What Do the Tech Oligarchs Have on Us?
This photo is from Donald Trump's inauguration. It shows the owners/CEOs of tech giants Meta/FB, Amazon, Google, and Tesla/SpaceX standing behind Trump. The richest people in the world. Talk of Elon Musk's reign in the White House abounds. What is less well known is that these CEOs were negotiating with Trump at his Florida residence shortly after the election, and contributed $1 million each to Trump's 'inauguration fund' in January. Modern-day version of the Oaths of Fealty and Homage.
This is, of course, all about government contracts, especially the golden grail of contemporary business - AI contracts. It's no coincidence that shortly after Trump's inauguration both Google and OpenAI (owner of ChatGPT) quietly removed from their internal policies commitments not to allow use of their tech for military and weapons development. What was left of the ethical rules that used to be "in" among users and shareholders have gone the way of big business, and the tech giants are making it clear that when business is at stake, they are willing to be loyal to Donald Trump's (and Elon Musk's) administration. People get killed for much less than the value of these contracts. Sources in the comments.
Given that the aforementioned companies know a lot about us, and the possibility of this information falling into authoritarian hands no longer seems so unrealistic, it's useful to remind ourselves what they 'actually have on us'. If only because much of the data we give them is being shared quite unnecessarily:
👀 If we summarise and aggregate the data these companies have, they know all the personal information about us, including where we live, what we look like and the details of our passport or other ID (obtained during identity verification), who we are friends with, who we sound like and who we have in our address book. They know who we communicate with, when, how often and to some extent what we communicate about, what we like and what our political, religious and other preferences are. They also know what music, films and books we like, what, when, where and how much we buy, what sites we visit, what apps we use and what kind of phone or computer we have. They also know where we walk and drive, and if we have Alexa, Nest, or a similar home or car assistant, what we talk about at home and in the car. If we use health or fitness apps, they may also have some current and ongoing data about our health.
That's not bad, right? Actually, there's not that much that we know about ourselves that these companies don't know. Compared to them, former intelligence operatives must feel like losers when it comes to collecting data on 'target subjects'.
🛟 What can we as 'target subjects' do about it? Of course, many of these services we don't need to use at all, and for many others there are alternatives offering similar functionalities without harvesting user data. A few ideas in the comments.
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🛈 Details on the mining of personal information by DT’s and Elon Musk’s allies:
❗Google
Google collects data through its services such as Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Android and others.
🔻Personal data
Name, email address, phone number and payment information (via Google account).
🔻Movement and localization
History and current location (Google Maps, Android).
Travel routes and commuting (favourite routes, route search).
Search and browsing history
🔻Websites visited and search queries (Google Search, Chrome).
YouTube viewing history.
Communication data
🔻E-mails, contacts and calendar events (Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Calendar).
Messages and calls (Google Voice, Google Chat, Google Meet).
🔻Use of devices and apps
Device details (OS, model, operator).
Installed apps and their usage (Android, Play Store).
Screen usage time.
🔻Payments and purchases
Purchase history (Google Wallet, linked cards).
Orders captured from Gmail.
🔻Health and fitness
Physical activity data (Google Fit).
Search for health conditions and symptoms.
🔻Voice and sound data
Voice commands and recordings (Google Assistant, Nest smart speakers).
🔻Advertising and interests
Clickable ads and personalized user profiles.
❗Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)
Meta aggregates data across its platforms to create detailed user profiles.
🔻Personal and social data
Profile information: name, age, residence, occupation, relationships.
Synced contacts (from your phone or manually uploaded).
Social connections: friends, groups, followers.
🔻Communications
Messages and multimedia content (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram DM).
Metadata of communications (time, place, frequency).
🔻Interests and behaviours
What you follow, like, share or comment on.
Personal and political preferences derived from interactions.
🔻Location and activity
Location tracking via Meta apps.
Geotags in posts and photos.
Event attendance and "check-ins".
🔻Devices and apps
Device specifications (model, OS, IP address).
Sites and apps linked to your Facebook login.
🔻Face recognition
Data from tagging people in photos.
🔻Advertising and shopping
Products viewed or purchased in stores on Facebook/Instagram.
Interactions with ads.
❗Amazon
Amazon collects data through its e-commerce, streaming services, smart home and cloud services.
🔻Shopping history
Products you've searched for, added to your cart or bought.
Order history and reviews.
🔻Voice and sound data
Recordings of voice commands through your Alexa device.
Media tracking
🔻 Movies, music and books consumed on Prime Video, Prime Music, Kindle.
🔻Location data
Delivery addresses and location of Alexa devices.
🔻Advertising and personalization
Clickable ads, related products.
‼️Portfolio Elon Musk (Twitter/X, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink)
❗Twitter/X
🔻Posts and interactions
Tweeted, liked, shared and saved posts.
Engagement with threads and topics.
🔻Communications
Direct Messages (DMs) and message metadata.
🔻Interests and behaviors
Following accounts, engaged ads.
🔻Device and network
IP address, location, device technical information.
❗Tesla
🔻Vehicle information
Real-time location and driving routes.
Driving method (speed, acceleration).
Voice commands in the car.
🔻Customer data
Information about car purchase, accessories, chargers.
❗SpaceX
Limited data, except for Starlink users:
🔻Internet usage patterns, device connections.
🔻Neuralink
Potential collection of neurological data in the future.
Other companies
❗Apple
Even though Apple claims to be focused on privacy, it still collects:
🔻App Store purchases.
Transactions via Apple Pay.
🔻Siri voice commands.
🔻Health and fitness data (Apple Watch, Health App).
❗Microsoft
Windows and Office
🔻Telemetry data (bugs, usage statistics).
🔻Files stored on OneDrive.
🔻Calendar and emails in Outlook.
🔻Professional profile, connections, job applications.
