Ferocious ambitions

Although no one as far as is known is going to lose their home or job as a result of Google being sloppy with its privacy controls............
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Or Facebook collecting every tiny detail of your social activity.
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The parallels between the tech industry in Silicon Valley now and the financial system which so catastrophically failed in recent years is startling. 
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A small elite of gifted, largely male, super-wealthy masters of the universe are creating systems through their own brilliance which very few others in government, regulation or the general public can understand. 
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The engineering of products which people like and use. 
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And the startling creation of wealth which accompanies them. 
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Has a dampening effect on the criticisms and concerns of those who believe that the control of the few over the data of the many has potentially serious consequences.
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Here is where the real threat to the open web lies. 
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A series of decisions made by an elite of ferociously competitive business owners, whose consequences are unclear and whose methods are poorly understood by those who are increasingly dependent on the products and services of these opaque companies.
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Never before in human history have so few controlled and influenced so many.
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Oh, and you are one of those so controlled.
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You are certainly influenced as well but do you retain some discretion, probably less than you think?
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Some autonomous thoughts about these things maybe but no real possibility of changing anything.
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Maybe not important to you while life moves smoothly along, but the result of this surrender of your life information can be crippling when things go pear shaped.
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This by itself is serious enough.
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The question then arises where do we go from here?
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My own guess is another Black Swan or unexpected event.
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What we can say with certainty is that the accelerating pace of change will for sure introduce unexpected consequences.
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And this simply because those leading these organisations also have no clue about some of the consequences of their actions.