Consumer panopticon is a very remarkable new technology that both Hull and Lessig refer to in their discussion on privacy. It is a system that collects data about you from where you go online that results in better-targeted advertising. Advantages to this include efficiency for gatherers of data (companies), the sales of things to you that you're actually interested in, and that computers can tell what you like and might actually buy rather than trying to sell you any random item. Disadvantages to this include manipulation, discrimination, and issues with the government. Lessig in particular is concerned with manipulation because they system knows better than you do what you want and when you wanted. Discrimination can be problematic because some people might be solicited different items based on how much money they make. Also, these companies could possibly turn over information to the government about who they monitor and sell to.
Overall, I don't think consumer panopticon is much of an issue or anything we should be too concerned about. I think we just need to be aware that it exists. It can be advantageous to us in some ways because we are being advertised to about items that studies show we may like. For example, I'm a big ebay shopper, and I really like how once I buy an item, ebay will display a list of 10 or more items that shoppers like me were also interested in. I usually browse this section and occasionally find something that I might potentially buy. It is helpful to have a system that monitors your activity online such as this. I can see where consumer panopticon might be troublesome for some people but I do not think it is something to dwell on. It mildly invades one's privacy for the sake of companies better targeting their buyers.
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I have very mixed feelings about panopticon. I agree that it can be convenient and there are certainly advantages. It is nice to go on to a website like eBay and see a list of items that I’m interested in. The feature on iTunes that shows similar information is another example of how it can be very useful, but there are definitely some things that worry me about panopticon as well. Websites that use IP addresses to identify your location and bring ads for local companies are very intrusive. I hate when I log onto a website and get popups for businesses only in my area or for “Looking to meet singles in Ponte Vedra?” It is frightening that my IP address and my search history are being constantly monitored and that I really do not have any privacy on the internet. It seems that panopticon could be a slippery, slippery slope.
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