Facebook claims its data collection is inherent to the way the internet works. The internet didn’t have to be this way
It’s a quintessential experience of the digital age: you’re scrolling through Facebook, or reading an article online, and suddenly get served with an advertisement so narrowly targeted to a passing interest, secret desire, or undisclosed medical condition that you find yourself looking over your shoulder, shuddering, and asking yourself: “How did they know?”
While most of us have learned to shrug off our unease at these creepy encounters, a new report by Amnesty International made the bold case this week that we need to stop accepting the status quo and start seeing it for what it really is: a violation of our human rights “on an unprecedented scale” perpetrated by two American companies, Facebook and Google.