A communication technology that interests me is the subject Big Data. Big Data refers to the volume of data created, distributed and stored by way of internet connections. I think what most fascinates me is currently how social media uses Big Data. For example how certain products get advertised to you and why people believe their always being listened too. As well as how long do they store your information for and continuously market and sell your information? Major companies work together selling your information to third parties to market new products to you. As I was reading about Big Data in Chapter 25, it stated that for companies the cost of storing your data as compared to deleting it is way cheaper.
That brings me to a great personal example about data storage. I was in middle school when Facebook was first introduced to the world and like any middle schooler would, I signed up for an account. I probably had the account for 1-2 years but prior to me entering high school, I deleted it. I’m currently 22 years old and about 2 years ago my mom had texted me about my Facebook being up again. Confused, I called her and asked what she was talking about. She was logged in to Facebook and told me that my old account was back up and running. We reached out to support to shut down the account but they never explained why it was back up and running only that they had now deleted the account. Honestly, they probably still have the account information.
How long should companies be allowed to store people’s data? Especially after a user requests to delete their account or be removed from the subscription.
Who knows what Big Data is out there about you? Well, there’s no way of finding out !
Daniel Bender 