Technological Privacy (Feed Part 1)

Warning: This blog post ends up become some weird anti-government and anti-corporation tinfoil hat stuff. You’ve been warned.

I have been reading a book called Feed by M.T Anderson, the novel is set in a future where 73% of Americans have an implant that essentially gives people constant access to the internet. The book follows a boy(Titus) who meets the girl of his dreams(Violet). He and his friends convinces the girl to hang out with them. They ended up going to a club where they are hacked and attacked. After the attack the boy ends up dating the girl, but her implant is ruined from the hack. She may have limited time left before her body malfunctions…

While reading Feed by M.T Anderson, I found myself in a unique position. You see, I’ve been an early adopter of technology ever since, the original white Xbox 360. I’ve been fascinated by technology ever since then. I was so fascinated that 4 years ago I built my own PC, and now I’m constantly troubleshooting and answer PC questions for other people. I’ve tried to be in the forefront of technology since I was 9. Being fascinated by tech allowed me to see some cool innovations, when they were first being released. For example, in high school I created 3D models to later print them in my high school’s 3D printer. I also got to go on a one day trip to Makerbot Headquarters in New York for a lesson on 3D printing. I had to sign a Non-Disclosure agreement when entering the office. I got to talk to the CEO, about 3D printing and its uses in schools. Probably the best trip I took in high school, a close second was being on set for The Dark Knight Rises. (Damn I’m young in that picture, that’s from six year ago.)

Anyway, to get back on track as an early adopter of technology, I would probably be one of the first people to rush out and get something installed like the feed. But now after having matured a bit since high school, I wouldn’t want to be the first person on the Feed. Don’t get me wrong technology still motivates me and I still constantly use it, especially because I want to be a 3D Animator. But now I know about the double-edged sword of technology. You see technology is great, and if you want a long-lasting career you need to be comfortable with it. But when it comes to technology, accessibility and efficiency comes at a price. Every time you pick up a new service or new device you are making an important choice. Whenever you adopt a new service to device, your signing a contract with a
corporation. Your saying please allow me access to your service or device, for the low low payment of my personal information and access to my life. This is especially true if the product you’re trying to adopt is free.

This is my main objection to the feed you are giving away a lot of your privacy to another corporation, who can use your information to not only advertise to you but broker out information to the highest bidder. Now while in the book I haven’t yet quite read about FeedNet selling your information. I know for a fact that they use your information to advertise directly to you. Just look at this section in the novel:
“Nongen, who made the Swarp, was showing a romantic drive through the mountains with just me and Violet, who they got pretty much right…”
In this quote, we have the Feed broadcasting a direct ad from the company, Nongen. Nongen is selling their car the Swarp specifically to Titus (main character). They had to have used information on who he was dating if they managed to get the model in the advert to look like his girlfriend. How would a major company now what a young kids’ girlfriend looks like. Also, how do you include the buyer in the ad.

While using your information to advertise to you is not much of a negative, the information that the company has may not only be used in this way. To explain this, we can look at our current culture, we have a situation where internet service providers may be allowed to sell your information to the highest bidder. Don’t believe me. Recently the senate voted to allow companies like Comcast and AT&T to sell your information to the highest bidder. Sure, you might be saying well doesn’t a lot of technology companies do this. The answer is yes but not to the scale that an internet service provider could. An ISP could sell all your browsing history. I don’t know about you but I’m not okay with all my internet activity being sold to some unknown company.

Information privacy is a big objection but this next part triggers me more than the FeedNet using your information for their profit. The government could just order the company to give them sensitive information. It’s worse than that, right now we live in culture where the government agencies are hungry for surveillance. The NSA has used information from millions of phonecalls, who says that another government agency wouldn’t just use the feed as a surveillance system. The problem with the feed here is that it has too much control. In the book Violet says she can’t remove the feed because it literally controls some of her body’s function. (P. 171) This could mean the feed can access their eyes. That explains why after the hacker attacked the group, the feed was disconnect in the hospital and used to gather evidence on the hacker. (“Still Boring” P.71). Government Agencies could probably hack into the feed or order FeedNet to access a person visuals to monitor someone else. Talk about an Invasion of privacy, to steal someone’s eyes and use them as a camera.


Privacy is my first and main objection with the Feed but there are a few more, but to hear those you’ll have to stick around as I read the book. See you, in two weeks for another post.

 Next post on Consumerism and Advertisement in the Feed.

 Andre M. (1008)

Resources Used:

 Greenwald, Glen."NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily." The Gaudian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order. Accessed 3 April 2017.

 The Associated Press. "Senate Votes to Kill Privacy Rules Guarding Your Online Info." The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/03/23/us/politics/ap-us-congress-broadband-privacy-rules.html. Accessed 3 April 2017. 

 Anderson, M.T. Feed. London: Walker, 2013. Print.

 "The Scrapping Of Internet Privacy: Something We Can All Hate Together." YouTube. Uploaded by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Uploaded 30 March 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFB5LsSaQHw (didn't know how to cite this? It aired on TV but I watched it on Youtube.)

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