If you believe that the Cambridge Analytica used Facebook user data in a clandestine way to meet its commercial objectives you would be grossly mistaken. The data that CA used is available to all FB clients off the shelf. Facebook spends billions of dollars collating such user data on its platform. One can find the data neatly classified by going to ‘General Settings’. They can also get the data duly categorised by selecting the ‘Ad Preferences’ menu on the left. The client will get a notification followed by hundreds of megabytes of user activity, family, friends, messages, photos, videos, as files.

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Your data is not your property

So next time you upload your latest profile picture, your holiday activities, your family photos, your shopping exploits, or your very personal angst or baby shower moments on FB, forget privacy. Social media platforms that upload your data, images, videos, chats, smiles and tears for free, actually create a giant user database ready to be profiled, shared and commercially exploited by digital giants. 

Many have no source of revenue other than monetising user data. Among them is Facebook which has developed a near monopolistic social media clout through its multiple platforms of Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. Nearly 98% of Facebook’s annual revenue of over $40 Billion is from advertisement through data monetising. Despite fake news and data security issues Facebook’s advertisement revenue jumped by 50% to $11.79 billion in the first quarter of 2018.

You can’t #deletefacebook once data is blockchained

The data FB monetised was provided by Facebook’s two billion plus user base. The company earns a humongous $20 per year per user from its data. In turn it invests over $11 per user to conduct its operations, update technology, and for acquisitions. The earnings per user are so huge that Facebook now under regulatory pressure, has decided to blockchain its user base.

The official reason that will be possibly given is to secure user data. But securing data will make users more vulnerable. David Marcus, head of Facebook Messenger app, is reportedly working with a team on an initiative that will explore how Facebook could use blockchain to secure user data. A personal data blockchain on Facebook would ensure that the data stays within the platform. But anybody could access it on the platform. Besides, you would not be able to delete the data even if you decided to #deletefacebook.

Google collates more data and earns thrice as much

The amount of user data Google collects is much greater and its revenues are even more higher here. Around 85% of its revenue comes from advertisement. Its quarterly revenue rose by 25% from $24.75 billion in the first quarter of 2017 to $31.14 billion in quarter ended March 2018. While Facebook earns money from the data you willingly share on Facebook, Google earns thrice as much from data you don’t recollect you have shared with Google. For example, your search of dating sites or porn pages are all recorded in the Google database. Its database records and tracks you every time you use the Google map, go to You Tube for entertainment, avail Google photo album, use Google Home or Android or do Google search. While you can avoid Facebook if you are not keen on social media, you cannot avoid Google if you are using the internet.

AI war projects and data surveillance

The biggest danger of Google’s pervasive control of the internet is its future ambition. Will it be for greater good or in the interest of super profits. It’s longstanding motto “Don’t be evil” that was adopted in 2000 was recently discontinued in April 2018 in favour of a new motto “Do the right thing” . It could be coincidental that in May 2018, a dozen Google employees quit protesting against the companies’ decision to collaborate with Pentagon on a war project. Around 4000 employees have reportedly signed an internal memo against Google’s decision to use its Artificial Intelligence capability to assist identification by drone operators in the battlefield.

Google is the front runner in Artificial Intelligence. It has also the biggest database dominating search to location mapping to video analytics to facial and voice recognition. The danger lies when such power is used for war or surveillance. Codenamed as Project Maven, the new technology is being developed by the Pentagon using AI for warfare. 

The entry of tech giants like Google in assisting modern day warfare could be a game changer. It’s fully autonomous vehicle technology could be the forerunner of robotic tanks and missile launchers. Its initiative in AI powered super humans could create a destructive force to fight human opponents. But the real issue is surveillance. Google has eyes worldwide. It tracks you today not only through your search data but through your mobile phone, through your multiple devices and through eyes in the sky. It is all pervasive and has also mapped every inch of the world. It owns big data. And we are all prisoners of big data as we grow increasingly dependent on internet, tech devices and social media.

The writer is an author and senior journalist. Views are personal