<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">@Barrack<div><br></div><div>I actually agree with Patrick that the Digital Marketing Ecosystem is broken. And needs to be rethought. </div><div><br></div><div>However digital advertising budget spend is rising every year. Possibly because the alternative is even worse.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://marketingland.com/report-digital-now-makes-up-51-of-us-ad-spending-248617">https://marketingland.com/report-digital-now-makes-up-51-of-us-ad-spending-248617</a><br><br><div dir="ltr" id="AppleMailSignature"><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><b>Ali Hussein</b></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><b>Principal</b></span></div><div><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">AHK & Associates</b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">+254 0713 601113 </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Twitter: @AliHKassim</span></p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font></font></span><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Skype: abu-jomo</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a></span></p><font><br></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle</span></div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><br></span></div>Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br>On 5 Apr 2019, at 4:00 PM, Barrack Otieno via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><span>Interesting perspective Patrick,</span><br><span></span><br><span>In am sure Ali and Hari Hare would disagree with you on the aspect of</span><br><span>cutting down the Digital Marketing Budget :-)</span><br><span></span><br><span>Regards</span><br><span></span><br><span>On 4/5/19, Patrick A. M. Maina <<a href="mailto:pmaina2000@yahoo.com">pmaina2000@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span> Great find, Barrak! Added to my reading list.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Indeed the manufacturing of thought and behavior in humans is much more</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>profitable (e.g. in terms of computational simplicity and efficiency at</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>scale) than observing truly independent behaviors with a view of making</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>predictions about specific individuals. The author is not being sensational</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>when she claims that we are being automated. That's exactly what is</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>happenning.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Rabbit hole and information bubble algorithms create narrow tunnels of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>knowledge into which groups of people can be gently herded (nudge theory) so</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>they can be collectively targeted for interest based ads. This is the</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>opposite of what most people think with regard to how surveillance</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>capitalism works, because most people assume passive surveillance, naively</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>believing that they are in control of their actions as they the platforms.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>As the author warns, gatekeeping the internet gives platforms immense power</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>over what people know (or should know), and allows for covert manipulation</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>of perspectives and thought (be they political or interests based).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>What I haven't seen popping out from the interview is whether her book takes</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>a closer look at addiction algorithms within the context of attention as a</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>property and economic resource. Social media companies hire PHD level</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>psycholgists and neuroscientists to help them design algorithms that turn</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>people into addicts (using scientific insights about how the human brain's</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>pleasure/reward system works).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>To the brain there is no difference between addiction to gambling,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>cigarettes, hard drugs or social media. It's all the same chemicals</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>(dopamine) working in the same way. The goal of getting people addicted is</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>so that they can boost engagement and then use your activity sell more ads.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>It's an ethical minefield.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Now, employers have paid for workers time but they are not aware that a</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>third party has secretly turned their workers into addicts so that the third</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>party can steal (yes, steal) and sell a fraction of the employer's time to</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>advertisers. This should be illegal, but most employers are still in "old IT</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>paradigm" with very few understanding how "new IT" works.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Employers think it is the employee's fault - but the employee is not fully</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>in control of their own actions (thanks to the work of brain science</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>experts).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>At macro level, this diversion of workers attention is grand plunder of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>entire economies and contributes greatly to reduced productivity and lower</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>innovation (besides the stolen, paid for time).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>At micro-level, people lose jobs and families are shattered because of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>disciplinary action (yet they were under some form of "mental hypnosis" and</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>not fully aware of what they were doing).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>The same case for our students... theft of attention wastes the precious</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>resources that parents have sacrificed to invest in their children's</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>education. The addicted child cannot maintain grades via honest means as</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>they don't spend time studying. Further there is a likelihood that addictive</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>algorithms could be a gateway to other addictive habits including drugs. All</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>this can be quite alarming when looked at from a long term perspective.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>... and we haven't even touched on the unintended consequence of malevolent</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>ecosystem participants (radicalization / subversion agents).</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>The surveillance industry is sustained by silo thinking and self interest.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>We have businesses looking for easy ways to reach and/or engage customers,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>going "digital" by assiging teams on social media platforms to do "digital</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>marketing" (which literally feeds the monster and its crooked collaborators</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>e.g. the billion dollar click fraud industry)!</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Recently, some large companies in the US significantly cut down their</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>digital marketing budgets and, lo and behold, observed no impact on sales.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>This has led to doubts about the value of current digital marketing models</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>which tend to be rely heavily on opaqueness and unaccountability.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>The whole business model is broken, unethical and needs a complete reset.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Thanks again Barrak for the heads up and have a great day!</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Brgds,Patrick.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross-domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span> On Friday, April 5, 2019, 11:44:11 AM GMT+3, Barrack Otieno via kictanet</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span> Patrick,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>This might be of interest :-)</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Regards</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>---------- Forwarded message ----------</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>From: Richard Hill <<a href="mailto:rhill@hill-a.ch">rhill@hill-a.ch</a>></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2019 15:35:00 +0200</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Subject: [Internet Policy] The Age of Surveillance Capitalism</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>To: "Internetpolicy@Elists. Isoc. Org" <<a href="mailto:internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org">internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org</a>></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>I presume that most people on this list will have heard about a book by a</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Harvard professor that is highly critical of the current advertising-driven</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Internet business model. Here is a review:</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-su">https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-su</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>rveillance-capitalism-google-facebook</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Best,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Richard</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>--</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Barrack O. Otieno</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>+254721325277</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>+254733206359</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Skype: barrack.otieno</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>PGP ID: 0x2611D86A</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>kictanet mailing list</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/kictanet">http://twitter.com/kictanet</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/">https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Unsubscribe or change your options at</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pmaina2000%40yahoo.com">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pmaina2000%40yahoo.com</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>development.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>-- </span><br><span>Barrack O. Otieno</span><br><span>+254721325277</span><br><span>+254733206359</span><br><span>Skype: barrack.otieno</span><br><span>PGP ID: 0x2611D86A</span><br><span></span><br><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>kictanet mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a></span><br><span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a></span><br><span>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/kictanet">http://twitter.com/kictanet</a></span><br><span>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/">https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/</a></span><br><span></span><br><span>Unsubscribe or change your options at <a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40campusciti.com">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40campusciti.com</a></span><br><span></span><br><span>The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.</span><br><span></span><br><span>KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.</span><br></div></blockquote></div></body></html>