This is my own, personal selection of the “most absurd and invasive, but TRUE things done by tech platforms”(*):

• the reveal that Facebook is outing sex workers
• Uber using “God view” to impress party goers
• Amazon deleting Orwell’s books from the Kindle
• Uber using their data to calculate one-night stands…
• Cam girl website using facial recognition to match users with the cam girls most similar to people they know
• Facebook telling its advertisers that they could identify teens who feel “worthless or insecure
• Companies that send ultrasound from your TV to your tablet (or vice-versa) to track you

(*) That question was originally asked in January 2017 by Chris G. The first entries of this post are some of the answers that he received, selected according my own idea of what is most absurd and invasive, or in any case most needed to be known by the general public. If you have suggestions for other entries, just email me

IMAGE SOURCE: The Scary Side of Big Data