Every day, millions of people around the world, carry out searches on search engines such as Google for free. We read millions of articles send emails and post comments on social media platforms for free... Really? The BBC documentary ‘The Cost of Free’, part of the BBC series ‘The Virtual Revolution’ sets out to dismiss this common misbelief by illustrating what the real cost of the web is.
We all see the web as a gift that has made our lives easier and convenient. Today, we are just a click away from any information we require. Years ago, when you needed expert advice you would go to a person who would have that knowledge and expertise; now, we get any information we need through the web. When we search for information on the web we do not have to pay anything, but then again if everything is free, how come Google is one of the world’s most profitable companies?
Well, Google, has figured out a way to transform our free search in a money making machine. Every time we search for something, our search terms, are gathered in Google’s databases. Google then uses this information to refine its search system to achieve targeted advertising. How does this work exactly?
When we search for something, we are telling Google our wants and desires. Basically, what marketers and advertisers search to find for years, we are giving out for free to Google, which has a system that can capture all that information and trade it with them.
Every time we read something, a cookie tracking device which gives out information about our range of interests is planted on our computer, allowing Google to customise the adverts it gives us. We trade a lot of our privacy when we are online; the more time we spend online, the more information they can get about us, the more they can sell. It appears that the product online is not the content, but us! Every time we use Google, we help them and advertisers and marketers make money.
This process is also known as behavioural targeting and it is deeply worrying if we consider that companies now may have some intimate details of our personal lives. But we are also to blame about this because some of this information, we share willingly on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. Our profiles and personalised status updates are kept online forever and used for any commercial purposes the social network providers fancy.
Another issue of the lack of privacy is that web content is pretty much permanent; our profiles, pictures and videos we share, will remain there forever, making it very easy for somebody to search about us.Have you ever tried ‘googling’ your name, to see what comes up? Because if you have not it is very likely that your future employer will, so be cautious when posting stuff online which you might regret later.
Unfortunately, the cost of using the web, in unclear for us and we do not realise how vulnerable we become by exposing so much information about our personal lives online. Are we walking blind into surveillance or do we realise the current position we put ourselves in and just feel that giving away all of this information is a fair exchange for what we get in return? Our privacy has become a commodity in return for a convenient and free online space. Is this a win-win situation then?
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