Many years ago, I viewed a movie called, “ A Streetcar named Desire “ [ starring Marlon Brando ]

Its latest version is Facebook but it would be better to call it a Greed Ship ( a Space Ship ) than a car [ starring Marc Zuckerberg ]

A earth-bound car and a space-ship move in different dimensions and vastly different speeds

But why call Facebook, a Greed Ship ?

Because it’s greed for advertising revenue, is unlimited

Here are contextual figures :

Ø In 2019, Facebook’s Advertising Revenue reached $ 69.6 Billion ( 98.5 % of its total income )

Facebook's average revenue per user also significantly increased in the same

time span, going from 6.81 U.S. dollars in 2013 to 24.96 U.S. dollars in 2018

[ Facebook's advertising revenue worldwide from 2009 to 2019 ]

Ø It is estimated that advertising spending worldwide will surpass 560 billion U.S. dollars in 2019

[ Global advertising spending from 2010 to 2019 ]

That means, Facebook garnered some 12.5 % of World spend on advertising

And here is India’s contribution to online advertising :

Online ad revenue of Facebook and Google in India rose to Rs 11,500 crore in FY19, the filings reviewed by BloombergQuint showed.

Of this, the search engine behemoth clocked Rs 9,203 crore from ads compared to Rs 6,389 crore in the previous fiscal while the social media giant garnered Rs 2,233 crore.

With over 1.3 billion people and about 500 million internet users, digital advertising in India—the fastest-growing advertising market in the world—is expanding at a faster pace than any other medium.

According to a report by Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., online ad spend is expected to reach Rs 28,249 crore by 2022—up from Rs 13,683 crore in 2019.

[ Indian Entities Spent $1.6 Billion On Facebook And Google Ads In 2018-19 ]

Here is what Peter Diamandis writes in his 2020 book,

“ The Future is Faster than You Think “ [ page : 118 ] ,

“ ….the global advertising industry surpassed $ 550 billion, driving Google’s valuation north of $ 700 billion and Facebook’s above $ 500 billion. The reason for this spike is that these numbers are based on our data and the trail left by,

Ø Our searches

Ø Our likes and dislikes

Ø What we desire

Ø Who our friends are

Ø What we ( and they ) are clicking on these days

But with a blitzkrieg of TECHNOLOGIES converging on the industry, advertising will continue to change. First, it’s likely to get a little more invasive and a lot more personal “

Within a few months of Peter’s Prediction, Facebook is out to prove him right, by launching :

Announcing Project Aria: A Research Project on the Future of Wearable AR / 16 Sept 2020

As expected, this innocuous-sounding announcement says :

Ø Project Aria glasses are not a consumer product, nor are they a prototype. They won’t display any information on the inside of the lens, and research participants cannot view or listen to the raw data captured by the device.

Ø Again, we are not releasing this device to the general public and it won’t be for sale.

The announcement goes on to list measures adopted for DATA PRIVACY PROTECTION , at :

https://about.fb.com/realitylabs/projectaria/

But critics would rather believe Peter Diamandis than trust Facebook !

Following is one article re “ potential misuse “ of Project Aria VR Glasses :

Facebook’s Project Aria Is Google Maps — For Your Entire Life

Dave Gershgorn ( 18 Sept 2020 )

Extract :

Ø Facebook can already see almost every aspect of how the world uses the internet, through its ad tracking of users and nonusers on and off its site. Project Aria would add a physical dimension to Facebook’s omnipotent gaze.

Ø If the project goes according to plan, the final result would be a live, 3D map of the world, constantly updated and refreshed by people walking around with AR headsets

Ø Ostensibly, Facebook will possess a live map of your home, pictures of your

loved ones, pictures of any sensitive documents or communications you might

be looking at with the glasses on, passwords — literally your entire life.

Ø The product and research decisions made by Facebook right now can determine whether Facebook is actually creating a distributed surveillance panoptic on.

Ø Who has access to see the data from this live 3D map, and what, precisely, constitutes private versus public data ? And who makes that determination ?

Ø Faces might be blurred, but people can be easily identified without their faces. What happens if law enforcement wants to subpoena a day’s worth of Facebook’s LiveMap?

Ø One thing is for certain: If the company handles this platform the same way it’s handled Facebook.com, we’re in for a lot of trouble

===================================================

Have no doubt re the INTENTIONS of Facebook , notwithstanding its public pronouncement re Data Privacy Protection

No company would spend millions of dollars just for the sake of “ Research “ . Sooner – than later – it wants to make money through “ Commercialization “ of that research . And Facebook is no exception

Without doubt, dozens of other companies ( notable being, Google – Microsoft – Apple – Amazon – Tesla – Baidu – Softbank etc ), are working on equivalent of Project Aria

Stakes are huge

Whoever succeeds first with such technology packed / AI driven / light weight and cheap , AR / VR Glasses, can expect to earn billions of dollars by selling these to police departments of governments around the World . And may be, millions of students who cannot attend classes due to Covid pandemic

Oculus Quest 2 was launched a few days back, priced at $ 299 . It is meant for gaming

It is only a matter of a few months before a Chinese Company starts selling one for $ 100

Governments around the World are debating :

How to stop Social Media from un-authorized ( and FREE ) collection of PRIVATE PERSONAL DATA of its users – then make tons of money by selling it to advertisers ?

Answer :

IN LONG TERM :

With dozens of Project Arias popping up all around the World , I don’t think we can totally STOP this of snooping and collecting of PRIVATE DATA , beyond 5 years

IN SHORT TERM :

If there is a political will on part of our Central Government, we can, most certainly REGULATE the Social Media, by quickly implementing :

Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]………………….....[ 14 Feb 2019 ]

SARAL ( Single Authentic Registration for Anywhere Login )…[ 10 Feb 2019 ]

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 22 Sept 2020