Corporate Power

Gilbert, in the reading, states
“People’s barriers are down and they fail to realize the extent to which corporations affect their online behavior”
Do you agree with this?
There has been much talk about how Facebook privacy issues are exposing their users to unknown corporations such as advertisers. But how is this any different to the information that people can access that the government gathers in their Census? The difference is that the Facebook information is more up-to-date.
Facebook is using an old idea in their social networking site. In the past, advertising company would research their target market using the Census gathered by the Government, to create an advertising campaign to entice you to their product or service. Now-a-days advertisers can reach their target market with the click of a few buttons, but using the most current information available to them.
To say that “people’s barriers are down and they fail to realise the extent to which corporations affect their online behaviour” (Gilbert, 2008) is a little naive, as advertising companies have always affected our everyday life. The internet is just a new media that they use to target their target markets.