How Software Companies Made You A Product
By Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia
| @drlalitsetia | drlalitsetia@gmail.com |
Created May 4, 2019
The free access of
numerous software and apps just after agree to terms and conditions in digital
mode; make us very comfortable. But do you think ever, why the software and
apps are freely provided? How they cover their cost of creating and maintaining
software and apps? What does a software company do without telling the user? There
are a lot of questions will be answered in the following content; clearly state you how software companies made you a product to sell. The 'Grooming of Personality' require such information so that the target audience can make themselves safe from being victim of the false use of confidential information.
Targeting people through software:
The networking, internet
connectivity, and GPS-enabled location can easily track the location of any
gadget including mobile, tablets, computers etc. Whenever a person buys any
mobile, it came with the Android operating system owned by Google and a lot of
apps installed by default, came with the mobile and the apps not only tracks
location but also have access to storage including device storage and memory
card comprises personal photographs, videos, addresses, and other valuable
information. The information, a person provides in mobile, tablets, computers
can easily be accessed through the apps, software, and sometimes through
viruses. The Android operating system always track the location of the mobile
which remained most of the time with its user and the location of user is also
easily tracked.
Record of each User:
The search engines and
social networking platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter etc; are used
to explore the internet and whatever a person explores, it shows his areas of
interest. The companies which own the search engines and social networking
platforms store the information related to each user including profile details,
areas of interest, information relating to search activities, location of
logging into account etc. The information of millions of users led to big data
storage. Even if a person is not user of Google or social networking platforms,
it is tried to track his location, gather information about him through the
associated users. The software companies have become tracking companies.
Even the browsing history
of a particular computer or laptop is stored and not deleted entirely. It is
stored with the company provided browser services.
Stealing private information:
The software companies
through software and apps access the private information of the users. When I
talked to some people about it, they told me that there is nothing private.
When I asked them whether their banking details, residential locations, and official
addresses can be used to harm them or not. They assessed how the information
can be used in wrong manner. From where the software companies usually take
private information:
(i) Information from Text Messages:
The text messages are
stored in device storage and the storage is accessible to the software
companies through their operating systems, software including apps.
(ii) Information from e-mails:
The emails are stored in
the inbox with its physical storage in the software of companies.
(iii) Information about events:
The events, reminders are
stored in Google Calendar and other similar apps installed by the users. The
information can be used by the software companies.
(iv) Information from Files on Google-drive:
The google drives are
used to capture the files of users, some files are shared by the users and
other files are stored through backup service automatically operated in the android
operating system.
(v) Information about Bio-metric identity:
The new devices of laptops
with locking of system and opening it through bio-metric scanning of fingers is
a threat to steal the bio-metric identity of the user. The Android devices are
also giving options to lock the device by recording the bio-metric finger
prints. The bio-metric identities are also included in the profiles of the users.
How this information is used?
On the basis of
information, the companies create and maintain the profile of each person. The
software is framed to keep close watch over the activities of users and with
analysing information, the companies know better about the users’ behaviour
than the users. How software companies use the information:
(a) Each user is a product of software companies:
The companies exploit the
information for their own advantages. The collected information is used to sell
further to each other and used to decide the number of advertisers to serve the
users. The bidding is done to sell the users on the basis of their profile
parameters. In this sense, each user is treated as a product.
(b) Using users and computers to display Ads:
The software companies
including Google, Yahoo, Rediffmail etc. use the profiles of users in running advertisements
and ensures the access of these advertisements through browsing platforms,
software, and apps. In order to target the relevant audience, the location and
areas of interest are kept in mind. Each time an advertisement is seen, it is
known as impression and the companies keep information regarding impressions of
each advertisement. More the impressions, more the accessibility of the
advertisement is, and accordingly, the companies charge advertisement prices
from the advertisers. In order to get more impressions, the companies try to
display the advertisements on the basis of location of users and computers. The
hyper-targeted Ads are created to follow the users wherever they logged into.
(c) Marketing and Selling products:
The software companies
program software, apps and sell these products through marketing on the
internet. The companies even use the information about the videos watched by a
person on their websites to target the users for sale of products. For example,
YouTube is owned by Google and the videos watched by users usually comprises
the advertisements of products, offering sale of products, and even taking
feedback of the previously purchased product from them.
(d) Analysis of impressions:
The software companies
analyse the information through software and find out how much impressions are
provided in a particular device, the timings of the impressions, the place of
locations where it gets maximum impressions etc.
*Copyright © 2018 Dr. Lalit
Kumar. All rights reserved.
You might also be
interested in the following:
