Abstract
This paper examines third party data collection in the smartphone universe. It begins by outlining the history of a publicly-funded and commercially-curated Internet in order to provide the foundation for analyzing how private companies compete to collect and sell user data through ubiquitous smartphone applications. The paper provides a historic overview of the public investment in the internet infrastructure, beginning with the national phone and cable wiring grids as well as Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. The paper then examines ubiquitous smartphone applications that are informally or formally mandated as part of our daily lives. Such ubiquitous mandatory applications include QR code scanners, maps and navigation services, text notification services and two-factor authentication software. The paper concludes with a proposal for users as regulators to protect basic privacy against monetization, or to dismantle the ubiquity of data harvesting smartphone applications.
Presenters
Adam DeanAssistant Professor, Communication and Media, Lincoln Memorial University, Tennessee, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Data collection,Smartphone,Media Technology,User agreements,Internet history,Private and public sphere,Digital privacy,Digital democracy
