One of the things that Blogbridge has allowed me to do is rather dramatically increase the number of feeds I actively track. That includes re-subscribing to Scoble’s new Wordpress.com blog.
Yesterday, something came through Scoble’s feed that sent a chill through me. He was talking about how he finally understands “Attention” as described by Steve Gillmor. He proceeds to outline what can only be described as Big Brother, watching everything you do online, for the sole purpose of placing better advertising to beg you to click on links.
You’ve bought some binoculars, and you’re surfing something about football, and Skynet figures out you’re interested in going to a football game, and BOOM it pulls in all kinds of ads for you to click on.
He describes a system of user activity monitoring and analysis so amazingly complex that it could estimate what you’re going to eat for breakfast next Wednesday, and figures the best way to put that to work is to place advertising.
Never mind the privacy issues this raises – the last thing I want is eBay, Google, Amazon.com, Flickr, Blogbridge, and gods know who else conspiring to share what they know about me so that they can attempt to know everything for the purposes of ad placement.
When that happens, I think I’ll just drop off the grid. I’ll have to go through a pretty heavy withdrawal period, and perhaps some kind of Betty Ford clinic would be required, but I’d rather unplug than put up with that kind of invasive (even if only behind the scenes) tracking of my “Attention”. Also, they’d have to keep an eye out for Arnold, trying to take out Skynet before it gains sentience…
Also, Scoble mentioned that he’s “starting to get scared by this kind of world” – and clarifies in the comments that he’s not scared of the implications of this stuff – just that Microsoft may not be in the game. Holy. Crap. Yeah – That’s what I’m scared of. There’s a global network watching me, and Microsoft feels it needs to have it’s finger on the pulse…
One of the things that Blogbridge has allowed me to do is rather dramatically increase the number of feeds I actively track. That includes re-subscribing to Scoble’s new WordPress.com blog.
Yesterday, something came through Scoble’s feed that sent a chill through me. He was talking about how he finally understands “Attention” as described by Steve Gillmor. He proceeds to outline what can only be described as Big Brother, watching everything you do online, for the sole purpose of placing better advertising to beg you to click on links.
You’ve bought some binoculars, and you’re surfing something about football, and Skynet figures out you’re interested in going to a football game, and BOOM it pulls in all kinds of ads for you to click on.
He describes a system of user activity monitoring and analysis so amazingly complex that it could estimate what you’re going to eat for breakfast next Wednesday, and figures the best way to put that to work is to place advertising.
Never mind the privacy issues this raises – the last thing I want is eBay, Google, Amazon.com, Flickr, Blogbridge, and gods know who else conspiring to share what they know about me so that they can attempt to know everything for the purposes of ad placement.
When that happens, I think I’ll just drop off the grid. I’ll have to go through a pretty heavy withdrawal period, and perhaps some kind of Betty Ford clinic would be required, but I’d rather unplug than put up with that kind of invasive (even if only behind the scenes) tracking of my “Attention”. Also, they’d have to keep an eye out for Arnold, trying to take out Skynet before it gains sentience…
Also, Scoble mentioned that he’s “starting to get scared by this kind of world” – and clarifies in the comments that he’s not scared of the implications of this stuff – just that Microsoft may not be in the game. Holy. Crap. Yeah – That’s what I’m scared of. There’s a global network watching me, and Microsoft feels it needs to have it’s finger on the pulse…
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Hey D’Arcy…
I’ve spent a bit of time lately trying to wrap my mind around this concept of “attention”. I still probably couldn’t explain it to strangers all that well, but it goes much deeper than a “big brother” notion of things. Steve Gillmor helps me understand it when he talks about the future being about “information finding people” rather than “people finding information”. There’s also a conscious understanding of being unobstrusive and of the user being able to own his/her own data.
Will it be misused? Yep. Will corporations want it? Yep. Take some time to understand what these folks are talking about though.
Here’s a discussion hosted by Steve Gillmor. Combing through IT Converations will probably bring some more information.
Have you checked out attentiontrust.org? Basic philosophy: “You own yourself, your data, your attention.” I see it as sort of a proactive measure to allow me to opt out of the system and to use my attention as currency. I may not want to know that Target has sleeping bags on sale when I’m booking my flight to the Himalayas, but I would like to know if David Byrne is performing locally or if he has a new CD available after I visit some music-related sites.
I’m a Google junkie with all the accessories (home page, g.reader, search history, etc.). I know it’s not really free; they’re following me around the web and tracking my attention. I don’t like that but for now, I trust them. It would be nice if they were more transparent with their plans for world domination, but I think (maybe naievely), that their intentions are good and that they want to be a positive social force.
One possible scenario is for sites to give you more features based on how much attention you want to pay. You pay a lot, you get really targeted ads or info based on your web travels and interactions — or no tracking at all. You want it free, you share almost all of your attention. (But even if I pay a lot not to be bugged, they are still tracking and gathering my attention and could do something sneaky or relenquish it to a subpoena. Yeah, it’s still pretty scary.)
i’m afraid of my choice for reasonable anonymity not being protected, of there being more noise than signal, of…clowns.
am i afraid of being given access to the information i want in exchange for seeing products all around me that tall megalomaniacal long-haired guys are interested in instead of what short eskimo girls do? not in the slightest.
they’re not mutually exclusive. except for the clowns.
I suppose my issue with what Robert was describing is that it involves some pretty high end processing and analysis of terabytes of data, and the only thing he could see it used for is to better place ads on everything. That’s probably a valid exercise – something has to pay the bills – but I’d sure hope that if this data is being gathered and shared that there are other uses for it than selecting a slightly more appropriate “punch the monkey” ad for each individual on the planet.
How about some education applications? If a person has a specific activity/attention pattern, mine that to provide better or more interesting educational resources. Or direct them to some communities of practice that they may not be aware of.
How about some social applications? Even just creating a better matchmaking app like LavaLife that is base on mining activity/attention of individuals, rather than disclosed profiles.
I’m sure there are a bajillion other opportunities to use the data and patterns – I’m not being particularly creative here. But, if the sole purpose of it is to positively influence a CPM rate, I’m not interested.
But, clowns? yeah. love clowns. Except for the evil ones. they scare me.
“i’m afraid of my choice”
thats a major issue with people today. fear. i believe Michael Moore explains this the best with this short video clip from Bowling For Columbine. (http://a1834.g.akamai.net/7/1834/6694/v0001/mgm2.download.akamai.com/6694/Theatrical/cartoon1021SM.mov)
People are affraid of everything. Affraid that the media is going to somehow take over our descision making abilities and “force” us to buy things, or “force” us to do things we dont want to do. Nothing can control free will. that is what is great about being human! I think people just need to relax and enjoy life a little bit. Quit being worried about little things. Unless, the movie I-Robot becomes a reality!
he may be a masterful and convincing artist, but everything michael moore “explains” is soaked in hatred and fabrication. i wouldn’t recommend letting much of what he has to say past your internal censor. deception is the greater evil.
http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html