22 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2022
    1. “don’t be evil” motto

      This has always seemed odd to me. It feels that if it wasn't something that was considered it would not even need to be said.

    2. The first is to tell us something about the relationship between capitalism and totalitarian systems of control

      Could all economies be said to be systems of control?

    3. inner believed that humans could be conditioned like any other animal, and that behavioral psychology could and should be used to build a technological utopia where citizens were trained from birth to be altruistic and community-oriented.

      Noble idea but terrifying in practice

    1. acebook itself has registered a patent for automated loan decisions based on credit ratings of someone’s friends on a social network

      confident and harsh judgement of the company you keep

    2. personalized messages adapted to their personality and political views on certain issues has already raised massive debates about its potential for political manipulation

      not just political, personalized messaging alters so much of people's perceptions of reality

    3. When people know that they are being constantly monitored, this can produce chilling effects on forms of action or expression

      Hawthorne effect?

    1. agreed with the idea of a store charging prices based on what it knowsabout them

      how could this play out on a large scale? how do we see this in things like coupons for rewards members versus how it could be that the face price of an item appears different for others when shopping online?

    2. “just afact of modern consumer life, and all Acxiom is trying to do is make it more scientific so that thedata works the way it should, friction is taken out of the process for marketers and agencies, andconsumers –at least –get the most relevant offers and messages targeted at them.”

      this would have been easy to spin favor of consumers but it wasn't really

    1. One study from Duke University estimated that habits, rather than conscious decision-making, shape 45 percent of the choices we make every day

      reminds me of the discussion around choice architecture

    2. I never expected this would become such a big deal,

      Curious if at any point he started to question his morals

    3. Then we started mixing in all these ads for things we knew pregnant women would never buy, so the baby ads looked random. We’d put an ad for a lawn mower next to diapers. We’d put a coupon for wineglasses next to infant clothes. That way, it looked like all the products were chosen by chance.

      That seems like a lot of work for what then people would write off as junk mail or something else irrelevant to them

  2. Jan 2022
    1. xtensive list of exceptions

      What are the exceptions?

    2. Rather, the selection terms used by the NSA may include broad subjects, such as “Yemen” or “nuclear proliferation.”

      Again, seems like it would bring in a load of information to large to be manageable or helpful.

    3. thering all of the telephone calls going into or out of certain countrie

      How can this be more beneficial than overbearing?

    1. (5)

      Good wording here - could easily be toned down to a "search" but they were not. They were break ins.

    2. for the purpose of destroying their marriages

      same as above

    3. to induce their employers to fire them

      How does ruining someone's career make them less of a threat? More anger about the state of society and more free time seems like something that would make them more likely to stir the political/legal pot

    4. sending agents to a Halloween party for elementary school children in 1Vashington, D.C., because they suspected a local "dissident" might be present

      strange to consider that anything could be so important that this is necessary

    1. so businesses may ask individuals for an SSN whenever they wish

      What are the implications of this?

    2. The registration process was largely directed by the local postmasters

      How can this process be compared to the U.S. Covid response and calls to involve the USPS more?

    3. raising the possibility that the Social Security Act might also be declared unconstitutional

      What aspect of the act was potentially unconstitutional?