Sometimes, we have to take a step back from all the negative news about how social media platforms are using our internet behaviours and data for their benefits. Technology now enables some tech companies to predict exactly what you would be doing at a particular time of a certain day. They know what are your likes and dislikes. They know who are the people that you interact with the most. They do know a lot about you. Sometimes, more than you do.
By right, these technology should be able to augment and complement your lives with quicker decision-making thus increasing your productivity and maybe even to the extent of improving your relationships with others. But the thing is, some people are really mad at how these tech companies are leveraging the public’s internet activities and behaviours to provide such services.
Really mad.
To the point that some even claimed that they want to take some of these tech companies down. But remember, we are not entirely at the mercy of these tech companies, especially it comes to your data privacy.
First of all, you must understand that you are the one who allowed these Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to tap on your internet activities, paving the way for them to learn almost everything about you.
As a consumer, you have the choice to either stop this feedback loop or allow it to continue. These ML algorithms can only start to work wonders if you feed them with your data. Once you stopped feeding them, the algorithms could not work as well as it should be.
In fact, a study by Northwestern University showed that the public could influence companies they think are misusing their data and all they have to do is to simply change their online behavior, such as discontinuing use of such software.
If people stop using a certain artificial intelligence-powered application, the app will lose the data needed for it to learn properly. Otherwise, you could also try to switch to using another web browser, using a Virtual Private Network, changing your office suite, etc.
Its all up to you.
Consumers also can collaboratively disrupt an Machine Learning (ML) system through atypical behavior, a practice known as data poisoning, and undermine the software’s performance. One example would be how a large number of people suddenly switched to using Signal. As more people depart from using Whatsapp, a lot of the data would be diverted to other platforms and this could starve Whatsapp.
Remember. If you are unhappy about these tech companies, don’t just lash out at them. You have a choice. The choice lies with you. The power lies in your hand, at the moment.
Sometimes I do feel that some tech companies wield too much influence and it could pose some risks to those in Southeast Asia. At the moment, I don’t think there’s any strong companies in Southeast Asia that provide a popular chatting platform like Whatsapp, Line, Kakao, WeChat or Signal. A quick search revealed the following chatting platforms in Southeast Asia.
| Platforms | Country | Number of users |
| Chikka (Chat) | Philippines | 500,000 + users (I think it has ceased operations) |
| Zalo (Chat) | Vietnam | 100 million downloads |
Viber is not made in Southeast Asia. It is made in Israel. I wonder why so many people thinks that Viber is made in Philippines.
Imagine if Facebook decides to pull off a stunt to cut off its Whatsapp services to Brunei. The Bruneians could switch to another chatting platform but it might be a little troublesome for a short while. A short while could be eternity to some industries. A lot of things could be performed in a short while, especially in AI-powered times like now. It could be better if the region had more local-made chatting app options to mitigate the risk of being temporarily cut off when/if it ever happens.
What are your thoughts on this? Should Southeast Asia work together to develop our own chatting app platforms? Is there a market for it? Or maybe there’s some popular chatting app that has already been made in Southeast Asia (apart from Zalo) that I am totally unaware of?
You can read more at https://cacm.acm.org/news/250769-your-data-is-a-weapon-that-can-help-change-corporate-behavior/fulltext
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