Kerby Anderson

Mike Huckabee warns us about the influence of Big Tech in a recent commentary. He understands that everyone knows that Big Tech has been in the business of collecting data on each of us to sell to advertisers. But then he asks, “did you know that they’re also selling information about us to federal agencies?

He explains that these companies have been collecting data from different services and then use artificial intelligence to understand our personality traits. Apparently, the government is using this information to determine “how to deal with you within the criminal justice system.”

Facebook, for example, scoops up information on the 2.4 billion people each month who use the service by tracking their browsing history. When you go online, it can look at news you read, books you order, and websites you visit. If that is not enough, they also are using a tool called “Off-Facebook Activity” to see your external browsing activity.

Google is gathering data to build profiles of people using their interests, location, and demographics. It is also selling this data to third parties. In fact, Google has actually purchased two of the biggest third-party ad companies.

Through a database called SensorVault, Google also sends information directly to law enforcement. This includes your geographical location which is collected by cell phone towers and GPS signals.

Amazon offers its services to advertisers which include not only browsing history but actual purchases and deliveries. This also includes such information as delivery addresses and credit cards that are used.

For many years, critics have said that Big Tech is beginning to look quite a bit like Big Brother.  That certainly seems to be the case.