7. HYPOTHESIS
This thesis presents the hypo hesis that data aggregation, when used by
t
advertisers, leads to self-fulfilling prophecies and furthers har mful ste-
reotypes. New marketing techniques that mine our personal infor mation
present us with advertisements based on habits of people whose likes
and dislikes are similar to ours. These assumptions, for example that a
person in a low-income community will be interested in trade school,
lower a community’s potential and attempt to create unnecessary cul-
tural assimilation. When using free media channels, it is essential to
realize that the product is the audience, and consumers are corporate
advertisers. Such a hypothesis could lead to more accountability from
corporations, or restr ucture how this infor mation is used. What if data
mining were used to raise up our communities rather than keep them at
status quo?
