How corporations got all your data

Explain It to Me

Vox Media Podcast Network

Education, Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing speaks with Matthew Jones, historian of science and technology, and co-author (with data scientist Chris Wiggins) of the new book How Data Happened. They discuss the surprisingly long history of data from the 18th century to today, in service of explaining how we wound up in a world where our personal information is mined by giant corporations for profit. They talk about how the allure of measurement and precision spread from astronomy to the social sciences, why advertising became so bound to the operation of the internet, and how we can imagine a more democratic future for us and our data, given the unprecedented power of today's tech companies. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Matthew L. Jones (@nescioquid), author; James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization, Columbia University References: How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms by Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones (W.W. Norton; 2023) "How Alan Turing Cracked The Enigma Code" (Imperial War Museum) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) "The manipulation of the American mind: Edward Bernays and the birth of public relations" by Richard Gunderman (The Conversation; July 9, 2015) On Herbert Simon (The Economist; Mar. 20, 2009) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (Profile; 2019) Jeffrey Hammerbacher quoted in "This Tech Bubble Is Different" by Ashlee Vance (Bloomberg Businessweek; Apr. 14, 2011) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Help keep this show and all of Vox's journalism free by making a gift to Vox today: bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineers: Patrick Boyd & Brandon McFarland Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to another episode of the weeds.
0:05.7	I'm John Wilan Hill.
0:08.3	This week we're taking some time to work on some upcoming episodes we're really excited
0:12.6	about.
0:13.6	So, we wanted to share a conversation our colleagues had on the gray area.
0:17.9	It's about corporations and how they have so much access to our data.
0:22.4	It's a real deep dive.
0:24.2	Not just into how tech companies are getting our information now, but how companies have
0:28.6	had access to us for centuries.
0:31.4	We hope you enjoy.
0:32.4	I'll pass it over to Sean Elling.
0:35.6	If you spend a bunch of time on the internet, you're often asked by giant corporations to
0:47.8	do something pretty extraordinary.
0:51.4	We have updated our privacy policy.
0:53.7	Please read the following and click agree to continue using our service.
0:57.9	We collect data that identifies you, such as your name.
1:02.3	You're asked to sign a contract.
1:06.3	It's long full of obscure legal language.
1:10.1	You don't really understand it, and you definitely don't read it.
1:14.8	You just want to check some sports scores or message with friends.
1:18.4	And if you want to do those things, you got to click I agree.
1:24.6	You can't use the app.
	...

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