We have to begin to grasp that consumer data collection doesn’t just have to do with what kinds of advertisements we are going to have to click through on the internet.
Major corporations in every sector obtain and analyze data about consumers in order to determine their investment agendas, and that consequently impacts government spending and budget allocations and overall issues of social policy and public welfare.
For example, GlaxoSmithKline the giant pharmaceutical company, meticulously examined consumer demographic data in Egypt to determine the potential for investment opportunities there. They found out how much the average Egyptian spends annually on healthcare, how many people have health insurance, what are the most common health issues, etc., They even check on the numbers of graduates in medical fields, average wages, all the various types of medical facilities available in Egypt, and so on.
It all seems innocent, if a bit over-detailed. But the end of that whole process is the slashing of subsidies for medicine, the de-funding of public healthcare facilities in Egypt, strict limits on wages for medical professionals, controls on the availability of medicine, and the selling off of the healthcare sector to private investors via Public Private Partnerships. It is the abdication of the state from its duty to maintain public health, an abandonment of the public interest, and the surrender of Egypt’s sovereignty.
And the beginning of that process was market analysis and consumer data collection