Small towns are small, so a) the number of people who track you is also small; and b) you can go somewhere else. Big data is global. There is no escape.
In small towns, observation is symmetrical. You know who's doing what. But you also know who the gossiping busybodies are, and you know who talks to whom. Big Data is deeply hidden, with complex technical and financial relationships.
In small towns, relationships are, by dint of matching our evolutionary context, reasonably human. Big Data is by its nature depersonalized and abstracted. In person, people being creepy can get feedback that they are creepy. With Big Data, though, the only direct feedback they get may be increased profits.
Small towns are small, so a) the number of people who track you is also small; and b) you can go somewhere else. Big data is global. There is no escape.
In small towns, observation is symmetrical. You know who's doing what. But you also know who the gossiping busybodies are, and you know who talks to whom. Big Data is deeply hidden, with complex technical and financial relationships.
In small towns, relationships are, by dint of matching our evolutionary context, reasonably human. Big Data is by its nature depersonalized and abstracted. In person, people being creepy can get feedback that they are creepy. With Big Data, though, the only direct feedback they get may be increased profits.