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The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

theintercept.com

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Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#11

Post by leereeves »

jdhn wrote: post #2

I'm curious what the overall take will be on this. Normally, this action would be frowned upon if it was a private company, but I'm assuming that people may be more open to it being done by Treasury because it's "for the societal good".

> but I'm assuming that people may be more open to it being done by Treasury because it's "for the societal good".

Politics in America has become so hostile that people are now openly celebrating harm done to "the other side", so I don't doubt that there are people who will feel that way.

But I suspect that most of them will feel quite differently when the White House is controlled by the other party.

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#12

Post by alksjdalkj »

nostromo wrote: post #8

We need a Supreme Court ruling or law that says if the government doesn’t have a warrant to collect your data, they also can’t buy it from third parties. We also need privacy protections so these companies wouldn’t exist in the first place.

If a private company can buy the data why shouldn't the government be able to?

The real solution is to not allow the data to be sold to anyone.

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#13

Post by wongarsu »

AlexandrB wrote: post #9

This is not a new take, but I think "the west" is effectively building their own version of China's social credit. It's just distributed among a range of private companies and accessed via subpoena or contract. The fact that the government doesn't operate most of it directly is largely irrelevant to those negatively affected by it and in some ways makes the situation worse (who do you even contact to correct inaccura…

Being able to correct inaccurate information is an often underappreciated but important part of the GDPR. It's also probably the biggest motivation why you have a right to ask any company what data they have stored about you: so you can spot mistakes in the data of rating agencies. The other use cases are more of a nice bonus.

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#14

Post by fidesomnes »

wongarsu wrote: post #7
HWR_14 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I assume the exact opposite. I'm guessing many people oppose government data collection but because they are buying data on the open market from people who "opt in", they're okay with it. I wish there was the ability to make a poll: * This is fine, privacy is dead. * This is okay because of private companies collecting and selling the data, even to the government * This is okay because the government is using…

There's also * The data collection is fine, but the government shouldn't be allowed to circumvent checks and balances by buying this data * The government using such data without warrant is fine, but it shouldn't be sold on the open market

oh okay, stop it when you get a chance.

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#15

Post by VRay »

alksjdalkj wrote: post #12
nostromo wrote: post #8

We need a Supreme Court ruling or law that says if the government doesn’t have a warrant to collect your data, they also can’t buy it from third parties. We also need privacy protections so these companies wouldn’t exist in the first place.

If a private company can buy the data why shouldn't the government be able to? The real solution is to not allow the data to be sold to anyone.

Private companies (theoretically/ideally) don't have the power of life and death over you

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#17

Post by tehjoker »

AlexandrB wrote: post #9

This is not a new take, but I think "the west" is effectively building their own version of China's social credit. It's just distributed among a range of private companies and accessed via subpoena or contract. The fact that the government doesn't operate most of it directly is largely irrelevant to those negatively affected by it and in some ways makes the situation worse (who do you even contact to correct inaccura…

Wait until the US public finds out about the concept of a credit score (new in the 1980s).

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#18

Post by BurningFrog »

HWR_14 wrote: post #3
jdhn wrote: post #2

I'm curious what the overall take will be on this. Normally, this action would be frowned upon if it was a private company, but I'm assuming that people may be more open to it being done by Treasury because it's "for the societal good".

Funny, I assume the exact opposite. I'm guessing many people oppose government data collection but because they are buying data on the open market from people who "opt in", they're okay with it. I wish there was the ability to make a poll: * This is fine, privacy is dead. * This is okay because of private companies collecting and selling the data, even to the government * This is okay because the government is using…

Whether I think it's fine or not, privacy is dead.

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#19

Post by ncallaway »

HWR_14 wrote: post #3
jdhn wrote: post #2

I'm curious what the overall take will be on this. Normally, this action would be frowned upon if it was a private company, but I'm assuming that people may be more open to it being done by Treasury because it's "for the societal good".

Funny, I assume the exact opposite. I'm guessing many people oppose government data collection but because they are buying data on the open market from people who "opt in", they're okay with it. I wish there was the ability to make a poll: * This is fine, privacy is dead. * This is okay because of private companies collecting and selling the data, even to the government * This is okay because the government is using…

Can we...can we have at least one "not okay" option that doesn't brand everyone involved as evil?

Re: The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people

#20

Post by nobody9999 »

alksjdalkj wrote: post #12
nostromo wrote: post #8

We need a Supreme Court ruling or law that says if the government doesn’t have a warrant to collect your data, they also can’t buy it from third parties. We also need privacy protections so these companies wouldn’t exist in the first place.

If a private company can buy the data why shouldn't the government be able to? The real solution is to not allow the data to be sold to anyone.

I'd go farther than that and say that such data shouldn't be collected in the first place.
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