“Choice” approached by the new Corona Goodbye Privacy April 17th 15:01

What do you think about providing personal data to large IT companies in exchange for convenience? I accept it to some extent, thinking that "it's a free service, and that's what it is", but what if the nation uses the data that companies have? As the efforts to connect the data to identify the infection route of the new coronavirus spread worldwide, I think. Now that businesses and nations can track individuals with smartphones, is our privacy no longer there? Data and privacy are discussed from "analysis" and "warnings" by Professor Emeritus Shoshana Zubov of Harvard Business School and Ian Bremer, head of the Eurasian Group that analyzes political risk. (Department of Economics Kaori Iida)

Goodbye Privacy Your love and affairs are naked !?

Corona expansion deterrence Savior is data !? But ... goodbye privacy

Companies that have entered the sanctuary

It's too timely, and sometimes you'll be surprised to find an advertisement for a product or service you're interested in appearing on the screen of your computer or smartphone.

In my case, shoes, travel plans, restaurants, etc. Up to now, a huge amount of personal data such as words searched on the Internet, purchase history, location information, etc. are accumulated and used for advertisements in exchange for free services.

It is said that Emeritus Professor Shoshana Zubov of Harvard Business School in the United States points out that such convenient services have penetrated every corner of our lives and that personal privacy is at risk.

Mr. Zubov:
"You may be providing a bit of data about your name, your age and yourself. But all the big IT companies want to know is what they post on Facebook, of course. Further, how fast you are walking, whether you are dropping your shoulders at that time, when you use "!" When passing a sentence, how to process it when uploading a photo, when you email a friend with "Tonight 7 : "Let's meet 45" or "Let's meet later." Giant IT companies use AI to predict your behavior from these data. I come to send the ads aimed at. I in order to maximize the effect, "

" the footsteps of behavior, such as previous search results "digital waste," but was called, it When analyzed, the company I was noticed and it is possible to predict the behavior of the person. The prediction will be used to prompt the direction that your actions. "

Mr. Zubov
"A huge IT company collects such data without realizing it and creates a model with AI based on it. Collecting data of people with similar ideas to me and creating a model. We will continue to refine it and eventually it will predict our behavior. It is used in corporate advertisements. Huge IT companies are our privacy ever. We set foot in an untouched sanctuary and opened it up as a new market. ''

Spreading "surveillance capitalism"

Professor Zubov advocated the concept of "surveillance capitalism" in which all data are profitable against "industrial capitalism" made from materials that exist in nature, and published a 700-page book in English last year. Did.

Mr. Zubov
"When you think of surveillance, imagine a glass that looks like a mirror from one side, but is completely visible from the other side. From a giant IT company, our actions are fully visible, but we You can't see the other person. Surveillance capitalism is a benefit from commercializing the data obtained by surveillance. ”

Reliable understanding of behavior is profitable

Mr. Zubov
: When you control your desire to do something, you lose your freedom. For a giant IT company, it is profitable if the consumer's behavior is surely understood, but the consumer is free. it means that uncertainty, not a profit. goods that are traded, that despite origin of the data is us, our's is not the be used for solving the problem "

a whole by the" National While violence and fear are necessary for the principle, predictability is an essential alternative to fear in the new corporate oversight capitalism, which can encourage action in one direction, such as purchasing a product. Privacy is no longer yours. "

Will the nation embark on digital surveillance?

International political scientist and Eurasia Group president Ian Bremer is worried that the nation will embark on digital surveillance using technology, without much debate, following the spread of the new coronavirus.

For public health reasons, not only personal location information but also health condition data will be subject to digital monitoring and tracking, warning that privacy will be secondary.

Ian Bremer
"By the time the vaccine is developed, the nation has to digitally track accurate location and health information for each citizen in real time in order to resume economic activity once it has stopped. If you don't agree, you'll have to wait at home, and the debate over your privacy concerns will go away.
Against the backdrop of accelerating technology conflicts between the United States and China, the strategy of US giant IT companies The United States is in a superior position compared to other countries, and what will happen to the impact of the “war on terrorism” and the “war on coronaviruses” after the war? Without much debate, privacy concerns are secondary. "

How to take "Balance" with privacy

The question that has been asked so far is "the balance of convenience and privacy," and many people have enjoyed convenient and free services, even if a little privacy is lost. me too.

A new question that may be asked is "a balance between public health and privacy." No one would object to the state using personal data collected by companies if it would help identify the transmission route of the new coronavirus.

However, while it is pointed out that the nation will not let go of the authority it once obtained, how long can it be allowed, how long will it continue, how transparent will it be? There is a problem in front of me that I hadn't even thought about when I was in front of Corona just 1-2 months ago.

* The interview with Mr. Zubov was broadcast on NHK Special "Digital vs Real Goodbye Privacy" on April 12.

Economic department desk
Kaori Iida
Worked at Washington and Los Angeles bureaus, etc.
Many interviews from Amazon and Twitter CEOs to US ministers and Lady Gaga.