Facebook chief fires back at Apple boss

Facebook is nowhere close to being the first company to trade in our data — from my perception it started with so called ‘free’ Google search & email accounts, and today it continues with ‘free’ cloud services especially with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) such as smoke alarms, security cameras and smart home microphones/speakers that we invite into our homes without a second thought.

Scott McNealy’s famous quote, “You have no privacy, get over it!”, is always one that people in the tech industry recall, but for me it doesn’t mean that we should give away our data like a blank cheque, unless it is crystal clear that we receive something of fair value in return for the trade.

Application developers can simply build accurate patterns of our lives based just on app usage (do you open the Facebook app at 6am each morning?) and the small amounts of data that we leak, but when you realise that your Google/Nest smoke alarm or thermostat likely knows your sleep patterns, your movements, if you are home, your address, phone number, name, IP address, internet service provider, and also that your Amazon Echo devices know who is in the room, in which room you are located, and what you are discussing, you may start to think that the trade of your data is beginning to look rather more unbalanced.

“Who cares about me? I am not interesting.” is something I often hear, but the recent case of the misinformation campaign highlights the warfare battlefront of the future. Brexit, Presidential or Government elections or even your choice of hotel, car, or groceries — our freedom and free will is at risk.

Sci-fi films always ‘dream’ of the future but Minority Report’s eye-scanning marketing boards, Terminator’s SkyNet, and iRobot’s VIKI with artificial intelligence/machine learning are all possible today. It’s scary to think of how much information can be extracted just from your email as one data point!

Next time you consider buying into a piece of technology or signing-up for a service, think about what you are trading - for free email, a ‘cheap’ Android phone, Windows Operating System, or just to be able to turn on your lights utilising your voice with listening ‘bugs’ in every room, that you pay for!

I believe that the tech industry, and that includes me, has a responsibility to provide that guidance and you can find alternatives to the companies that are supposed to be ‘doing no evil’, alternatives such as the DuckDuckGo search engine, and the recently announced public DNS from CloudFlare are just a couple of options to protect your privacy.

Announcing 1.1.1.1: the fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS service

It is time that people understand when they are selling their soul without realising it. Privacy gives us more control over our freedom and that of future generations, but with nothing to hide we do want to share just enough with those we trust in order to retain our human/social qualities and to be able to keep an eye out for each other.

I’m keeping my Facebook account open…for now…

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