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standpoint. Amazon makes lots of products widely available, and in the case of
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customers and revolutionize e-commerce. Amazon Prime, for instance, doesn’t
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THE VALUE OF DATA
Data comes into play here, too. Amazon has its own troves, especially related to
consumer behavior, which is especially valuable to advertisers. It can trace who
has bought what, and when, and from whom (and what you’ve asked Alexa),
even things you’ve browsed but not purchased or how long something sat in
your cart.
Amazon holds onto data you voluntarily give it, including contacts, images and
video you’ve uploaded, special-occasion reminders, playlists, watch lists, wish
lists, and more. And the company automatically collects your location, app use,
and which websites you visit before and after coming to Amazon.com. In
Amazon Go stores and stores that use its Just Walk Out technology, video and
deep-learning AI track who grabs what.
This kind of data collection is not done only by the tech giants. For instance,
weather apps track your location even when you’re not using the apps, unless
you can opt out. The reason, ostensibly, is to provide instantaneous access to
weather information wherever you are, but many of these apps sell your
location information to third parties, a practice for which the City of Los
Angeles sued The Weather Company.
Photo^ credit:^ VDB^ Photos/shutterstock.com