In The Social Dilemma , the Netflix documentary that has been in the news recently for its radical revelations, former executives at major technology companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others, share how their ex-employers have developed sophisticated algorithms that not only predict users’ actions but also know […]
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The knowledge that technology companies are preying on their users’ digital activities without their consent and awareness is well-known. But Associate Professor Jon Truby and Clinical Assistant Professor Rafael Brown at the Centre for Law and Development at Qatar University have pulled the curtain on another element that technology companies are pursuing to the detriment of people’s lives, and investigated what we can do about it.
Their paper identifies “digital thought clones,” which act as digital twins that constantly collect personal data in real-time, and then predict and analyze the data to manipulate people’s decisions.
Activity from apps, social media accounts, gadgets, GPS tracking, online and offline behavior and activities, and public records are all used to formulate what they call a “digital thought clone”.