Chapter 11

I thought that the quote “Privacy is suffering the death of a thousand cuts” was perfect. There is no one event that has reduced our privacy, it has been many years of refusing to recognize the importance of privacy, and looking the other way. It’s a slippery slope and we are sliding. Each breach of privacy on its own may not seem like a big deal, but one thing leads to another thing, which leads to another, and so on. The unfortunate tendency of technology is to reduce the amount of privacy that we have, so in this technological age we must be very careful. New legislation needs to recognize the rising threats to our privacy that various forms of technology impose. We may even need to amend previous laws taking into consideration what affect technology has on them. The author brings up the idea of buying your privacy. I do not believe that privacy is something that I should have to buy, it should be a given. If it is not a given then our laws need to change, and our business practices need to change. Where do business ethics and customer privacy meet? Are some of these marketing practices unethical? Just something to think about.

Overall I’m glad I read this book. It has opened my eyes to the privacy issues facing our country, and I am going to do my part to stop at least one of the thousand cuts.

Chapter 10

It will be interesting to see how AI technology is used in the future, and what the limitations of AI are. I think the author is correct in his prediction that one day we could be carrying on a conversation with a computer. I remember there being a couple of AOL Instant Messenger screen names that were computers, and you could carry on a simple conversation with them. In time I’m sure the conversations that computers can have will become more complex, and more integrated into the business world. However, As with any technology AI can be used for good or for bad. Unfortunately I think that this technology could be scary in the wrong hands and could create a world in which you never know if you’re talking to a computer or a person. Marketing firms could bombard us with AI marketers at almost no cost to them. Legislation will be needed to ensure that we are informed if we are talking to a computer to reduce the amount of deception that could occur.

Amazon uses an intelligent agent to collect information about what products I buy and compares this information to what products others buy that appear to have similar preferences. I find this technology useful when researching a product because it allows me to see what other comparable products others in my situation are buying. However, I do not like the constant emails that they send me recommending different products, it is being used as a marketing tool now. I will go to Amazon when I want to buy a product, I do not need constant emails. There is a privacy issue with this technology because it allows Amazon to track and record all of my purchases, and then send related emails. Normally this is not an issue unless you are trying to hide something.