I remember this paper on ad intelligence I read a few weeks ago: "Exploring ADINT: Using Ad Targeting for Surveillance on a Budget — or — How Alice Can Buy Ads to Track Bob".
Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
191–200 of 317 posts
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#192It's scary that it doesn't surprise me anymore. Especially social networks are considered most lucrative in terms of targeted marketing and data mining, and it's obvious why. Social networking remains a big deal, it's almost mandatory to have some social networking footprint online, or else you miss out on social life. Why is it still OK to trade data distilled from social media accounts? It's not! One of the many re…
> How to fund basic service infrastructure if not by running online ads, or trading user data? Subscriptions, combined with community awareness advertisements showing where users' money is going to (and where it is not going to) and why it benefits them.
Yes, that's usually how it works with Netflix, Spotify and similar single-purpose services. But social media? If you take social network as a single-purpose service then there is no need for several or dozens of different similar services, because it wouldn't make sense as a social network, if you cannot interconnect them.
Suppose you pay a subscription for one social network, you'll need to pay also for the other one, to get connected to people on that other social network! It needs to be one big single social network and everyone pays for one subscription. Anything else doesn't make sense, but a single social platform as a network is unthinkable. So, basically, subscription doesn't make sense for social networking.
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#193For what it's worth, the most private data here is shared to analytics companies for Grindr's only analytical use. My guess is that Grindr's agreement with Apptimize and Localytics asks for the strictest possible protection of that data. If anyone at Apptimize or Localytics has access to that data, I'd be incredibly surprised. This sort of deal isn't the same as sharing the HIV status to Google or Facebook so that ad…
(Copy-pasting the message I already posted in this thread. Seems more relevant here)
I think that adoption of privacy preserving data aggregation/analysis will become the norm. The most immediate applications are 1) telemetry data that is used for monitoring (for example, Google Chrome uses differential privacy for collecting this data), and, 2) services like Google Maps and Tinder-like dating apps. In these applications, essential user information can be represented as integer/boolean values (is user present in location X? True or False. how old is the user? device CPU usage right now? ...) Based on my limited understanding* of differential privacy, it falls short on exactness (of aggregate values) and robustness (against malicious clients). I've lately been studying the literature on function secret sharing and I think it is a better alternative to DP. Take this paper: https://www.henrycg.com/files/academic/pres/nsdi17prio-slide....
Prio: Private, Robust and Scalable Computation of Aggregate Statistics
Data collection and aggregation is performed by multiple servers. Every user splits up her response into multiple shares and sends one share to each server. I've understood how private sums can be computed. Let me explain it with a straw-man scheme.
Example (slide 26):
x_1 (user 1 is on Bay Bridge):- true == 1 == 15 + (-12) + (-2)
x_2 (user 2 is on Bay Bridge):- false == 1 == (-10) + 7 + 3 ...
If all users send shares of their data to the servers in this manner AND as long as at least one server doesn't reveal the identities of the people who sent it responses, the servers can exchange the sum of the shares they've received. Adding the three responses will allow the servers to infer that there are _ number of users on Bay Bridge without revealing their identities.
This system can be made robust by using Secret-shared non-interactive proofs (SNIPs). This allows servers to test if Valid(X) holds without leaking X.
The authors also bring up the literature on computing interesting aggregates using private sums: average, variance, most popular (approx.), min and max (approx.), quality of regression model R^2, least-squares regression, stochastic gradient descent.
Bottom line: I found the discussion on deployment scenarios very interesting. Data servers with jurisdictional/geographical diversity, app store-app developer collaborations for eliminating risk in telemetry data analysis, enterprises contracting with external auditors for analyzing customer data, etc.
* - I understand the randomized response and, to some extent, the RAPPOR technique (used for collecting Chrome telemetry data) but the other literature in that community goes over my head.
* * - This technique is a black box to me at the moment.
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#194Even within its confines, Grindr's data are rich for blackmail. (Consider: images and messages sent and received within 100 feet of Capitol Hill.) It was recently acquired by an offshore billionaire [1]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-12/china-tec...
Makes me think that data should be treated differently in the case of a potential new owner, allowing users to opt-out from their data from being transferred; you may trust the leadership and governance, and may not trust whomever takes over or who will newly has access to the data.
EU's data protection law covers this.
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Regulation benefits the already big "Regulation" isn't guaranteed to do anything. Some regulations benefit already-big, some harm them. Some have no effect at all. Lack of regulation is guaranteed to benefit already-big, though. Unchecked corporations become oligopolies or monopolies. Free markets (meaning free movement, not free of regulation) and consumer protection are impossible without regulations, though.
>Lack of regulation is guaranteed to benefit already-big, though. Not neccessarly, it depends on how educated market participants are. Shouldn't a world that becomes more and more informed, connected and educated not become less regulated? >Unchecked corporations become oligopolies or monopolies. But not forever, less regulation also means more opportunity for competitors. And educated customers would be aware of the…
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Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yikes. Combine this with the Chinese OPM hack, where extremely personal data for most government employees with security clearance has been stolen, and they have a blackmail goldmine on their hands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management... They can verify what has been reported on sf-86 vs what might be found from this service. Any affairs or issues not reported are ripe for blackmail. Possibil…
I feel like it's only a matter of time before we see some devastating compromise(s) of security using the OPM hack and/or hacks of private data sources. When you look at some of the common methods intelligence adversaries use to ensnare assets (extortion, money, exploiting sympathies, stroking egos, revenge, etc.) the information in these hacks are a treasure trove the likes of which may never have been seen before.…
> I feel like it's only a matter of time before we see some devastating compromise(s) of security using the OPM hack and/or hacks of private data sources.
I'm willing to bet that the devastating compromises thanks to the OPM hack have already happened, and that they're either classified, or, even scarier, the USG doesn't even know about them yet (e.g. people blackmailed into being spies who haven't yet been caught).
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How to fund basic service infrastructure if not by running online ads, or trading user data? Subscriptions, combined with community awareness advertisements showing where users' money is going to (and where it is not going to) and why it benefits them.
Yes, that's usually how it works with Netflix, Spotify and similar single-purpose services. But social media? If you take social network as a single-purpose service then there is no need for several or dozens of different similar services, because it wouldn't make sense as a social network, if you cannot interconnect them. Suppose you pay a subscription for one social network, you'll need to pay also for the other on…
I don't understand your point here. Just like people pay separate subscription fees for Netflix and Hulu, which essentially provide the same service with different content, why wouldn't people pay separate subscription fees for Twitter and Facebook, if it were an option to avoid ads?
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
> regulation hampers growth Is there proof of this? Some countries like Germany and Sweden are both highly regulated and have fastest economic growth in the West.
Yes, all regulation hurts economic growth. The mechanism is simple: regulatory compliance is a cost. If it's a fixed cost like most regulation, it becomes a barrier to entry. If it's a variable cost, it reduces labor productivity. HOWEVER, some regulation may improve net economic growth by improving the functioning of markets such that it overcomes the costs that compliance imposes. Therefore the discussion of regula…
Yes, all regulation hurts economic growth. The mechanism
is simple: regulatory compliance is a cost.
Of course, this is a rare example, and a questionable one; it assumes tobacco advertising does not increase the total market for tobacco products. Given that tobacco companies lobby against such advertising bans, they clearly don't see such regulations as a net benefit for them.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma#In_econom...
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#199They also scrape your clipboard aggressively...
Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties
#200Even within its confines, Grindr's data are rich for blackmail. (Consider: images and messages sent and received within 100 feet of Capitol Hill.) It was recently acquired by an offshore billionaire [1]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-12/china-tec...
Yikes. Combine this with the Chinese OPM hack, where extremely personal data for most government employees with security clearance has been stolen, and they have a blackmail goldmine on their hands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management... They can verify what has been reported on sf-86 vs what might be found from this service. Any affairs or issues not reported are ripe for blackmail. Possibil…
Think of it as a business opportunity. Blackmail as a Service™!