Is data mining adversely affecting our life choices?

I was having this discussion with a friend of mine, on how big corporations mining data on it's customers has effected our way of living and how selling that data is some way for manufacturers to weasle their way into our homes. Thought of getting some opinion over here.

If company X knows what you like, chances are, people with your similar taste and demography along with yourself will be targeted by manufacturers. Does this in turn puts less pressure on a manufacturer to up it's product's quality versus actually marketing it's subpar product to targeted clients?

My friend's argument, as a person employed in the world of marketing food products, is that it allows companies to cater to the best of our needs without us even noticing much about it.

Is it even worth losing my private information to be catered with the best product in the market?

 

The thing is your private information was already lost, infact it was never private. I do not care if collective information is used to mine data, yes individual private information should not be lost.

 

It's interesting at times but I definitely feel like it's hard to stay private. Even when you're not advertising your personal details all over the internet, there's still lots of anonymous data collection in many of the things you use day-to-day, such as Google, Facebook, and more. That's why I do not use much social media. To be honest, though, I do appreciate some of the conveniences Google gives you in exchange for hoarding all of your data, but it still feels a bit dirty at the end of the day.

 

Long before the Internet, marketers have focused on understanding their buyers, their markets, etc., by gathering data. E.g., Nielsen has been in existence almost since the start of television to record who was watching what shows. Pollsters have been calling about elections and many other topics since the advent of telephones. Yes, the Internet has provided marketers with much more data and much more granular data but not much else has changed. It turns out that even if a marketer knows exactly what you like and do, that data is really only of interest to them in the aggregate; they need big numbers to reach their goals and, therefore, no matter how much they know about you, it is really only of value to them if they can put you into a larger group to market to. You buying an extra pair of shoes based upon their sophisticated marketing data does nothing for them; they need tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people just like you to do the same thing for them to keep their job. And you always have the choice not to buy something, anyway.

On the other hand, hackers/phishers, can have success with a single victim, so you do have to be concerned about them. Of course, for centuries, potential victims have had to avoid bad places or situations where evil people were lurking to harm victims. So, not much has changed there, either. Humans always have to be wary of evil people, online or offline.

Governments are an entirely different matter. All governments are filled with control freaks who want to tell others how to live and what to do. And, they can back their nefarious efforts with legal and lethal power. We all have to be concerned about sensitive personal data in the hands of governments.