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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/23/internet-giants-wooed-us-honeymoon-period-over-ebay
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| Internet giants wooed us, but the honeymoon is over | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Imagine this scenario. One day, out of the blue, there's a knock on the door. It is a salesman. He says he can provide you with lots of fun stuff, hook you up with your neighbours, tell you lots about the world. And all you have to do is to tell him everything – and I mean everything – about yourself. Once you have done so, he will control that information. And he might use it to make himself a few bob; might pass some information, without your knowledge or permission, to people who want to know things about you. And he's a careless type, so be ready for the possibility that he might leave behind some of the stuff he knows about you on the 8.42pm train to Dartford. This is hardly the deal of the century is it? But it is the deal of our 21st century. | Imagine this scenario. One day, out of the blue, there's a knock on the door. It is a salesman. He says he can provide you with lots of fun stuff, hook you up with your neighbours, tell you lots about the world. And all you have to do is to tell him everything – and I mean everything – about yourself. Once you have done so, he will control that information. And he might use it to make himself a few bob; might pass some information, without your knowledge or permission, to people who want to know things about you. And he's a careless type, so be ready for the possibility that he might leave behind some of the stuff he knows about you on the 8.42pm train to Dartford. This is hardly the deal of the century is it? But it is the deal of our 21st century. |
| This is the pact we have entered into with the giant internet companies. They provide us with connectivity: access to fun, to stuff, to information, to all those other human beings with whom we had long ceased sharing real-time conversation. This is a boon, without doubt. | This is the pact we have entered into with the giant internet companies. They provide us with connectivity: access to fun, to stuff, to information, to all those other human beings with whom we had long ceased sharing real-time conversation. This is a boon, without doubt. |
| But what of the price we pay? How do you feel about the fact that eBay was hacked – possibly the biggest hack we have known – and the details you handed over on that virtual doorstep now reside with someone else whose intentions we cannot know? How do you feel about the fact that it happened not this week, but months ago, and that eBay did not notify its users immediately? That the message to all subscribers to change their passwords has only belatedly appeared? Do you get the sense that the power relationship between you and those who control your data has swung too far in their malign direction? That seems to be the mood in parts of the US. On Thursday we learned that Connecticut, Florida and Illinois will jointly investigate eBay's security practices . | But what of the price we pay? How do you feel about the fact that eBay was hacked – possibly the biggest hack we have known – and the details you handed over on that virtual doorstep now reside with someone else whose intentions we cannot know? How do you feel about the fact that it happened not this week, but months ago, and that eBay did not notify its users immediately? That the message to all subscribers to change their passwords has only belatedly appeared? Do you get the sense that the power relationship between you and those who control your data has swung too far in their malign direction? That seems to be the mood in parts of the US. On Thursday we learned that Connecticut, Florida and Illinois will jointly investigate eBay's security practices . |
| What about Facebook? It has bowed to pressure from users and finally tightened up privacy controls so that posts from new users are set to only be visible to friends. Critics have for some time complained that the Facebook privacy controls are too complex. This fits the trend; the onus is on you to maximise the advantages of your internet life but mitigate the costs in terms of loss of control and privacy. You do the heavy lifting, they make the money. | What about Facebook? It has bowed to pressure from users and finally tightened up privacy controls so that posts from new users are set to only be visible to friends. Critics have for some time complained that the Facebook privacy controls are too complex. This fits the trend; the onus is on you to maximise the advantages of your internet life but mitigate the costs in terms of loss of control and privacy. You do the heavy lifting, they make the money. |
| This division of labour hasn't happened by accident. The web behemoths have been smart. The face they show is funky and engaging. The contours soft, the music soothing, the colours welcomingly pastel. | This division of labour hasn't happened by accident. The web behemoths have been smart. The face they show is funky and engaging. The contours soft, the music soothing, the colours welcomingly pastel. |
| The process has been a million miles away from the draining experience of handing the details of your life to Barclays bank or Sun Alliance or the joyless, faceless types at HM Revenue and Customs. It's been much more a case of confiding in a clued-up new friend. It is precisely because that friend seems so new, young, fresh and perhaps flighty that you don't mind so much when it makes a hash of things and loses your precious data. You can be sure the reaction would be a deal more ferocious if the same lack of care was shown by Barclays, HMRC or Sun Alliance. | The process has been a million miles away from the draining experience of handing the details of your life to Barclays bank or Sun Alliance or the joyless, faceless types at HM Revenue and Customs. It's been much more a case of confiding in a clued-up new friend. It is precisely because that friend seems so new, young, fresh and perhaps flighty that you don't mind so much when it makes a hash of things and loses your precious data. You can be sure the reaction would be a deal more ferocious if the same lack of care was shown by Barclays, HMRC or Sun Alliance. |
| What to do? According to internet security experts our salvation lies in passwords. Years after Bill Gates predicted password security would become obsolete, those passwords are still our most effective means of personal protection. So how does that work? You have 20 different accounts – and that is not excessive – so you must have 20 passwords. They should be long, a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and engineered to be as complicated as possible. You need to remember them all or store them in a safe place and hope your hiding place is never compromised because then you risk losing everything. | What to do? According to internet security experts our salvation lies in passwords. Years after Bill Gates predicted password security would become obsolete, those passwords are still our most effective means of personal protection. So how does that work? You have 20 different accounts – and that is not excessive – so you must have 20 passwords. They should be long, a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and engineered to be as complicated as possible. You need to remember them all or store them in a safe place and hope your hiding place is never compromised because then you risk losing everything. |
| How is that a good deal? It certainly isn't the sort of deal that would have been offered or accepted had the salesman appeared on your doorstep. You might have shooed him away. You might have thought the deal was interesting, with life-improving benefits, but then you would have interrogated thoroughly before rewarding him with your signature. Remember how strange it felt the first time you tapped a credit card number on to a web page. Maybe we need to rediscover reticence again. | How is that a good deal? It certainly isn't the sort of deal that would have been offered or accepted had the salesman appeared on your doorstep. You might have shooed him away. You might have thought the deal was interesting, with life-improving benefits, but then you would have interrogated thoroughly before rewarding him with your signature. Remember how strange it felt the first time you tapped a credit card number on to a web page. Maybe we need to rediscover reticence again. |
| For we have been seduced. We have been lured by soft music and friendly adverts into a relationship that is anything but equal, and threatens to turn abusive. The web corporations are just corporations. They do as little as they must to make as much as they can and, hopefully, turn a profit. | For we have been seduced. We have been lured by soft music and friendly adverts into a relationship that is anything but equal, and threatens to turn abusive. The web corporations are just corporations. They do as little as they must to make as much as they can and, hopefully, turn a profit. |
| We fell in love with them too soon. Married in haste, repent at leisure. | We fell in love with them too soon. Married in haste, repent at leisure. |