Bierend, D. (2018). Augmented reality’s true purpose: serving the appetite for big data. Vantage, 1-8.
If I use data collected by social media, devices, VR and AR, here are some of the greatest concerns I must take into consideration:
- Lack of individual privacy with massive data extraction
- Potential of a corporation’s misuse of that data
- Absence of governmental regulation and oversight
- Audience manipulation just to sell products or services
Without governmental oversight, corporations can use this massive amount of data as a weapon to manipulate the public using Orwellian methods. Where is the corporate social responsibility in that?
Facebook
In addition to age and gender, Facebook Analytics will also provide a user’s relationship status, education, interests/hobbies, orientation, identity, political affiliation, languages, life events, etc. Am I fine with using this information for my benefit? How important is it?
Facebook has experimented on teenagers in Australia. Mark Pesce writes about “Facebook’s experiments in assessing and influencing Australian teenagers’ emotional state by altering the composition of their newsfeeds,” (Bierend, 2018). Did Facebook’s actions cause lasting harm? If FB is willing to experiment on children, then how far will it go to get what it wants? Do I want to align myself with a corporation willing to stoop so low?
Twitter/Devices
Even though Twitter removed audience insights two years ago, the platform’s data collection triggers a few ethical concerns. Advertisers can identify users via metadata in tweets and then follow their activities in Twitter and other social media platforms. Smartphones sell user locations for selling products/services. Even though individuals freely use devices and social media, do they know their movements are being tracked and used as a marketing tool against them?
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality:
These two advancements are the most frightening. Data extraction behind virtual reality and augmented reality goes light years beyond the capabilities of social media. “To be inside of a VR environment,” says Mark Pesce, “is to be continuously under surveillance by that environment, so that the environment can respond to you,” (Bierend, 2018). Pesce goes on to say “…commercial VR systems typically track body movements 90 times per second to display the scene appropriately,” (Bierend, 2018). This massive amount of data could be used as an identifying marker, like fingerprints, maintained by corporations for tracking purposes. How will they use this data? What is stopping them from selling the data to a country bent on policing its citizens?
With the development of AR glasses in the near future, these blurred lines beg the question: What is real and what is not? If corporations can decide reality, then they can manipulate users more effectively.
As a marketer, I must weigh my desire to grow my DEI consulting firm with the ethical concerns around the wanton use of data extraction. Do the ends justify the means? Is the ethical need to improve conditions for people of color greater than my hesitation to use this technology? Is the manipulation justified? In what kind of world do I want to live?
One additional comment regarding VR/AR technology: some people, like myself, get nauseous with the camera movement in VR. I can watch films on any device, but my brain will not accept this false
movement in a false reality. This is a common issue, so full adoption will not happen until more people can tolerate VR/AR. Hopefully, this will give governments time to catch up and regulate.
L2: Demonstrate the ability to assess complex organizational environments and achieve communicative goals.
L4: Apply communication-centered scholarship to strengthen communication effectiveness.
D4: Be equipped to influence change.
Keywords: virtual reality, augmented reality, privacy, freedom, data extraction, data tracking
