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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

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I don't want to be associated with companies that break the law and violate regulations knowingly. I've long had a reputation of integrity, and it's one of the few things I have left having almost nothing else.

So you would rather be known as someone who had an opportunity to report a violation, and chose not to? From my perspective it seem like you decided against acting with integrity in this situation - the moral thing would have been to report the violation, but you chose to look the other way and resign.

> it seem like you decided against acting with integrity in this situation ... you chose to look the other way and resign.

I agree with this statement.

This isn't a judgement, we all have to make choices; the "right" choice (the one that aligns with integrity) is usually the one that will be the least self-serving and even temporarily harmful. They did what was right for them, that's okay, but it was not the choice of integrity.

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

#232
post #225
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot where I saw this, but the US govt recently announced that they see mass PII theft as a legitimate national security issue. It’s not just that you or I will be inconvenienced with a bit more fraud or email spam, but rather that large nation state adversaries having huge volumes of data on the whole population can be a significant strategic advantage And so far we typically see email+password+ssn be the worst…

yes, privacy is not an individual problem; it's a civil defense problem, and not just when your opponent is a nation-state. we already saw this in 02015 during the daesh capture of mosul; here's the entry from my bookmarks file: https://www.facebook.com/dwight.crow/media_set?set=a.1010475... “#Weaponry and morale determine outcomes. The 2nd largest city of Iraq (Mosul) fell when 1k ISIS fighters attacked “60k” Iraqi…

Are you saying you think more critical government databases than OPM or security clearance rosters are inevitably going to be breached? I'd like to think the government or corporation can effectively protect some databases at least...

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

#234
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.

> To me, what's missing from that set of recommendations is some method to increase the liability of companies who mishandle user data. As nice as this is on paper, it will never happen, lobbyist exists. Not to be tinfoil hat but why would any lawmaker slap the hand that feeds them. Until there is an independent governing body which is permitted to regulate over the tech industry as a whole it wont happen. Consider t…

>There could be a regulating body which could determine the risk to people's mental health for example from 'features' of tech companies etc.

I think ideas like this is why it's not going to happen.

Our understanding of mental health is garbage. Psychiatry used to be full of quackery and very well still might be. Treatment for something like depression boils down to "let's try drug in a random order until one works". It's a field where a coin-flip rivals the accuracy of studies. Therefore any regulating body on that will just be political. It will be all about the regulators "doing something" because somebody wrote enough articles (propaganda).

Problems like this are why people aren't interested in supporting such endeavors.

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

#235
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot where I saw this, but the US govt recently announced that they see mass PII theft as a legitimate national security issue. It’s not just that you or I will be inconvenienced with a bit more fraud or email spam, but rather that large nation state adversaries having huge volumes of data on the whole population can be a significant strategic advantage And so far we typically see email+password+ssn be the worst…

Perhaps you're not aware of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management...

Very aware of that. That to me seemed like a targeted attack by a tracked APT group. What I’m referring to above is that the more vanilla attacks (ex: popular online mattress store gets popped) actually have national security implications, despite seeming like just an inconvenience

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

#236
post #188

Please make it so my kids can watch a YouTube video required by school without watching 20 YouTube shorts after. That's all I want.

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpv_(media_player)>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player>

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

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not a solvable problem Lawnmower manufacturers said the same thing about making safe lawnmowers. Until government regulations forced them to

https://i.imgur.com/mXU28ta.jpeg Specifically, 1970.

Well, something to consider is that part of why everything is so much expensive these days is that a lot of the solutions to those problems add costs. That cost needs to be absorbed by the price.

One of the reasons it's so expensive to build a house is safety regulations. They exist for a reason, but they nevertheless add a substantial cost to building a house. If you had mandated such a cost to people living in 1870 then a lot fewer people could've afforded a house.

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

#238
Targeted advertising is a good thing. It lets people who make stuff more efficiently connect with people who want that stuff.

The FTC chair is complaining that companies "monetize that data to the tune of billions of dollars a year," but all this means is that this service is tremendously valuable.

The Internet's targeted advertising system is a major achievement of modern information technology and data science, and we dismantle it at our peril.

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

#239
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.

Sounds like a bunch of crap the industry is already trying to sell the public and no its not working and yes we can do with out it.

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

#240
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 your identity gets stolen, you should be able to sue all the companies that had a leak.
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