Apple and Facebook: “Big Brother”?

About eight years ago when I bought my first iPod I inserted it into my USB port and iTunes ‘magically’ popped up. Immediately I was inundated with questions and forced to create a username (Apple ID). Until this very day I still have that same Apple ID. Therefore, once I created my Apple ID, the company, in a sense, became, “Big Brother” (exactly the type of ‘force’ they were vowing to defeat when they released the 1984 Macintosh Commercial). The company can now track all of my purchases, tastes, dislikes, etc. This type of personal information has obvious benefits for the company which has recently become the wealthiest company with a market cap close to 530 billion dollars. This is over 130 million dollars more than second on the list, Exxon Mobile. It’s a bit disconcerting that an entity can keep such close taps on its consumers, and therefore exploit them. I feel like we are back in the days of the Soviet Union. I picture Stalin’s giant oil based painting of himself, staring down at the entire country. Maybe Apple won’t send me to the Gulag, but they certainly have superior knowledge of my life than most of my acquaintances and even some close friends. And Facebook?…Facebook?! Are you kidding me? Facebook makes Apple look incompetent when it comes to knowledge of its user base. I’m surprised Facebook hasn’t sent me a speeding ticket in the mail! No, but seriously, Facebook knows far too much about me, my hobbies, my interests and other things. Things that I wouldn’t want my mother to find out about, or even the law for that matter. Not only does the social giant know everything about me, it exploits that knowledge to the nth degree. The right side of my homepage is like an enormous billboard telling me I should drink Amstel, go back to Graduate school and donate sperm to Yale Hospital for a quick buck. We’re all slaves to these two giant corporations who cater to interests and control us like puppets. Why don’t you just call me Geppetto, Pinocchio whatever it’s all the same to me. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

-D. Spinelli