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(CNN) - These days, it feels like there's a petition for every cause imaginable.

Saving the Amazon rainforest? Check. Making Baby Yoda an emoji? Also check.

But some petitions are more successful than others.

The petition-hosting site Change.org considers a number of factors in determining which had the biggest impact: the number of people who signed, the zeitgeist and the conversations sparked and whether anything changed as a result, said Michael Jones, the platform's managing director of campaigns.

"People really see online petitions as a tool to help them fix something that is systemically broken," Jones said.

Over the past decade, people took to Change.org to raise attention to criminal justice issues, honor community heroes and challenge pharmaceutical companies and other businesses.

These are 10 of the biggest victories, according to Change.org.

After 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was was killed on February 26, 2012, his parents Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton started a petition calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader who shot him.

More than 2.2 million people signed in support of the cause. Within a week, it had become the one of the most popular petitions in the website's history, with 877,110 signatures.

The local tragedy soon became an international movement. Civil rights activists, politicians and protesters rallied behind Trayvon's family and took to the streets to demonstrate against his killing.

In April 2012, Change.org declared the petition a victory after a Florida state attorney announced that charges of second-degree murder would be lodged against Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013. But Trayvon's death forced a conversation about police brutality and inequality and helped give rise to one of the most prominent movements of the decade: Black Lives Matter.

Zimmerman is now suing Trayvon's parents, prosecutors and state authorities, alleging there was a conspiracy to frame him and demanding more than $100 million in damages.

Trayvon's parents and their attorney called the lawsuit "unfounded and reckless."

Maryland high school student Sydney Helfand started a petition in January urging Congress to pass the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act to make animal cruelty a federal felony.

The PACT Act had come extremely close to becoming law in 2017. Though the Senate passed it unanimously, it stalled in the House.

Nearly 800,000 people signed the petition and in November, the Senate passed the bipartisan legislation that the House had approved a month earlier.

US Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida credited Helfand, in part, for the bill's success. President Donald Trump signed the PACT Act into law.

As the trial of Casey Anthony, who was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, played out in 2011, a petition called for the creation of Caylee's Law, which would make it a felony for a parent of a guardian to fail to report a missing child if the child could be in danger.

It was one of the first petitions of the decade to go viral, Change.org says, ultimately attracting more than 1.3 million signatures.

At least 10 states since then have passed versions of Caylee's Law. Critics say the laws would negatively affect mostly innocent parents who may be grieving the tragic loss of a child.

Death row prisoner Rodney Reed was sentenced more than 20 years ago for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas.

Reed says he is innocent, and attorneys from the Innocence Project say they have evidence that exonerates him. The lead prosecutor in his case maintains that he is guilty.

Reed was scheduled to be executed on November 20. But in the weeks leading up to that date, outcry to stop the execution grew from supporters, including celebrities, clergy and lawmakers.

More than 2 million people signed a petition at freerodneyreed.com, and a petition on Change.org garnered more than 300,000 signatures.

Days before he was scheduled to die, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals blocked Reed's execution, allowing a lower court to consider additional evidence.

After West Coast rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle was killed in 2019, Najee Ali, a community organizer and Los Angeles resident, called on a city councilman to name an intersection for the artist.

More than 500,000 people signed the petition in the days after Nipsey's death. Less than two weeks later, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to rename the intersection of West Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles as "Nipsey Hussle Square." It's the site of Nipsey's Marathon Clothing store, near where he was fatally shot.

After a woman who goes by "K" said she was sexually assaulted by a tour guide who worked at a business promoted by TripAdvisor, she contacted the website in an effort to warn other tourists, The Guardian reported in March.

But the company suggested that she leave a review about the incident, K said in a Change.org petition. When she wrote a review, TripAdvisor did not publish it because it wasn't written as first-person account, according to The Guardian.

With the help of the Change.org team, K started a petition demanding that TripAdvisor "stop covering up sexual assaults," calling on the company to do more to warn users about businesses where assaults had been reported.

The petition received more than 500,000 signatures in the weeks after, and TripAdvisor announced changes to how it handles reviews and reports of sexual assault. But K and other activists maintained that the company still hadn't gone far enough.

After protests outside TripAdvisor's New York offices and continued pressure, the company announced further changes to its policies, including commitments to partner with sexual assault support groups.

In June, K declared that the petition had been successful.

"With these updates, TripAdvisor has shown that they are committed to both improving the experience for survivors and providing people with the information they need to travel safely," she wrote. "I'm thrilled to declare our campaign a victory."

After 12 years as a Scout, Ryan Andresen was told by his Boy Scout troop in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012 that he couldn't receive the Eagle Scout award, the highest rank in the organization.

The reason? Because he had come out as gay.

Ryan's mother Karen Andresen started a petition to protest the troop's decision, garnering hundreds of thousands of signatures and national media attention.

In a historic decision in 2013, the Boy Scouts of America voted to end its ban on openly gay youth. But it wasn't until 2015 that the organization announced it would lift its ban on gay adult leaders.

When she was 16 years old, Cyntoia Brown was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison for killing a man who had bought her for sex.

Years after her sentencing, her case gained widespread attention and inspired the viral hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown after A-list celebrities like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West publicly advocated for Brown's release.

In 2018, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Brown must serve at least 51 years in prison before she would be eligible for release. After that ruling, a petition on Change.org called for then-Gov. Bill Haslam to grant her clemency.

He did so in January, and Brown was released from prison in August at the age of 31.

In July, Teva Pharmaceuticals announced it had made a "business decision" to discontinue Vincristine -- a drug used to treat childhood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma and brain tumors.

Childhood cancer survivor and pediatric oncology nurse Liliana Haas said the drug helped save her life and the lives of many children she works with each day. So, she took to Change.org in October to demand that the pharmaceutical company bring the drug back.

More than 215,000 people signed the petition, and the issue garnered national media attention. In November, Teva Pharmaceutical responded directly to Haas' petition and announced it would again start producing the life-saving drug.

Five years after a New York Police Department officer was accused of fatally choking Eric Garner, the Justice Department announced it would not bring charges against him.

Days later, Emerald Snipes Garner, Eric Garner's youngest daughter, launched a petition demanding that NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired.

The petition received more than 144,000 signatures. Protesters interrupted the Democratic presidential debate in July to call attention to the issue, and New York Mayor and then-presidential candidate Bill de Blasio was asked why Pantaleo was still on the force.

In August, New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill fired Pantaleo. He is suing to get his job back.

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10 petitions that made impact - KXLY Spokane

It was a sunny day in July 2014 when Eric Garner was killed. The 43-year-old African American man had been approached by New York City police officers on suspicion that hed been selling loose cigarettes. After a few words were exchanged, the officers attempted an arrest. When Garner pulled away, the officers tackled him. One white officer put the father of six in a chokehold. As he lay face down on the ground under a pile of grown men, Garner pleaded for air. I cant breathe, he warned a total of 11 times before losing consciousness.

An hour later, he was dead. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide and the autopsy implicated the police. When a video of the incident hit social media, it set off a firestorm. The killing became a watershed moment in the fight for racial justice and Garners final words a rallying cry. The impact was felt all across the country, including in the small Indiana city of South Bend, where 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was serving his first term as mayor. The moment would test the young politician and leave some in his community feeling as though hed come up short.

Today, even after his rise in the polls in some early primary states, Buttigieg boasts negligible support among black Democrats, a key demographic in the race for the Democratic nomination. At the same time, his presidential campaign has put his record in South Bend particularly on race relations under a microscope. His response to the reverberations of the Garner killing in South Bend, where he tried to chart a middle ground between calls for racial justice and denial of the problem, is another example of what critics say is his failure to understand and tackle systemic racism. Buttigiegs campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

On December 13, 2014, just five months after Garners death, during its televised warmup for its game against Michigan, the Notre Dame womens basketball team wore black T-shirts with the words I Cant Breathe emblazoned across the front in big white letters.

The ensuing, predictable controversy made it into the national news cycle. Following the game, Jason Barthel, a white police officer from the city of Mishawaka, began selling slogan tees of his own from his store, South Bend Uniform, which frequently did business with the city of South Bend, including a sale for $800 days before the basketball game. The shirts prominently featured a police badge over a thin blue line with the words Breathe Easy across the top and Dont Break the Law on the bottom.

The shirts sparked outrage within the community and on social media. In a post on its Facebook page, South Bend Uniform tried to defuse some of the anger, explaining that Breathe Easywas actually referring to knowing the police are there for you.

We are all one people and this is by no means is a slam on Eric Garner or his family, God rest his soul, the post read. Lets [sic] all band together as AMERICANS regardless of our feelings and know we can and will be better!

Barthel, meanwhile, told the media that he had wanted to inject the police perspective into the conversation that was sparked by the Notre Dame womens team.

Were here to protect the public, and we want you to breathe easy knowing that the police are here to be with you and for you and protect you, he told CBS affiliate WSBT22.

In other interviews, however, he was more explicit about the shirts meaning and implications.

When you break the law, unfortunately, theres going to be consequences, and some of them arent going to be pretty, Barthel explained to the South Bend Tribune. Unfortunately, thats the reality.

Three members of South Bends city council including the bodys only two serving African American men issued a statement with the president of the South Bend branch of the NAACP. The release condemned the shirts and requested that local vendors discontinue sales. It also had an ask for Buttigieg.

In the past, the City of South Bend has done business with one of these local vendors, it read, referring to South Bend Uniform. It is our hope that Mayor Buttigieg and Mayor Wood of Mishawaka will join us in unifying our communities and not support this dangerous message.

The first-term mayor, however, did not weigh in immediately, allowing the controversy to grow. When he did speak out during a local news interview, it was not the response the statements writers had hoped for.

Buttigieg asserted that the two sides of the controversy were really not that divided after all. Theyre being portrayed like theyre on two different sides, but theyre not even talking about the same thing, he explained. Were talking about two different things. And one of those is the way that race is playing a role in our criminal justice system. And the other is about the safety of police officers who go out there every day and risk their lives. And I fear that were being led down this path that you have to choose between being pro-minority/pro-equal rights and pro-police.

The mayors remarks on the controversy did not reassure his constituents who had wanted to see Buttigieg distance himself from Barthels message.

He refused to touch it, said councilmember-elect Henry Davis Jr., who was one of the drafters of the 2014 statement and launched an unsuccessful primary challenge against the mayor the following year. And when he touched it, he agreed with both sides. His 2015 run for mayor, he said, was partly motivated by Buttigiegs reaction to the shirts.

I just really thought that he was very insensitive, he continued. I was looking for somebody to have a heart. We knew that the guy had just died from being choked to death. It was on video and it was clear on what happened with the police.

Davis, who was re-elected to the city council this year, noted that the incident is a part of the mayors larger, problematic record on issues affecting the black community. He pointed out that during Buttigiegs tenure, two unarmed black men have died at the hands of law enforcement.

Thats too much, he said.

Demonstrators protest the shooting death of Eric Logan outside of the South Bend police station following his funeral on June 29, 2019, in South Bend, Ind.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Indeed, in 2012, shortly after Buttigieg entered office, Michael Deshawn Anderson died in police custody, prompting a wrongful death lawsuit, which Andersons family eventually dropped. In June of this year, 54-year-old Eric Logan was fatally shot by white officer Sgt. Ryan ONeill, whose body camera was turned off at the time and who had an alleged history of making racist comments. The killing received national attention this summer in light of Buttigiegs presidential run and even prompted the mayor to cancel campaign events to return home for a town hall where he was confronted by an outraged community.

Hes also come under scrutiny for his firing of South Bends first black police chief after it was revealed that he had improperly taped senior white officers making racist statements about him and other black officers. Buttigieg has since admitted that firing the police chief, Darryl Boykins, was a mistake, but hes thus far refused to release the tapes. And while Boykins was fired, the white officers who were on the tapes faced no disciplinary action.

On the presidential campaign trail, the mayors campaign appeared to chalk up Buttigiegs low levels of support among black voters to homophobia within the black community. The rollout of his Frederick Douglass Plan for Black America, meant to tackle systemic racism, was equally problematic, as the campaign claimed to have endorsements from 400 black South Carolinians, but subsequent investigation by The Intercept revealed that nearly half of the names were of white people. Moreover, some of the claimed endorsers had not actually signed on.

City Councilmember Oliver Davis, who also signed the 2014 statement, publicly rebuked Buttigieg late last month when he endorsed Joe Bidens presidential campaign. Speaking about the young mayors difficulty reaching black voters, Davis told Politico, For us, this has been a consistent issue that has not gone away.

In his 2015 State of the City address, even as Buttigieg attempted to assuage concerns about the race-related controversies plaguing his administration, he used the phrase all lives matter, widely understood as a rebuke of the Black Lives Matter movement. The blunder resulted in fierce pushback from progressives when the speech resurfaced earlier this year. Buttigieg said he stopped using the phrase after he understood its implications.

Stories like these have not helped Buttigieg win over black voters. In the aftermath of the Logan shooting, an exasperated Buttigieg was caught on tape telling a black woman whod asked how he expected black folks to support him, Im not asking for your vote.

You aint getting it either, the woman responded.

More:
Pete Buttigieg and South Bend's I Can't Breathe Controversy - The Intercept

1. Second Amendment Sanctuary push aims to defy new gun laws  WSET
2. Attorney General Mark Herring, in advisory opinion, says Second Amendment resolutions have 'no legal effect'  Roanoke Times
3. Virginia AG Herring: Second Amendment sanctuary proclamations have no force  The Washington Post
4. Attorney General: Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions have no legal effect  WTVR CBS 6 News
5. Second Amendment Sanctuary push aims to defy new gun laws  WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee
6. View full coverage on Google News

See original here:
Second Amendment Sanctuary push aims to defy new gun laws - WSET

ROANOKE, Va. As more and more counties vote to become Second Amendment sanctuaries, weve compiled a list to help you keep track.

10 News talked with a Constitutional law professor to learn more about what it means to become a Second Amendment sanctuary.

To read the bills related to weapons, including guns, that will be discussed during Virginias 2020 legislative session, click here.

Counties/Cities Adopted:

Accomack County - Adopted on Dec. 18. 2019 (Slightly modified version)

Alleghany County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Amelia County - Adopted on Dec. 18, 2019

Amherst County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Appomattox County - Adopted on Nov. 18, 2019

Augusta County - Adopted on Dec. 4, 2019

Bath County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Bedford County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Bland County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

Botetourt County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

City of Bristol - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019 (Slightly modified version)

Brunswick County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019 (Confirmed with county administration)

Buchanan County - Adopted on Dec. 2, 2019

Buckingham County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Campbell County - Adopted on Nov. 7, 2019

Caroline County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Carroll County - Adopted on May 13, 2019

Charlotte County - Adopted Nov. 13, 2019

City of Chesapeake - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

City of Colonial Heights - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

City of Covington - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Craig County - Adopted Dec. 5, 2019

Culpeper County - Adopted Dec. 3, 2019

Cumberland County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Dickenson County - Adopted on Nov. 19, 2019

Dinwiddie County - Adopted on Nov. 20, 2019

Floyd County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Fluvanna County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019

City of Franklin - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Franklin County - Adopted on Dec. 17, 2019

Frederick County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019

City of Galax - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019 (Slightly modified version)

Giles County - Adopted on Nov. 21, 2019

Gloucester County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Goochland County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Grayson County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019

Greene County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Greensville County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Halifax County - Adopted on Dec. 2, 2019

Hanover County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019

Henrico County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019 (Slightly modified version)

Henry County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

Isle of Wight County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019

James City County - Approved resolution to affirm its commitment to the constitutions of the United States and Virginia on Dec. 10, 2019

King and Queen County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019 (Confirmed with county government)

King George County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

King William County - Adopted on Nov. 25, 2019

Lancaster County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019

Lee County - Adopted on Nov. 19, 2019

Louisa County - Adopted on Dec. 2, 2019

Lunenburg County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019 (Confirmed with county administration)

Mathews County - Adopted on Dec. 17, 2019

Madison County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

City of Martinsville - Passed slightly modified resolution on Dec. 10, 2019

Mecklenburg County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Middlesex County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Montgomery County - Adopted on Dec. 16, 2019 (Slightly modified version)

Nelson County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

New Kent County - Adopted on Nov. 27, 2019

Northampton County - Passed slightly modified resolution on Dec. 10, 2019

Northumberland County - Adopted on Dec. 12 (Confirmed with county administration)

City of Norton - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Nottoway County - Adopted on Nov. 21, 2019

Orange County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Page County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Patrick County - Adopted on Nov. 18, 2019

Pittsylvania County - Adopted on Nov. 19, 2019

City of Poquoson - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Powhatan County - Adopted on Nov. 25, 2019

Prince Edward County - Adopted on Dec. 17, 2019

Prince George County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Prince William County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019 (Expected to be overturned by newly elected Board)

Pulaski County - Approved on Dec. 16, 2019

Rappahannock County - Adopted on Dec. 2, 2019

Richmond County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019 (Confirmed with county administration)

Roanoke County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Rockbridge County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Rockingham County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019

Russell County - Adopted on Dec. 2, 2019

Scott County - Adopted on Dec. 4, 2019

Shenandoah County - Adopted on Dec. 9, 2019

Smyth County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Southampton County - Adopted on Nov. 25, 2019

Spotsylvania County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019

Stafford County - Adopted on Dec. 17, 2019

Surry County - Adopted on Dec. 5, 2019

Sussex County - Adopted Nov. 21, 2019

Tazewell County - Adopted on Dec. 3, 2019

Warren County - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019 (Confirmed with county administration)

Washington County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

Westmoreland County - Adopted on Dec. 11, 2019 (Confirmed with county administration)

Wise County - Adopted on Dec. 12, 2019

Wythe County - Adopted on Nov. 26, 2019

York County - Adopted on Dec. 17, 2019 (Constitutional County)

Towns Adopted:

Big Stone Gap - Adopted on Dec. 10, 2019 (Confirmed with town office)

Continued here:
List of Second Amendment sanctuaries in Virginia and where its being discussed - WSLS 10

The last decade has seen such a bewildering series of changes in culture, media, politics and every branch of the modern world, its bracing to consider just how and where these changes have had the greatest effect. From the proliferation of memes, the redefinition of celebrity, all the way to the corruption of elections, and the reshaping of music, TV and film.

As we break into the third decade of the millennium, here are five of the most culturally significant tech trends of the twenty-teens.

While web notoriety was once a subset of more general fame, internet celebrities, be they professional gamers, YouTubers or Instagram personalities, are now just celebrities in their own right. 70 per cent of all internet use is devoted to streaming services such as YouTube and Twitch, and streamers such as PewDiePie and Ninja now make more money and rack up greater weekly views than any comparable TV or Hollywood figure.

Such success has also spilled over into the real world, where Logan Paul and KSI ditched the Fifa tournaments and unboxing videos for two boxing matches which drew over a million individual pay-per-view punters. Meanwhile, established celebrities have used Instagram as a primary focus for their careers. Kylie Jenner is reported to make as much as$1.3 million per sponsored post on the social media platform, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian coming in or around the $1 million mark.

At the middle-tier, however, there are signs of a boom turning bust, as the saturated market for influencers, brand-engagers and insta-inspiration peddlers has begun to generate diminished returns, and concerns among YouTubers over ad revenue have left more than a few content producers wondering just where it can go from here.

Memes have created some of the most enjoyable and spreadable content on Earth, but have also carved out a second life as a near-impenetrable vehicle for information, counter-information and disinformation. The frothy silliness of the meme format, once the most forgettable medium of entertainment ever conceived, has now created some of the decades most lasting cultural icons, and Pepe the Frog, This Is Fine, Distracted Boyfriend and Galaxy Brain have proved every bit as enduring as worthier cultural touchstones from decades past.

It was perhaps inevitable that their power would be used for more dubious ends, as this decade saw the rise of political slogans and bad faith arguments becoming meme-ified by increasingly sophisticated social media brands. Memes of 10 years ago lived on wackiness or charm, be they Sad Keanu, double rainbow, or endlessly lamentable viral wedding dance videos. Fast forward just six years and anime figures and cartoon frogs were being weaponised as fascist propaganda on the worlds biggest social media platforms.

We used to laugh at dowdy politicians mangling cultural references to seem cool; now its so inherent in political discourse that meme techniques are winning elections and being taught in political science degrees. Weve come a long way since Piano Cat.

The spread and consolidation of streaming TV, film, podcast and music platforms has created an unlikely paradox in entertainment. Cinema attendance and TV viewing figures have cratered, meaning the typical cultural reference points have shifted away from the traditional outlets and toward decentralised pockets of content; a development with which the established media has been slow to keep up. As youll have noticed after that endless spiral of dinner party conversation ( Have you seen this show? No, but have you seen this one?), choice for high-quality drama and comedy has never been wider, but audiences are more atomised than ever, with each of us living in our own bespoke islands of content. Regardless, producers are doubling down. Netflix is set to spend $15 billion on new content in 2020, while Amazon has freed up $1 billion for its Lord of the Rings adaptation alone.

Cinema, meanwhile, has increasingly become the home for blockbuster mega hits at the exclusion of all else, and Disneys cannibalisation of Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox means that seven of this years highest-grossing films came from the House of Mouse, not counting the giant takings expected for their Star Wars sequel The Rise of Skywalker later this month. In music, the effective monopoly of streaming platforms such as Spotify has seen listeners increasingly find their mega-hits in narrower circumstances, and truly mind-boggling numbers.

The inclusion of these figures in traditional charts has resulted in some eye-popping results, such as when ubiquitous guitar-pop gnome Ed Sheeran spent several weeks of 2017 with 14 songs in the UKs Top 15. With blockbuster artists and studios making bigger impacts than ever before, and the rest scratching for relative crumbs, its hard to predict how the industry will keep any but the largest boats afloat in the decade to come.

As anyone who received an email in 2018 can attest, privacy became a thing this decade, as GDPR rules came into effect to stop peoples data being held indefinitely online. A storm of scandals from Google and Apples maps technology tracking your every move without consent, to Samsung having to admit that yes, their smart TVs were listening to your conversations and, maybe, tailoring ads to your needs in response brought privacy issues to the forefront.

While the idea of your TV trying to sell you lawnmowers and sanitary products is not exactly optimal, privacy issues really reached their dystopian zenith in the wake of the numerous scandals which rocked Facebook, and the near-endless vault of data they hold on the Earths population. In 2016, the data of 87 million people were harvested by strategic communications firm Cambridge Analytica; information which was then weaponised to influence the 2016 US presidential election and the UKs Brexit referendum interventions which several sources claim were decisive in both cases.

The sheer range of information from our private lives now contained within the servers of Big Data, and the sophistication with which it can be wielded, should have made online privacy the issue of the decade.

But, for all the news and opprobrium generated by privacy issues, more disturbing still is the fact that they dont seem to have a lasting effect on peoples attitudes to their data or, more accurately, whether they should share it regardless. A Pew study from 2019 reports that most Americans are alarmed by data collection, with 72 per cent of respondents saying they believe that most or all of their movements online are being tracked, and 70 per cent saying they feel their data is less secure than it was five years ago. Despite this, less than a fifth report that they always or even often read the privacy policies they agree to.

A Viber study from 2018 reported that only 55 per cent of those asked would object to that data being shared without their consent, but, given the fact that said consent is usually waived away with the tick of a box at the point of use, its hard to see this as a particularly strong objection. All of which makes sense given the sheer amount of data people are submitting to their technological overlords, despite all of the concern so often invoked. Loss of privacy is, it seems, not just something were concerned about, but entirely resigned to.

While the current generation of always-online consumers think they ought to be concerned about their privacy, we dont always seem to remember this when it comes to using all of the services we like to use, and are seemingly unwilling to sacrifice the ease of the modern world to negate that risk entirely. For all our protestations to the contrary, like 1984s Winston Smith, the twenty-teens have seen us win the victory over ourselves.

As much as we deny it, we do love Big Brother, after all.

Excerpt from:
A decade of memes, streams and data harvesting machines - The Irish Times