I've been troubled by the recent announcement of Facebook's coin, the purpose of which I believe is to gather data on our purchasing habits to then use as yet another source for behavioural analytics and the lucrative behavioural futures market (
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5147740). This has led me on to thoughts about how society and value systems are being modified by the big tech firms.
Take Mark Z***erburg's infamous "move fast and break things" motto. The point here is to move fast not just to stay ahead of competitors, but to stay ahead of legislation. Google Earth is another example. No-one gave Google permission to effectively create a worldwide CCTV system, but crucially there was nothing to stop them from doing so. Google, FB et al are deliberately moving into virgin territory and claiming it for themselves. With no-one else there, no governments or regulatory bodies to stop them, they look around at these vast new landscapes, and plant their own flag. These companies, in moving ahead of the law, get to define the new normal. And then they try to deny they are doing this by saying it is inevitable anyway - the march of technology, which no-one can stop or should want to stop. It goes far beyond data harvesting; these companies are now the driving force in determining what the society of the future will look like, and how we will be encouraged to think (privacy=bad, sharing=good, etc.).
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I correct or am I just being paranoid?
