How corporations got all your data

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing speaks with Matthew Jones, historian of science and technology, and co-author (with data scientist Chris Wiggins) of the new book How Data Happened. They discuss the surprisingly long history of data from the 18th century to today, in service of explaining how we wound up in a world where our personal information is mined by giant corporations for profit. They talk about how the allure of measurement and precision spread from astronomy to the social sciences, why advertising became so bound to the operation of the internet, and how we can imagine a more democratic future for us and our data, given the unprecedented power of today's tech companies. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Matthew L. Jones (@nescioquid), author; James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization, Columbia University References: How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms by Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones (W.W. Norton; 2023) "How Alan Turing Cracked The Enigma Code" (Imperial War Museum) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) "The manipulation of the American mind: Edward Bernays and the birth of public relations" by Richard Gunderman (The Conversation; July 9, 2015) On Herbert Simon (The Economist; Mar. 20, 2009) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (Profile; 2019) Jeffrey Hammerbacher quoted in "This Tech Bubble Is Different" by Ashlee Vance (Bloomberg Businessweek; Apr. 14, 2011) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineers: Patrick Boyd & Brandon McFarland Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from the Genesis GB70 Performance SUV. Every Genesis is a reminder
0:07.6	to try something bold to keep growing, keep hustling. At Genesis, they've harnessed all
0:15.0	that excitement of beginnings into their performance SUV, the GB70. It's a car built to turn
0:22.4	heads with stunning design inside and out. It's packed with intuitive technology inside,
0:28.6	like the 14.5-inch infotainment system, and fingerprint recognition plus the GB70 features
0:35.2	all-wheel drive, which is bound to add a little more acceleration to your next drive.
0:40.2	Your Genesis GB70 is waiting for you. What will you begin? Learn more at Genesis.com. Genesis,
0:48.8	keep beginning.
0:53.3	If you spend a bunch of time on the internet, you're often asked by giant corporations
0:58.8	to do something pretty extraordinary. We have updated our privacy policy. Please read the
1:05.5	following and click agreed to continue using our service. We collect data that identifies you,
1:11.2	such as your name, address. You're asked to sign a contract. It's long, full of obscure legal
1:19.9	language. You don't really understand it, and you definitely don't read it. You just want to
1:26.4	check some sports scores or message with friends. And if you want to do those things,
1:33.0	you got to click I agree. Or it's game over. You can't use that.
1:38.0	The precise location data of your mobile device, certain metadata recording the settings of
1:44.4	your camera included. What you're agreeing to is never clear. But you vaguely know you're
1:52.4	allowing some corporations somewhere to harvest and sell your data. And you might even be okay with
2:00.0	the idea that that data will be used to profile you. Such as clicking on an advertisement or make
2:07.8	the user segment or category into which you as a user file. For example, female, 20 to 49 years old,
2:15.2	interested in sneakers, modern or device type operating system.
2:20.5	So you click accept.
	...

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