51–60 of 124 posts
The ads are irrelevant. A distraction. The problem is the collected data is sold on and correlated and becomes a interface+sensors to "hack" people, simulate and manage political measures and stabilize for the individual bad situations. As long as there are two people left on the planet with phones, social engineering can get them to fight and distrust one another. And you can see the effects. In the approaches to yo…
"My supermarket has a savings scheme, in exchange for my personal information. The way it works is that the cashier asks: do you want to join this savings scheme? If the customer says yes, they give you a form to fill in your details. If you say no, they leave you alone, and you miss out on the discount or gifts." Hahahaha, yes, if you don't join their club, they don't collect personal information.
Or you just provide someone else’s information. Who says you have to share your true name with your supermarket? Unfortunately it’s very difficult to lie to google
Turns out you could just lie and fill out anything on the form.
Meh, I'm still not convinced. I mean, I suppose I get possibly being creeped out that Google knows you prefer Pepsi over Coke and that you recently purchased an adult toy or whatever, but...meh? So they'll use that data to sell me targeted ads that I'm just going to block anyways. I just don't see how it's actually harmful beyond the government access issue that's just dropped in as a single sentence at the end of on…
My government certainly doesn't care what sex toys I buy; but there are some bronze plaques in the pavement around here, dedicated to victims of the earlier of the two times the government was evil and sent people to their deaths for such things; and I've been to the museum made from the headquarters of the people responsible for the second time it was evil and spied on anyone and everyone.
The thing that struck me the most was how banal it all feels. Unspeakable acts of evil were committed in that building. There are office memos on display telling the story - complete with hand written notes on them like "recommend this (protester) be put to death". And around the memo is corporate filing codes and such to make sure the note is filed correctly. And yet, the whole office feels so generic. It could be any office building from the early 80s, complete with generic corporate orange/brown carpets, interdepartmental telephone systems and offices for the secretaries. You can just imagine the people working there coming in to work each day and bustling around like in any modern office. "Hello Janice. Sorry I'm late - traffic was terrible. Yes I got the memo! Blah blah blah"
Movies show evil acts being committed in evil lairs, clearly signposted with lava and torture chambers. But I think the truth is far more bland than that. On the surface, where we work and what we do there looks more or less the same, regardless of the effect our work has on the world. How many people's work harms the world today? I bet most people, when confronted, react more or less the same: "What? This job is wrong? Nobody told me. It wasn't illegal. And anyway, if I didn't do it, someone else would. I'm just trying to feed my family. Its not my fault."
I hope history holds modern data brokers in a similarly dim light. I certainly do.
I'll probably get hate for this, but: I've never used an ad blocker. I (generally) always "accept all cookies" from that European thing. I do use "incognito mode" sometimes -- but not often. I've never gotten any malware or other things like that. I've never had someone show up at my door in a black coat. I personally think that most of the concerns people have about targeted ads is much ado about nothing. I'll also…
that's why you have all those reward cards, programs and such.
I like that they directly tried to answer this question, but I still think the "so what" case is stronger, for me anyway. I don't use an ad blocker and there are certain sites that are annoying, but I think the biggest influence on me is that I avoid those websites. I don't notice the actual ads very often (other than as an annoyance) and I don't buy very much. What I buy seems more influenced by other things like Wi…
I like that they directly tried to answer this question, but I still think the "so what" case is stronger, for me anyway. I don't use an ad blocker and there are certain sites that are annoying, but I think the biggest influence on me is that I avoid those websites. I don't notice the actual ads very often (other than as an annoyance) and I don't buy very much. What I buy seems more influenced by other things like Wi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity, what are some examples of Google packaging and reselling data?
this is a serious question? Google collects anything and everything they possibly can, from every user who touches any of their software, platforms or devices. They then sell this data on dozens or hundreds of data broker platforms. Data includes your web browsing history, location history, passive microphone recording history and email history ("anonymized" but still meta data)
Oh? Which platforms? How did you come to learn that they were selling data to those platforms? Surely from either the platforms themselves or a respected news article?
I think a great example of why data privacy matters was the recent concern many American women had about whether data collected by their period tracking app could be used to persecute them for abortions. While you might believe that the data being collected about you is harmless, a government hostile to you could use that data against you with great effect.
When we think about the future, this is the stuff of imagination, storytelling, and mathematical models. It's mental constructs, not something that actually happened.
Many examples used in privacy arguments are like that. If you instead look for things that actually happened, it's things like journalists, activists, doxing, crazy exes, and so on. And certainly if you're in a war, good opsec is important.
These are certainly things that happen, but it seems reasonable for many people to look at them and decide their own risk is low, compared to other disasters you could prepare for.
I'll probably get hate for this, but: I've never used an ad blocker. I (generally) always "accept all cookies" from that European thing. I do use "incognito mode" sometimes -- but not often. I've never gotten any malware or other things like that. I've never had someone show up at my door in a black coat. I personally think that most of the concerns people have about targeted ads is much ado about nothing. I'll also…
say an insurance company wants to see who they can raise the prices on without losing customers, then they can look at the data and work out peoples personalities and single out some that fit a profile of someone who wont go looking for a new insurance company just because their insurance premiums went up.
Same thing for health care, if a company wants to see how people live so they can anticipate if their children will be healthy or at higher risk depending on how their parents lived then they can know who not to cover or who will be charged more to cover in the future. it can become the new credit score but one you cant change.
whatever happens I just assume it wont be for my own good but for the profit of others so I try and be mindful of privacy when I can
If they are collecting so much data why do the ads still suck? I bought a pixel 7a and I still get ads for it all the time. You would think that google would know that I already bought a google phone from them.