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Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

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Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#2
Yeah! Maybe we can model it after the big 3 consumer credit agencies! We can centralize all ppls info in one easy to access place!

This new organization will be much more honest than the current ones!

IMO For this to happen correctly it has to be decentralized, perhaps blockchain style.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#4
post #2

Yeah! Maybe we can model it after the big 3 consumer credit agencies! We can centralize all ppls info in one easy to access place! This new organization will be much more honest than the current ones! IMO For this to happen correctly it has to be decentralized, perhaps blockchain style.

..or, people can just wise up to what is happening to them. For me, the key moment, was when Microsoft gave away Windows 10. I knew then, that I was the product, however I suspect that most people would not chew on why.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#5
The fundamental issue is that the average person in the United States and Austrailia simply don't really care for their online privacy. Offer something free and people will happily sign up and give all sorts of personal information without any hesitation. Offer a loyalty card at a store with discounts, and people will happily sign up for it.

Even after the Snowden revelations, not much really happened to the government or the NSA. Even after the Experian breach, the credit rating agencies are still making good money.

The underlying reason for this is that except for minorities, most people in these countries never really experienced the downsides of this type of loss of privacy. This is in contrast to Europe, especially Germany where people in living memory experienced first hand how the government could use your private information to literally cause you and/or your family to be imprisoned, tortured, or even killed. Hence, there is a much greater appreciation for privacy in Europe and especially Germany.

It is for these reasons that I am pessimistic that the United States and Australia will really take privacy seriously at all in the near future.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#6

The fundamental issue is that the average person in the United States and Austrailia simply don't really care for their online privacy. Offer something free and people will happily sign up and give all sorts of personal information without any hesitation. Offer a loyalty card at a store with discounts, and people will happily sign up for it. Even after the Snowden revelations, not much really happened to the governme…

This article is arguing for government regulation in the area of privacy. You state how the killers and abusers of privacy in the past in Europe were the government. I am not able to connect the dots between your point and this article.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#7

The fundamental issue is that the average person in the United States and Austrailia simply don't really care for their online privacy. Offer something free and people will happily sign up and give all sorts of personal information without any hesitation. Offer a loyalty card at a store with discounts, and people will happily sign up for it. Even after the Snowden revelations, not much really happened to the governme…

People do care. They have very limited ability to make meaningful changes.

But you can look at the national do not call registry in the US, and it's popularity to see that when there are options, people are happy to use them.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#8
post #7

The fundamental issue is that the average person in the United States and Austrailia simply don't really care for their online privacy. Offer something free and people will happily sign up and give all sorts of personal information without any hesitation. Offer a loyalty card at a store with discounts, and people will happily sign up for it. Even after the Snowden revelations, not much really happened to the governme…

People do care. They have very limited ability to make meaningful changes. But you can look at the national do not call registry in the US, and it's popularity to see that when there are options, people are happy to use them.

I respectfully disagree with you. Most people (in the US) do not care. I used to work for an adtech company which engaged with all sorts of third party vendors (like Axciom, BlueKai, etc) and every time I would explain my job to most friends or strangers, people often rightly assumed that shady data dealing is what was going on behind ads and services like Facebook and seemed not to care. There has been little appetite to change this until recently, and frankly only because of Donald Trump. No one seemed to mind the Equifax hack, and no one wants to change their lifestyle or stop using services they enjoy just to support privacy. Until a company like Google or Facebook gets completely hacked and some truly incredibly embarrassing personal information gets made public on a mass scale, I think that sentiment in the US will continue.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#9
post #4
post #2

Yeah! Maybe we can model it after the big 3 consumer credit agencies! We can centralize all ppls info in one easy to access place! This new organization will be much more honest than the current ones! IMO For this to happen correctly it has to be decentralized, perhaps blockchain style.

..or, people can just wise up to what is happening to them. For me, the key moment, was when Microsoft gave away Windows 10. I knew then, that I was the product, however I suspect that most people would not chew on why.

For most people that was great. It was microsoft finially listening to people who refused to pay so much for an OS.

I wonder how much it would take for people to wake up. Maybe if Microsoft came out in full support of Donald Trump maybe then people would start writing and caring about their privacy.

Re: Time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows?

#10
post #7

The fundamental issue is that the average person in the United States and Austrailia simply don't really care for their online privacy. Offer something free and people will happily sign up and give all sorts of personal information without any hesitation. Offer a loyalty card at a store with discounts, and people will happily sign up for it. Even after the Snowden revelations, not much really happened to the governme…

People do care. They have very limited ability to make meaningful changes. But you can look at the national do not call registry in the US, and it's popularity to see that when there are options, people are happy to use them.

Do not call list is about avoiding annoying calls, not privacy
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