Guardian of the GPL: Online advertising is becoming “a perfect despotism”

Source: J.M. Porup
Affiliation: Ars Technica

In this article, the author provides an overview of Eben Moglen (Guardian of the GPL)' s thoughts on why online advertising will lead to a tyrannical dictatorship and the end of human freedom. Moglen argues that because major platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter seek to capture our attention and change our behavior through surveilling and predicting human behavior, this will lead to a more effective tyranny for humanity. Moglen believes that we consent to this because it is private companies doing the work, but he argues that governments can easily piggyback off of these efforts. The article ends with what Moglen believes is at stake and some proposals for how to break out of this system.

Keywords: Advertising , Computer Science , Manipulation , Privacy , Surveillance , Tech Ethics , Tech Industry