Personal data and the Informational Industries
Should one be in doubt as to the value of critical accounts of privacy, one only need consider the scale of informational industries. The New Scientist has an interesting snippet pointing out that in 2012 Facebook is expected to launch on the stock market with an initial public offering (IPO) valuing the social network at $100 billion. As with oil, gas, metals, diamonds or any other industry that relies on a standing reserve or resource to be mined, we might want to pay careful attention to these practices, particularly as in the case of information it is our information that is being mined. To de-abstract “information”, and not to mention demographic signifiers and movements across the web, it is our life events, aspirations, motivations, friendships, insights, feelings and moods that are being mined. Although this information only becomes valuable in relation to other bits of information, this should not detract from the premise of what comprises fuel for the informational industries. (Andrew McStay)
