People as the Product

 Facebook has just announced the Quest 2 which, despite being an upgrade in almost every respect over the original Quest, is launching cheaper than its predecessor at $299 (compared to the original's launch price of $399). It is not so unusual for companies to subsidize their hardware (particularly for gaming consoles) to draw people onto their platform--Facebook can justify it with that whopping 30% cut they win on every software purchase made on their VR platform. On top of that, a change in their privacy policy for the VR platform suggests Facebook is taking particular interest in its users--not in the way that has the user's best interests as the ends, but rather the means to an end, in the way that users' interests can be sold. For each user, their behaviors and interests can be observed, collected and analyzed to best subvert their frugality, this information sold indirectly to the seller trying to push any arbitrary product, by facing users with those ads to which they're most susceptible. If users' marketing profiles prove profitable enough, the platform's interest in gaming may in fact be only a facade (or at best a secondary concern) for what is primarily an information-collecting machine.



Comments

  1. JoshuaSeptember 19, 2020 at 2:57 PM

    It is pretty well understood that capitalisms will commodify every aspect of life. It seemed inevitable that people in ever consumer industry would become a commodity. I imagine we will only see even more sectors where the people's profile is the real commodity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deep ThoughtSeptember 20, 2020 at 2:25 PM

    People have been the product for a while now and Facebook nows it. I just wish everyone understood that the info they put online is getting used and that they should choose wisely on who gets what info.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris ParkerSeptember 20, 2020 at 4:07 PM

    I find it interesting the places where these concerns are raised. Facebook has a poor reputation, but I believe every other social media company is collecting the same data. People would be better off if they paid attention to all of the privacy policies and end user agreements when they use software.

    ReplyDelete

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