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How fateful?

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Re: How fateful?

#241

Post by 3pt14159 »

nebulousthree wrote: post #105
3pt14159 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took the pragmatic approach and said to myself "look, if Google really wants to know where I am the only way to avoid it is to go into the woods without my phone, so why not?" Then one day the Toronto Transit Commission police thought I was re-using someone elses streetcar fare because of how old it was. I just prefer the streetcar to subways, so I took a longer route. As soon as I pulled out my phone with my locat…

That's because you haven't been the victim of fabricated narratives supported by your tracked locations as data in order to imprison or blackmail you. This is just a rehashed "if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about". Thank you to the other commenter for pointing out the banality of the "crime".

I didn't say nothing to worry about I said that, on balance, location tracking probably helps law abiding citizens more than it hurts them. It's an economic choice.

I am far less likely to initiate a serious crime in Canada than I am to be falsely accused of a serious crime. It is hard to fake exhaust data and saying "I saw him near the John St Starbucks at 9am with a gun" is fakeable just by following someone around. You don't need my Google data to prove it. It's on the CCTV cameras, it's on the cellphone towers my phone is pinging, etc.

I understand this makes people nervous, and I agree that there is something to be nervous about, but when I talk about the practical choice of recording your location data to a provider like Google I don't see much practical downside at the present time.

Re: How fateful?

#242

Post by warkdarrior »

lexapro wrote: post #196
Tor3 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I and my wife met for the first time we were both tourists, we both had never been to that country before (and none of us had ever been to a place the other had been), and we had exactly one day of overlap at this place and just happened to have decided to go to a particular spot at the same time in the early morning. And it's extremely likely that there would never have been another opportunity at any time late…

There would have been another opportunity with someone else that you would have fancied as much or even more.

Way to destroy his marriage!

Re: How fateful?

#243

Post by archi42 »

bitL wrote: post #162
archi42 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google built such a product, you'd probably find it on their graveyard. So it's best to be careful and not antagonize them; because always remember: You only have one digital life, so keep your head down and don't blow it. I wish that was pure /s, but the amount of "Ask HN: Google banned me or my business for no obvious reason" is really staggering. (n.b.: Of course I'm talking about the old Google of 2022, not ab…

Funny nobody can even tell why they ban somebody because ML just won't tell them why. "Hey, our ML_ANOMALY_20220430_6C2DBE3AFC model ensemble has told us to ban you, so we are banning you! There is no recourse (unless you have friends at Google). Please don't contact us ever again. We will ban all the people from the whole block around you as well."

Yeah. Due to this topic I actually thought "oh, good idea, I should automatically download my whole Google data once every month; better safe than sorry". Then I realized that this might get me banned, because actual bad actors probably do that as well.

Re: How fateful?

#244

Post by [deleted] »

nevi-me wrote: post #35

This is a great use of one's location data. I've personally found Google's location history to be a net positive for me. From places I've been whose precise addresses I can't remember (e.g. distant family events), to tracking hospital, doctor visits. I've even used it as a proxy for timesheets when I used to work from an office on weeks where I wouldn't have recorded my activities well (like which client I visited, h…

[deleted]

Re: How fateful?

#245

Post by bitL »

archi42 wrote: post #243
bitL wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny nobody can even tell why they ban somebody because ML just won't tell them why. "Hey, our ML_ANOMALY_20220430_6C2DBE3AFC model ensemble has told us to ban you, so we are banning you! There is no recourse (unless you have friends at Google). Please don't contact us ever again. We will ban all the people from the whole block around you as well."

Yeah. Due to this topic I actually thought "oh, good idea, I should automatically download my whole Google data once every month; better safe than sorry". Then I realized that this might get me banned, because actual bad actors probably do that as well.

Yeah, you'd be a glaring anomaly. Strive for the mean!

Re: How fateful?

#246

Post by channon36 »

coolca wrote: post #171

I really like the article layout of this website. It is something done by OP, or some framework that everyone can use?

Thank you! Its an html document that I compiled with R Markdown. Cosmo theme, with a floating TOC. :)

Re: How fateful?

#248

Post by Tozen »

andsoitis wrote: post #186
Tozen wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting aspect of that, is what Google and other authorities do with such data. They can be unlocking all sorts of private trivia, unbeknown to any of the users involved, to an extent far beyond any are suspecting. That could include such authorities, manipulating or interfering with events and lives, more than anybody would think possible or should be legally allowed.

> manipulating or interfering with events What might be a good example?

Just for clarity, there was a "could" in there, in the context of what I stated.

Google and other authorities having such access to so much data about individuals, means they can know of relationships, that the interacting individual parties involved don't know about each other. So, if a wife were cheating on her husband, that can be known. A line can be crossed, where information is leaked to the husband, in various ways. This of course is just a "theoretical" example, of many other kinds of possibilities.

Access to private and personal information is its own kind of power, that can be easily abused under many gray areas, and under all kinds of pretexts and weak justifications.

Re: How fateful?

#249

Post by swat535 »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #44
capableweb wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any social gathering is a place where you can meet your significant others, university is not the exclusive place for that. Most most introverted people tend to do though (myself included), is attending less social events as they become older. But you can still force yourself out there and meet people based on your hobbies. And who knows, maybe you meet your significant other at one of those events for your favorite…

Church is really the classical place. It's a shame there's not a similar place for large groups of secular people to gather once a week for social events.

I'm a Catholic so I attend Church often and in my experience, it really depends on how the Parish runs; in some places, people literally show up 5-10 minutes before Mass and then rush to the parking lot as soon as it ends, so you never have a chance to speak to anyone.

However, in contrast, my fiance is from Peru and goes to a Latin Church; there you have a very strong sense of community and can meet plenty of people. Also, you probably won't be meeting your SO at the Church directly but you will most likely be introduced _through_ someone from the community (especially older people who have bigger families).

The other thing about religious communities is that "dating" is not about hookups or casual sex but more about about finding life long partners and marriage. This can be a blessing or a curse depending on what stage of life you are in (though if you are truly devout, you won't mind) so it's not perfect.

Anyway, for non religious people, there are still plenty of ways to meet: Volunteering programs, social clubs, sport centers, etc.

The only advice I would give is meet as many people as possible because chances are your potential partner will be introduced to you through friends of friends eventually.

Re: How fateful?

#250

Post by tut-urut-utut »

skapadia wrote: post #135
elzbardico wrote: post #118

Plot Twist: When google's algorithms decided those two individuals should pair, it started showing them ads for the same events in order to increase the probability of them meeting. The goal was achieved by the system in 3 months, exactly as predicted with a 99% probability with a 95% CI. The system's next goal is to subtly nudge the couple to reproduce within the next year in order to help google meet their user acc…

That's some Black Mirror level dystopia there, and totally within the realm of possibility, if it isn't already happening. Sync that up with Apple Watch 8's ability to estimate ovulation, and poof, declining birth rate problem solved! I'm scared.

> Sync that up with Apple Watch 8's ability to estimate ovulation, and poof, declining birth rate problem solved!

Will never happen. Children are expensive, and once you have them, you'll never ever again be able to afford most of the Apple products.

Obviously, the incentive for Apple (and Google) is that you don't have children, which can explain the low birth rates in developed (rich) markets.

> I'm scared.

Now I'm also scared.

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