The Analysis Of The Article "I’M Being Followed: How Google - & 104 Other Companies – Are Tracking Me On The Web" By Alexis C. Madrigal
Nowadays we are living in a digitized world where technology has become a major part of our everyday life. The evolution of the worldwide web has created an array of ethical issues that raise a major concern regarding the invasion of privacy. Users’ privacy is being exploited by advertisers and data collection companies. Alexis C. Madrigal’s article “I’m Being Followed: How Google - and 104 Other Companies – Are Tracking Me on the Web” sheds some light on how advertisers and tech elites purposely introduce vague self-regulation policies which are supposed to promote anonymity but in fact invade users’ privacy and sell their digital identity to other companies. The author’s claim is well supported with adequate evidence throughout the article. Alexis C. Madrigal’s expository style, smooth flow writing and personal experience enhances readers’ engagement, however, the audience is limited due to some word choice that are incomprehensible for a large portion of readers.
The content of this article is supported through the utilization of statistical evidence, personal experience and real life examples. Madrigal relates to the readers by supporting her claim through personal experience and sharing her encounter with online cookies and urging the reader to be involved in the topic “My complete list includes 105 companies, and there are dozens more than that in existence. You, too, could compile your own list using Mozilla's tool, Collusion” (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”). In addition, she further supports her statement by quoting a professional in the field and Facebook employee, Jeff Hammerbacher, stating that "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads," (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”).
Madrigal then intensively uses real life incidents, such as google breaching safari’s privacy policy agreement, and statistical evidence to add credibility to her claim regarding the vague self-regulation policies implemented by money driven advertisers. “For browser-based "Do Not Track" tools, a full 61 percent of respondents expected that if they clicked such a button, no data would be collected about them.” (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”).
The article is well organized with a variety of sentences alternating between compound and complex sentences in order to maintain the fluidity of the text. However, Madrigal’s diction is formal and dense and might pose to be troublesome to older readers, who may not be familiar with some terminologies as shown when Madrigal describes the way adroll works “While they're there, you drop a cookie on them. Thereafter you can target ads to them” (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”).
Madrigal’s word choice limits the readers intended and might scare away the younger generation that is just grasping the concept of the internet. The logical and serious tone portrayed in Madrigal’s words is appropriate for the readers and purpose of this article. Madrigal’s tone as she emphasizes the drastic effect of obtaining digital information, “There are many powerful things you can do once you've got data on a user” (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”), sets a serious tone for the reader and addresses the consequential effects it might have on their digital and personal life. Nevertheless there is some freedom of self-expression to lighten the mood. One literary skill that stands out is the usage of idioms throughout the text, an example of this is her statement “This is a double-edged sword” (Madrigal, “I’m being followed”), thus giving a poetic sense and visualization to the article.
