Question – Do you read the cookie agreement* when visiting a website or immediately accept them to save time ?

Answer – If you don’t read the agreement, you should reconsider! We’re now entering an era when our actions and online identity are stored in various websites to benefit businesses. Marketing focuses on our interests and values. Big Data helps reduce uncertainty and make predictions more accurate. 

Spying systems currently need us to visit websites. But interconnected IoT technologies will enable more effective surveillance. They will be able to track us from the moment we wake up. Spy systems could make money for websites by converting our online behavior into marketing information through cookies. Spying might soon seem too mild a term to describe the capabilities of this technology! 

Implications for the future 

- Technology-free zones will redefine security to protect privacy and might become highly valued areas. 

- We all need to know cyber law to protect ourselves. 

- Privacy protection businesses that prevent unauthorized use of personal data, such as cookie management services, will experience high demand in the future. 

*Note: Cookies are small text files stored on our computers. They are automatically created when we use a web browser to visit websites. 

Sources: Zuboff, S. (2019) Surveillance Capitalism and the Challenge of Collective Action. New Labor Forum, 28(1), 10–29., www.websitepolicies.com/blog/cookies, https://medium.com, https://technative.io