How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
1–10 of 95 posts
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#2Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement.
It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#3Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement. It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
> we are governed by fools who barely understand technology
This is an argument heard all around the world with regards to similar issues. I wonder to what extent it actually applies, and it is not your latter statement - that lobbying and commercial interests are at play - that is prevailing (so they are 'willing fools').
Hard to know, of course, but I'd say these lawmakers need not have to know the intricacies of the technology themselves, but can rely on accurate reports detailing their implications in layman's terms. They can have expert advisory groups do the hard work for them.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#4Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement. It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
> we are governed by fools who barely understand technology This is an argument heard all around the world with regards to similar issues. I wonder to what extent it actually applies, and it is not your latter statement - that lobbying and commercial interests are at play - that is prevailing (so they are 'willing fools'). Hard to know, of course, but I'd say these lawmakers need not have to know the intricacies of t…
Providing knowledgeable, disinterested advice to politicians is what the civil service is supposed to do. In Westminster style democracies, anyway.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#5Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement. It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
I caught some brief clip on the news last night about Canada looking at introducing something similar to the GDPR. Can’t find any details in a quick search though.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#6Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement. It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
Has GDPR meaningfully changed enforcement of rights? I’m familiar with the law itself and the details of it. (IAAL who practices in this area.) I’ve seen these regulatory pushes toward consumer-oriented privacy in the past, and they seem to serve the consulting industry above all. The consequences of breaking the rules are laughably impotent so far, despite more or less well-meaning words passed as binding legislation. Even the reputational damage of having your company featured in headlines about data leaks has fizzled. People don’t even seem to punish the offenders by shifting their spending habits. Am I wrong?
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#7Further proof, as if any was needed, why other countries require something like the GDPR, backed up be significant penalties, and well-resourced enforcement. It won't happen in Australia though, as we are governed by fools who barely understand technology, and if they need to, rely on the representations of business to make any decisions.
From the perspective of a casual, non-European observer, the only effect of the GDPR that I've witnessed is the explosion of websites being extremely aggressive about forcing me to consent to their tracking cookies.
Where is the real benefit to Europeans' privacy?
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#8I had a related thing happen a couple of months ago: I started getting some lower back pain that I thought might be kidney stones based on a couple of Google searches. Went to my doctor, who prescribed a muscle relaxant, which I got at the pharmacy across the street. It went away.
Over the next few weeks I got several robocalls on my cell phone from a pain clinic offering me relief for my "chronic pain", so it was either triggered by my online searches or my doctor's office or pharmacy sold off my private information.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#9I had a related thing happen a couple of months ago: I started getting some lower back pain that I thought might be kidney stones based on a couple of Google searches. Went to my doctor, who prescribed a muscle relaxant, which I got at the pharmacy across the street. It went away. Over the next few weeks I got several robocalls on my cell phone from a pain clinic offering me relief for my "chronic pain", so it was ei…
I’ve had similar recently. Only it’s been an extended period of time (months) since I last searched for what started coming up. Led me to believe something was sold to someone recently.
Re: How my sexual health searches ended up in the hands of big tech companies
#10I had a related thing happen a couple of months ago: I started getting some lower back pain that I thought might be kidney stones based on a couple of Google searches. Went to my doctor, who prescribed a muscle relaxant, which I got at the pharmacy across the street. It went away. Over the next few weeks I got several robocalls on my cell phone from a pain clinic offering me relief for my "chronic pain", so it was ei…
Does anyone know how effective incognito mode is at preventing data and privacy abuses like this? I've been using it more and more, but I imagine there may some clever ways of tracking even across incognito sessions (or between incognito and regular).