Is your new car going to be as bad as facebook / Google / ?
What was the question?
Basically, the latest tech. companies use you as the user as the product - yes, everyone knows that - however, they wrap it up, they put you into a nice walled garden where you feel it's okay to keep popping in and out and you know, the app is where all the "other people are"... so you kind of have to go there, don't you... and well, if it costs you a bit of invisible data, what's the harm?
I'll just leave this here:
Now, there's not a lot we can do about companies like facebook - they provide a distraction service, where they crave you attention span. The young'ens can replace facebook with TikTok or whatever fad is currently doing the rounds. As we know the Gen Z-ers have an attention span of a gnat - they probably wouldn't have read this far before going off and checking something else that notified them that something else was far more important and needs their sole focus and attention for the next 60 seconds...before... you get the idea...
Nothing is really going to change, these companies have got so big, have such a strong hold on societies that have allowed them to grow their roots through the fabric of peoples lives. Apparently in far off places (you know I'm kidding) people are using the platform as a means of running their businesses - no facebook doesn't like it, but it is a nod to the genius of the people who figured out that a free platform can be used to run their business, therefore costing them less to do business. If facebook were to collapse and go away, these people would just find another way. They'll adapt.
Right, to the point. And this has been a long time coming - not the point, but the modern car, 5G and YOUR data... I have a poster on my home/office wall from about 2016-ish when I did work for BMW and Mercedes and they were planning the "always connected vehicles". I even did some R&D work in San Francisco with VISA and had the front half of a Ford Mustang as my "desk" for a while as a way to simulate and demo data collection, use and might I say it, a little bit of abuse....
This article has just landed:
DEVELOPING business strategies for VEHICLE DATA
...and, "what's the big deal?", I hear you say.... well, you know that facebook model? yep. it's now going to move to your car.
You don't have a problem with that. That's fine.
But you do have a problem with Apple and Google tracking your every movement, slurping up all that data so that they can build a better model all about you...so they can focus more attention, more adverts (commercials), more targetted things in your direction - and can subsequently charge more advertising agencies for getting that info under your nose.
If you've ever used Windows 10/11 Home edition, you'll appreciate what I mean. I confess I haven't used Windows desktop since about Windows 7-era. I was shocked to see "adverts" in the menu items, I was like, "WTF?" this is an Operating System, why has it got adverts in it trying to sell me things? I'm not in a web-browser.
Now...you leave your house, you step into your car for a trip out to the supermarket, you put the key in the ignition (okay, modern day cars don't have to do that, but stick with me), and before it allows you to start the engine...errr...connect the battery to the elctric motor, you have to watch a YOU TUBE style advert where you cannot [Skip ad in 30secs] and then when you stop at the traffic lights, the same thing happens, "hey, that shop over there is having a discount sale, if you are interested, click here and I'll send a QR code to your phone that is valid for the next hour to get your discount in store today" (yes, I hang my head in shame, I built a PoC of that for VISA)
Whilst it sounds great and futuristic and it'll be sold as being amazing. It'll end up the same. A few large tech. companies and apps will end up dominating the space and it'll just become the norm.
You know what I've found a recent enjoyment of?.... online forums.
Yes, websites that have a [forum] button, you sign up to it, you can then visit, it has categories of interests relating to the original website, it is run, managed and maintained by enthusiasts, some people donate money to help with running costs, the data is stored in a DB owned by the forum owner, it is not sold, it is not mined, it is not run through AI/ML algorithms... it just is....a source of historic discussions and information and knowledge about specific subjects, ideas and creativity. Yes, you can get that within facebook Groups, but y'know, that is that... this is this.... a lot of forums died off, but a lot have stayed around and a lot of started to grow larger and still keep the morals and ethics in place.
I don't like the sound of the future/modern car. It sounds like a horrid place to be.
I'll stick with driving my 1954 Standard Vanguard, that has no technology... at all
...and it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it.
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