Prank the big data economy | Netzdemo Portal

Information is an important resource for companies to control customers, to prescribe the strategies of other companies and draw scenarios for the financial market. The creation of flexible marketing strategies, which are geared to each individual customer, is a central aspect of profitability. That’s why the constant control and traceability of individual behavior of each individual are so valuable for big data companies. Google, as one example, generates its enormous profits by spying on, selling, sold and targeted advertising the habits of Internet users.

Many actions have already taken place, such as diffusing fake press releases, but they usually had as main goal the creation of awareness over an issue, denouncing the policy of a specific company/institution, detouring the dominant discourse and unmasking the daily order of things. Other actions involved cracking, blocking servers, defacing websites,or similar are causing serious damage. What activists rarely tried to achieve, however, is causing a negative economical impact by spreading fake information on a company. And doing this may require really simple programming tools, a meticulous study of the „target“, some knowledge of the sector and, sometimes, the help of an „insider“ willing to pass some information, such as templates with the corporate design.

Some ideas for information guerrilla that could work in making them pay and in messing up their business models:

Fake news to publish in the media in order to affect the reputation of a company and disrupt its communication strategy.
A fake mail from a boss, a public servant, etc can create conflicts or make evident some usually hidden behavior. It can be a powerful weapon of retaliation.
A fake press release from a company reporting some fake financial facts in order to affect the stock market.
A fake website in corporate design with forged information. Numerous examples from The Yes Men.