WDIM - Applications and Your Data

Introduction

Every day we access tens, if not hundreds of different applications via our computers, phones, tablets, and other devices. For example, let's say that you are still going strong on your New Years Resolution and working out regularly (#summerbodgoals, am i right?). You set an alarm on your phone through the clock app. In the morning it goes off, you click the snooze after a few seconds, it goes off again 9 minutes later, you wake up and look at your favorite social media or news app, head to the gym, use the gym app to check in, follow along with your workout routine on your favorite workout app while listening to music on your preferred music app, finish out your workout and head to get ready for the day. In that one scenario you touched at least 8 apps (if not more) and created hundreds or thousands of data points about you and your habits. Although the "8 apps" part might seem more than you expected or noticed, but what is meant by hundreds or thousands of "data points"?

Your Data: The Modern-Day Crop

In the scenario above, every single thing you did where your connected device was involved generated constant data points about you; who you are, what you do, your routines, etc. You may not see that data being generated, nor do you know what it is being used for, but you can be assured that your data is going to be used to develop new industries or bolster current industries. That's right, you are sowing data seeds which your connected devices are harvesting and sending to massive data farmers around the world! What time did you set your alarm, where were you when you set it, what were you looking at online just before/after you set the alarm, what were you talking about just before/after you set the alarm, which alarm app did you use, what apps did you close or open in relation to the alarm app being used, what apps were open in the background during the use of the alarm app, how long were you on your phone after the alarm app was used, etc. These are all data points that are collected and sold to advertise product to you or others like you. Ever wondered why something you talked about or searched on the internet showed up as an ad on Amazon or a social media site you visit?

Conspiracy or Reality?

There are some movies which reference the usage of your data to track a person in a digital world (The Matrix or Gamer) and others directly reference the use of different sites to get information about a person (Bourne series). Some conspiracy theories would state that all of the data that you produce in your life is stored in a database about you and if there was ever a need to get rid of you then they would have all of the information they need to find you, eliminate you, and then make it look like an accident (duh duh duuuhhhhh). The more realistic version of this is that your data is harvested and grouped together with others who share similar data points, or group your data points into general pools of data classifications and then base product development on those pools. Referencing the workout example above, lets say that you drive 5 miles to get to your gym, you use one particular workout routine app, you listen to music on one specific music app every time, and you prefer to listen to a pre-made radio-station or playlist of your favorite music genre. Your data would then be grouped to decide where to build a gym (i.e. majority of gym members travel less than 10 miles to get to their gym), how much a workout app is worth (i.e. there are 'x' amount of daily active users on 'y' workout app), what features should be developed or removed from an app (i.e. In this popular workout app, the "check in" feature is only used 10% of the time. Therefore we are removing it and making the application layout better), and maybe even a study about how music listeners prefer pre-made playlists or radio stations based on genre rather than based on artist. This all stems from the collection of data and results in companies making and spending money based on the data that is collected.

Can you avoid it? Or, more importantly, should you?

The idea that someone or something is tracking everything that I do or say and then selling/using that data for their benefit can be very unnerving. Especially when I don't know that person or entity and I don't know exactly what they will be using that data for. Most people are not against their data being used, as long as the willingly and knowingly offer the data (clicking the "I agree" on a 7 million page user agreement does not count), such as filling out a form at a mall to give opinion or feedback about some topic. However, data can be used properly and for the benefit of the users, like feature enhancements or product development. Generally, this is called "Telemetry data", where very general data is gathered without being referenced to the person (i.e. "someone used their LinkedIn app ten times today" vs "John Smith used their LinkedIn app ten times today"). Obfuscating (here's the definition) the user is one way to protect the user from improper use of data since the data is only useful for general understandings of groups of users. This type of data collection and user privacy should most definitely be used in everything we do since it provides information about stuff that users care about and doesn't require time for the user to leave feedback. However, for a user's privacy to be included in the data collection is something that we should all be concerned with (one of the things the GDPR was trying to help with).

Why Does it Matter?

When you are using or even near a connected device you should assume that anything you say or do could be harvested and sent back to a data farm to be categorized and sold. This harvesting of data will lead to either pointed advertisements (ads that are directly pointed at you and who you are based on your specific data) or for general studies or product creation/enhancements (most or least used features in an app). But in every case, the data you are giving away is your admission fee for using "free apps" (nothing is free in technology). If you already know about the things stated in this article and understand the potential impact of that, well done on doing your research. However, if you have never considered your data and what it is being used for, I highly recommend looking into what you do or interact with on a connected device and see if there are any shady dealings "under the covers" in relation to your user data. After all, it only takes one company to turn the conspiracy theory into a reality.