I’m sure some serious thoughts also happen on the operating table, at the wedding altar, at the Thanksgiving meal, in homeless shelters, and other places.
I just read an article quoting Tim Cook and Giovanni Buttarelli, Europe’s data protection supervisor. Though I can’t prove it, I believe that the weaponization cited is happening rapidly because of the increase in smartphone use. Here’s a quote:
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has joined the chorus of voices warning that data itself is being weaponized against people and societies — arguing that the trade in digital data has exploded into a “data industrial complex”.
Cook did not namecheck the adtech elephants in the room: Google, Facebook and other background data brokers that profit from privacy-hostile business models. But his target was clear.
“Our own information — from the everyday to the deeply personal — is being weaponized against us with military efficiency,” warned Cook. “These scraps of data, each one harmless enough on its own, are carefully assembled, synthesized, traded and sold.