How Your Free Will And Data Are Being Hacked By Micro-Targeting Of Your Personality

Episode 97 1h 33m

Overview

When I was growing up we had news sources we could trust. Under The Fairness Doctrine, the news on TV and radio was partial and fair. But in 1987 during the Reagan administration, this was repealed, leading to alternative media and more misinformation than ever before.

And now with the internet, we are truly in the wild west of sharing information, collecting data, and trying to maintain privacy. Big companies take advantage of that from all angels with their marketing, which is now ultra-targeted (and often in ways you wouldn’t even be able to recognize). Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I sit down with Andy Russell to talk about what data really means, who has yours, how they got it, and how they use it.

It’s a scary realization, but computers can know us in a way we don’t even know ourselves. That’s why you end up seeing an ad for the product you just happened to think about. Andy explains how big companies like Google and Facebook access and use our data. We like to think we aren’t easily persuaded, but when companies know our likes, wants, needs, and purchase history it all adds up to an easier sale.

Studies have shown humans only actually remember 0.05% of our memories—databases can remember it all! That’s how they get the leg up and leverage our data to make money.

Andy shares so much more fascinating information about data sharing, transparency and privacy issues, and how all of this advertising is impacting our lives on a deeper level. We also discuss if political ads on big digital media outlets should be regulated and how they affect our elections.

I hope you’ll tune in.

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by ButcherBox, and Joovv. The Doctor’s Farmacy podcast works with a select group of sponsors to allow for ongoing production and allow it to be zero-cost to anyone who wishes to listen to and watch the podcast.

Topics Covered

  • How much do sites like Facebook and Google watch our online actions and what are they doing with the information?

    (5:48 - 8:30)

  • Why we have an unregulated internet

    (11:31 - 14:14)

  • What does data really mean, who has yours, and how did they get it?

    (15:43 - 18:26)

  • The repeal of The Fairness Doctrine and the regulation that alleviates digital platforms from responsibility for third-party content posted on their sites

    (21:59 - 24:42)

  • The sale of your information by “Big Data” to Facebook and Google

    (24:44 - 27:27)

  • How a computer or database can “know you better than you know yourself”

    (31:21 - 34:04)

  • The current state of our personal data and political digital advertising

    (37:07 - 39:50)

  • What we can learn from the Rwandan genocide

    (1:02:08 - 1:04:51)

  • What you can do to know whether you’re being falsely advertised to

    (1:07:08 - 1:09:51)

  • Should Facebook and Google get rid of political ads?

    (1:15:12 - 1:17:55)

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Ep. 97 - How Your Free Will And Data Are Being Hacked By Micro-Targeting Of Your Personality