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FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

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Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#51

Post by zeroonetwothree »

srndsnd wrote: post #31

To me, what's missing from that set of recommendations is some method to increase the liability of companies who mishandle user data. It is insane to me that I can be notified via physical mail of months old data breaches, some of which contained my Social Security number, and that my only recourse is to set credit freezes from multiple credit bureaus.

If you aren’t directly harmed yet what liability would they have? I imagine if your identity is stolen and it can be tied to a breach then they would already be liable.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#52

Post by singleshot_ »

nicholasjarnold wrote: post #37
devonbleak wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes me irrationally angry that I suddenly started getting spam emails from Experian. Like motherfucker I never consented for you to have my data, then you leak it all, now you're sending me unsolicited junk email? It's just such bullshit that I'm literally forced to have a relationship with these companies to freeze my credit or else I'm at the mercy of whoever they decide to release my information to without my…

Yep. It sucks. Zero consequences of any import for those companies as far as I'm aware too. Tiny fines end up being "cost of doing business". Then they get to externalize their failures onto us by using terms like "Identity Theft", which indicates something was stolen from ME and is now MY problem. In actuality some not-well-maintained systems owned by were hacked or exposed or someone perpetrated fraud on a financia…

PSA pro tip: they will try to steer you toward “locking” your account. Don’t fall for it. Freeze your account.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#53

Post by kart23 »

carb wrote: post #48
kart23 wrote: post #45

> Profound Threats to Users Can Occur When Targeting Occurs Based on Sensitive Categories > Targeted ads based on knowledge about protected categories can be especially distressing. One example is when someone has not disclosed their sexual orientation publicly, but an ad assumes their sexual orientation. Another example is when a retailer identifies someone as pregnant and targets ads for baby products before others…

> I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF The only reason you have the option to do this is because of groups pushing back against advertising companies. Ad companies have no incentive to offer the option to disable targeting. If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.

> If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.

I can like other positions and actions the FTC has done, like requiring the ability to turn off targeted ads, and not like others, like this one. This is among the biggest problems in politics right now. Supporting a political party doesn't mean you need to 100% back all their opinions and policies, thats how change is effected in successful democratic systems.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#54

Post by singleshot_ »

mrmetanoia wrote: post #24
spacemadness wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is filled with folks that wrote the code in question, or want to create similar products. And they hate to have it pointed out that these tools may cause harm so they thrash around and make excuses and point fingers. A tale as old as this site.

I often have to remind myself who hosts this board and that I am hanging out on a site for successful and aspiring techno-robber-barons.

Explaining that modern technology is user-hostile and destructive to the society is nowhere else more on-topic than Paul Graham’s ego blog. While it might be true to say the site is “for” robber barons, There are a lot more users here than the ones you described.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#55

Post by orthecreedence »

mgraczyk wrote: post #30

"these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identify theft to stalking." Is there any evidence that any of these things have ever happened as a result of this sort of data collection? I'm not talking about data posted to social media, I'm talking about the specific data collection described in this FTC press release.

Your comment is really coming across as "well, nothing bad has happened yet so who cares?" If that's not the case, please let me know how you meant it. If it is the case, surely you can imagine a world in which dragnet surveillance of people who have an expectation of privacy can be abused by corporations, institutions, or private individuals. It really doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture this world.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#56

Post by singleshot_ »

cvnahfn wrote: post #38
ryanisnan wrote: post #5

I love the cognitive dissonance on display within the federal government. One arm: "everyone is a criminal; spy on everyone" Other arm: "hey you shouldn't really harvest all of that data"

The FTC is under the president's authority. This is election pandering, same as Zuckerberg's backpedaling on government censorship. This is for getting votes from the undecided. Everything will be back to normal (surveillance, data collection and censorship) after the election.

Begs the question of agency authority which is manifestly not resolved. You will find that the elections’ results will effect the eventual resolution of the question of the unitary executive quite dramatically.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#58

Post by Clubber »

orthecreedence wrote: post #49
flycaliguy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Snowden was bang on when in 2013 he warned us of a last chance to fight for some basic digital privacy rights. I think there was a cultural window there which has now closed.

Snowden pointed and everyone looked at his finger. It was a huge shame, but a cultural sign that the US is descending into a surveillance hell hole and people are ok with that . As someone who was (and still is) vehemently against PRISM and NSLs and all that, it was hard to come to terms with. I'm going to keep building things that circumvent the "empire" and hope people start caring eventually.

>and people are ok with that.

All the propagandists said he was a Russian asset, as if even if that were true, it somehow negated the fact that we were now living under a surveillance state.

>Snowden pointed and everyone looked at his finger.

This is a great way of putting it.

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#59

Post by mgraczyk »

orthecreedence wrote: post #55
mgraczyk wrote: post #30

"these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identify theft to stalking." Is there any evidence that any of these things have ever happened as a result of this sort of data collection? I'm not talking about data posted to social media, I'm talking about the specific data collection described in this FTC press release.

Your comment is really coming across as "well, nothing bad has happened yet so who cares?" If that's not the case, please let me know how you meant it. If it is the case, surely you can imagine a world in which dragnet surveillance of people who have an expectation of privacy can be abused by corporations, institutions, or private individuals. It really doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture this world.

It's been ubiquitous for around 20 years now (Google started doing mass surveillance for display ads in the early 2000s) and nothing bad has happened, so yes that's my point.

If nothing bad happens for decades, and that is inconsistent with your model of danger, then the model is probably wrong

Re: FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies

#60

Post by munk-a »

cvnahfn wrote: post #38
ryanisnan wrote: post #5

I love the cognitive dissonance on display within the federal government. One arm: "everyone is a criminal; spy on everyone" Other arm: "hey you shouldn't really harvest all of that data"

The FTC is under the president's authority. This is election pandering, same as Zuckerberg's backpedaling on government censorship. This is for getting votes from the undecided. Everything will be back to normal (surveillance, data collection and censorship) after the election.

I don't know if you've been watching but the FTC has actually been extremely proactive during this cycle. Lina Khan is an excellent steward and has pushed for a lot of policy improvements that have been sorely needed - including the ban (currently suspended by a few judges) on non-competes.

It is disingenuous to accuse the FTC of election pandering when they've been doing stuff like this for the past four years consistently.

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