Privacy
I just built a tool: Browser Privacy Report that shows what information you are sharing with websites. Did you know that your browser is sharing information about you? Did you know Google and Facebook are able to track sites you visit if that site is using Google Analytics or Meta Pixel? At this point, most sites use tools like Google Analytics and Meta Pixel to help improve website and ad performance. It allows these sites visibility into you well beyond what they are getting just from watching what posts you are interested in and what you search for. I built that tool to show people just how much they are sharing with others.
The Power of Habit
There is a great book by Charles Duhigg titled The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. The book illustrates habits and how companies use the habit cycle to manipulate their customers. Two examples stuck with me.
In one example, the book tells of how Target used rewards cards to track buyer shopping behavior and purchases. Later they started doing this with credit cards and ultimately they just do this on credit cards. There are several events that happen to Target’s customers that are very lucrative for them: the customer moves, the customer has a baby, etc. In these cases the customer buys more than usual. They got so good at monitoring shopping behavior that they could predict a shoppers due date as accurately as a doctor based on shopping behavior.
Another example was showing how casinos use a number of tactics to stimulate their customers to gamble more and come to the casino more often. One example they gave told of a woman that lost everything because the casino manipulated her habits.
Weaponized Cognitive Dissonance
When I have mentioned privacy with just about anyone, most people say they do not worry about it because they have nothing to hide. People are failing to see how easily they can be manipulated or why these big tech companies are tracking behavior.
The answer is Cognitive Dissonance and Weaponized Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance is the mental discomfort you feel when you hold two clashing beliefs, or when your actions don’t match your beliefs. For example: you believe smoking is deadly, but you smoke. That tension is cognitive dissonance.
Weaponized Cognitive Dissonance is understanding your beliefs. Getting you to publicly state those beliefs. Then exploiting those beliefs by subtly suggesting if you believe X you would do Y. Chase Hughes explains in very well in this podcast with Shawn Ryan. This is how a cult leader gets you to ignore when their prophecy doesn’t happen. This is how a pimp would get a woman to prostitute herself.
