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If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

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Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#141

Post by 1stop »

coldtea wrote: post #121
incepted wrote: post #7

This is the usual privacy hysteria knee-jerk reaction: "Watch out, the big companies are going to get data on you!". And people are going to react exactly like they've done before: if the service is worth it, they'll be happy to trade a few bits of privacy about themselves in exchange for the benefits. Also, I'm not sure the author of this piece understands what encryption is about since he laments that most people d…

> This is the usual privacy hysteria knee-jerk reaction: "Watch out, the big companies are going to get data on you!". Whether you care about privacy or not, I don't see anything "hysteric" about it. Indeed, big companies ARE going to get data on you (and they already have too many). That said, not caring about privacy seems to me a first world privilege. And only because most people are so boring. Sure, if all you d…

That's a strange arguement.

That's like saying it's not hysterical to say everyone needs Kevlar, because try being a soldier without Kevlar!?

It makes no sense.

People who need to hide things have encrypted options. People who don't, also have options. I don't see the problem.

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#142

Post by 1stop »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #107
billiam wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but the obvious sarcasm expressed here is all too common among the slightly younger engineers and related tech company people I work with. They believe that trading traditional notions of privacy for the shiny, novel conveniences of Uber and Google Now is totally worth it, and they see no downside. There are a lot of reasons, I think. The biggest is that for most, there really isn't a downside, yet. How ma…

> How many people are now identifiably being turned down for ... There's the rub. For the most part you'll never know, unless it reached epidemic proportions. "Sorry the apartment's gone" - Google told me you had financial problems 15 years ago. "" (silence) - We infer from the internet you're gay so won't be offering you a job interview. It's illegal discrimination but can't be proven. The effects of losing privacy…

... but there is no downside for the vast majority... so, winning?

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#143

Post by Cau5tik »

1stop wrote: post #141
coldtea wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the usual privacy hysteria knee-jerk reaction: "Watch out, the big companies are going to get data on you!". Whether you care about privacy or not, I don't see anything "hysteric" about it. Indeed, big companies ARE going to get data on you (and they already have too many). That said, not caring about privacy seems to me a first world privilege. And only because most people are so boring. Sure, if all you d…

That's a strange arguement. That's like saying it's not hysterical to say everyone needs Kevlar, because try being a soldier without Kevlar!? It makes no sense. People who need to hide things have encrypted options. People who don't, also have options. I don't see the problem.

> People who need to hide things have encrypted options. People who don't, also have options. I don't see the problem.

This viewpoint is tricky. This basically turns encryption use into a big target on a user. If only people who have something to hide use encryption, then everyone using encryption must have something to hide.

Also, your argument makes the assumption that everyone grasps the value of all of their information. Not everyone understands how much of their life can be found out through their Google Maps history.

I prefer to look at it from the perspective of my life not being anyone else's business. If my local MP came up to me and asked me who I'd talked to and where I'd been for the last week, I'd tell them to sit and spin. Why should passive surveillance be any different?

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#144

Post by ashitlerferad »

pessimizer wrote: post #123
adrianlmm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't use Google products.

From what I hear, that's akin to wearing a tinfoil hat, living in a hole in the woods, or imagining that there's a secret room somewhere that all internet traffic is being routed through that's operated by an American intelligence agency.

Imagining....

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#145

Post by rvalue »

fixermark wrote: post #52

"Let that sink in for a moment: The selling point of this app is that Google will read your messages, for your convenience." If that's the author's objection, it's like the author never heard of Gmail. https://developers.google.com/schemas/tutorials/google-now-c...

My greatest concern with Allo was it is bound to build bad habits in the newer generation who do not take a deeper thought about privacy. And it's spoiling them into doing all things the easy way. For e.g. one would wonder if a new message is even typed by the person sending it or its the "suggested" feelings of an AI.

I also understand that even by using only Gmail, we too have allowed corporations into our lives but atleast it has not build habits in me of using technology for every single thing.

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#146

Post by partiallypro »

piyush_soni wrote: post #47
SwellJoe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can't tell if you're being sincere or exaggerating to make a point about how little privacy modern society allows. But, this is somewhat worrying: "If I could crinkle into a ball and fade away, I would, but, unfortunately, I'm still breathing." If that's not a joke, you should probably see somebody about your depression.

Or, he might be being sarcastic about how paranoid today's generation is, we'd never know without an explanation.

Is society today really paranoid? Outside of a few loud voices, I think you'll find that is not true. Most people don't even know what data is being collected about them, and seemingly don't care.

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#147

Post by anexprogrammer »

1stop wrote: post #142
anexprogrammer wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many people are now identifiably being turned down for ... There's the rub. For the most part you'll never know, unless it reached epidemic proportions. "Sorry the apartment's gone" - Google told me you had financial problems 15 years ago. "" (silence) - We infer from the internet you're gay so won't be offering you a job interview. It's illegal discrimination but can't be proven. The effects of losing privacy…

... but there is no downside for the vast majority... so, winning?

You can't infer that, just as I can't infer there is for the majority. There's not enough data.

I suspect there is downside for far more than is generally believed.

How many jobs carry some googling of candidate? Nearly all of them.

You can now discriminate against just about anything you can dscover in search. Politics, religion, "too many" photos of parties, pro or anti any topic. None of these things are the business of an employer or landlord and would never come up pre-google unless you chose to share them in your application.

It's naive to assume none of these occur extensively. Gender discrimination has been illegal for years yet is still widespread.

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#148

Post by tokensimian »

darkerside wrote: post #38

What bothers me more than the lack of privacy or encryption is the idea that we are giving our voice to machines. We are moving to a society where we let technology speak to our friends and loved ones as if they were us. Something essentially human is being lost in that process.

Personally, I have a great number of everyday interactions that I need to have, but do not have any semblance of humanity connected with them. I also highly doubt that people in days of yore actually received a benefit from connecting over the voiceline with their pizza delivery guy.

I'm not worried that my intimate conversations will be replaced by bots. I am interested in automating my "yep" and "haha" responses to things I couldn't care two shakes about.

Re: If you care about privacy, you should not use Google Allo

#150

Post by 1stop »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #147
1stop wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... but there is no downside for the vast majority... so, winning?

You can't infer that, just as I can't infer there is for the majority. There's not enough data. I suspect there is downside for far more than is generally believed. How many jobs carry some googling of candidate? Nearly all of them. You can now discriminate against just about anything you can dscover in search. Politics, religion, "too many" photos of parties, pro or anti any topic. None of these things are the busin…

But you are conflating two things. The data companies collect on me without me knowing is not related to the data that can be googled on me. Because I know about the later and have a level of control over it.

... what does your point have to do with allo ?

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