, as for privacy and the Internet in general, I suspect most users of the Internet are unaware that there is any connection at all between what you purchase, search for, look at, communicate, or otherwise do online and the many companies who are not only profiting off your actions, but who are also using your own data against you.
If you don’t know much about the relationship between your actions on the internet–shopping on Amazon, posting on Facebook, or just surfing the Web–you should considering reading the book Privacy Is Power Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data by Carissa Veliz. An Economist Book of the Year, in addition to a fascinating and detailed analysis of privacy and the internet economy, this book does two important things. First, as a primer for those unaware of how companies monetize your data and how much information you reveal online to stalkers, thieves, and Second Amendment zealot neighbors, this book lays it all out and will hopefully shock you into waking up from your social media rage posting and meme-clicking stupor. To set the context, Veliz walks you through a day-in-the-life of how much your privacy is violated and how much of your data is collected as you post, search, shop, and use Internet sites and devices. She also discusses how the data economy and the idea of personalized ads developed, and how it changed for the worse over time, especially due to events like 9/11. Finally, she analyzes the narratives tech companies use to justify taking, using, and selling our data. The point is that your privacy is power, and by you giving away your privacy to corporations, you are giving away your power. Says Veliz,
“Your data is not valuable only because it can be sold. Facebook does not technically sell your data, for instance. Nor does Google. They sell the power to influence you. They keep your data so that they can sell the power to show you ads, and the power to predict your behaviour. Google and Facebook are only technically in the business of data; they are mostly in the business of power. Even more than monetary gain, personal data bestows power on those who collect and analyse it, and that is what makes it so coveted. (Veliz, p. 53)
A second important thing this book does is that it gives concrete steps and suggestions we as a society can take from a policy standpoint to improve the privacy situation as well as steps and suggestions we as individuals can take in our daily lives. For example, she details tech policy suggestions regarding stopping personalized advertising, stopping the trade in personal data, stopping default data collection, and implementing fiduciary duties on companies holding our personal data as we already have with financial advisors, doctors, and lawyers. And there are quite a few more suggestions in the book.
As for what we can do personally to improve our privacy when online, she suggests limiting what we put onto the Internet–limiting the amount of personal information we share, such as photographs, children names, and home addresses. She also suggests respecting other’s privacy as well, such as not posting other people’s pictures without their consent. Another good suggestion is to start saying “no” to other people/companies asking for your personal information. For example, grocery stores don’t need your phone number, websites you visit don’t need you to accept cookies, and applications you install on your phone or tablet don’t need unlimited access to your microphone, photo collection, and camera. Other great suggestions are included in the book.
Reading George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four as a teenager was shocking to me, but today people seem complacently OK to live in a world of non-stop surveillance and privacy-stealing corporations. Hopefully Veliz’s book will help break that complacency and move the needle towards energizing people to reclaim their own privacy.
Returning to our Twitter discussion from the beginning of this article, I wanted to remind you that you have agency in what social media platforms you use. Don’t like the direction Twitter is headed? Tired of algorithmically-controlled posts and content designed to keep you in a constant state of anger and angst? Consider, as more than half a million people have done in just the last week, the platform Mastodon. It is not meant to be a Twitter clone. Instead, it is its own platform that allows for Twitter-like following, messaging, and engagement, except without the algorithms manipulating you and without a focus on monetizing your private data.
I’ve recently joined – you can check out my new profile here: @kendallgiles@mastodon.coffee. Mastodon has a decentralized model for maintaining accounts, so you may find getting used to the new interface and culture around posting to be different-enough from Twitter to be a bit of a speed bump at first, especially if you did not grow up with the early Web, but I think its worth learning the platform. By the way, there are tons of guides and tutorials on how to use Mastodon, but here’s a recommended one that covers most everything to get you going: “Everything I know about Mastodon: A hastily written guide for data science folks trying to navigate the fediverse” by Danielle Navarro.
While Mastodon is not perfect, on Mastodon, unlike on Twitter, so far everyone I have encountered has been intelligent, helpful, and engaging. I’m sure as more people flee Twitter to Mastodon there will be growing pains, but so far there is a cultural difference–it is more like social media should be–exempt from our data economy’s focus on algorithmic content manipulation and private data monetization.
You do have agency and the power to push back. I hope this newsletter helps you become more in control of your privacy and more engaged with others around you in the world, with less angst and anger.
Yours,
Kendall
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About
Just joining us? Or maybe you’ve forgotten why you signed up? I’m Kendall Giles, a writer, researcher, and drinker of much coffee. Currently I work at Virginia Tech in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering in Falls Church, Virginia. I also teach in the Master of Information Technology Program, teach in the ECE Master of Engineering Program, and am a PhD student in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. I research, write, and speak at the intersection of science, technology, and society, including the TechnoSlipstream podcast and the Pseudodragon Newsletter.
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Bibliography
https://www.forbes.com/sites/derekbaine/2022/11/04/advertisers-flee-as-twitter-lays-off-nearly-half-of-its-workforce/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/03/1062752/twitter-may-have-lost-more-than-a-million-users-since-elon-musk-took-over/
https://www.darkreading.com/risk/twitter-ciso-resigns-security-open-question
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/twitter-celebrities-leaving-elon-musk-rcna54831
Yup, it's a cosmic puff of smoke gang. A bunch of vaporware and handwaving most likely.