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China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

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Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#51
post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

Which companies sell this data?

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#52
post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

So on my statement, you see a random number of transactions for random amount, all from Amazon. I would rarely call it "surveillance at micro level" when you don't even know what I've bought.

Amazon knows what you bought though.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#53
post #49
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://nullrefer.com/?https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/09/the-...

I tried presenting the bit.ly link as HTTPS to avoid making the link use HTTP.

I initially posted the bit.ly link thinking it would strip the referrer but then when I tested it I was still getting the imgur page so I looked for something else.

Regardless I almost don't want to give someone traffic who does obnoxious things based on http headers.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#54
post #53
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried presenting the bit.ly link as HTTPS to avoid making the link use HTTP.

I initially posted the bit.ly link thinking it would strip the referrer but then when I tested it I was still getting the imgur page so I looked for something else. Regardless I almost don't want to give someone traffic who does obnoxious things based on http headers.

Thanks for the revised link; I've edited my comment to use it.

Edit: there's some irony in the way the post on that page criticizes someone for making the contents of a URL unstable ("because he doesn't know what the 'U' stands for") while the page itself displays deliberately different contents depending on how people found it.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#55
post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

Which companies sell this data?

PNC's privacy policy allows for sharing/marketing use of debit card transaction data: https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc-com/pdf/Privacy%20Policy...

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#56
post #35

China is fascinating. On one hand... - China has done better than any other country on Earth at poverty reduction. Chinese policy since Deng Xiaoping lifted hundreds of millions of people out of subsistence poverty. Free markets were a big part of this, but so were Special Economic Zones starting with Shenzhen, a culture of sharing IP, massive govt investments in infrastructure, research and education. - China are al…

> China has done better than any other country on Earth at poverty reduction

This is only true if you're applying a ludicrous double standard. China has done better than most other countries at this because China was extremely poor just a few decades back. Nowadays, much of China is still very poor. Of course it's much easier for China to slash its poverty rates than for an already-developed nation. The real thing to ask about is how long it will take China to bring a western middle-class style quality of life to its citizens.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#57
post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

Typically, this data is not sold attached to an individual, but in aggregate and annonymized to help determine spending patterns, habits, etc.

There is a significant difference between this and extensive government data with your name attached, though I agree it's not great from a privacy perspective.

Typically (as has been said) you can opt out of this sharing.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#58
post #56
post #35

China is fascinating. On one hand... - China has done better than any other country on Earth at poverty reduction. Chinese policy since Deng Xiaoping lifted hundreds of millions of people out of subsistence poverty. Free markets were a big part of this, but so were Special Economic Zones starting with Shenzhen, a culture of sharing IP, massive govt investments in infrastructure, research and education. - China are al…

> China has done better than any other country on Earth at poverty reduction This is only true if you're applying a ludicrous double standard. China has done better than most other countries at this because China was extremely poor just a few decades back. Nowadays, much of China is still very poor. Of course it's much easier for China to slash its poverty rates than for an already-developed nation. The real thing to…

Im comparing China to other countries that were similarly poor in 1980-- much of the world, including the second biggest country, India. China did much better than them.

I don't think any other society in history has lifted as many people out of poverty in as short a time.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#59
post #46
post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

You can opt out of all data sharing for your accounts in the United States. It's a hassle, but at least you can do it.

How can you check that you have been opted out and government really has no access to your private data? Think of government data stored permanently. Wnen you are opted out it is you who is opted out from access to your data, not the government. If you do not have effective means of control, your privacy most prodably will be abused without you knowing. There was quite a thread here last year about software engineer with a prison record. You simply cannot exercise right to forget. There is no way to get out of the digital prison.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#60
post #25
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing in China is that so many trivial daily activities require government-issued ID. Buying a coach/train ticket. Buying a SIM card. Every website/mobile app registration require a mobile phone number, which means any account is easily traceable to your government-issued ID, too. Hell, even visiting your friend in a hotel requires recording your ID before hotel staff will let you go upstairs (strictly enforced i…

The key issue is the data is on sale or not or potentially could be sold. Agencies collecting data is totally fine. No one can avoid it in this world nowadays. Showing IDs seems very old-school. Remember PRISM? As long as one is using a smartphone, they are being tracked every single second.

Showing ID is a reminder that you can't function in society without staying in line. You can't really fall back on dropping out of digital, financial and location tracking no matter where you are.
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