Feed by M.T Anderson

“So you don’t necessarily see the persuasion profile being made. You don’t see it being used to influence your behavior. And the companies we’re turning over this data to have no legal obligation to keep it to themselves. In the wrong hands, persuasion profiling gives companies the ability to circumvent your rational decision making, tap into your psychology, and draw out your compulsions. Understand someone’s identity, and you’re better equipped to influence what he or she does” (Pariser, pg.123).

Reading, The You Loop by Eli Pariser and Who Do Online Adverstisers Think You Are? by Jeffrey Rosen, made me think of the book Feed by M.T. Anderson.  Published in 2002, the book illustrates why we need to be concerned about consumerism, privacy and advertising.  In one section, the main character is going to the mall, he doesn’t know what he wants until the feed tells him.  The feed knows him and knows what he wants before he does. The book also talks about how the feed categorizes each individual into a group so it can better sell to them. I would recommend this book as way to start a discussion about consumerism, privacy and advertising.

Eli Pariser, "The You Loop," in The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you (New York: Penguin Press, 2011), pp. 109-135.

Jeffrey Rosen, "Who do online advertisers think you are?" New York Times (30 Nov. 2012)

Anderson, M. T. (2002). Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.