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I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

neilzone.co.uk

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Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#361

Post by mixmastamyk »

caseyohara wrote: post #251
airstrike wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm worried about my browsing to be tracked across the entire internet for the purposes of marketers to "enrich" my profile... just to sell me more and to sell that data to third-parties who can make all sorts of decisions based on a made up story about who I am, my preferences, my values and whatnot. there's a reason I don't walk around naked either. it wouldn't hurt me, but I don't need that kind of exposure for no…

> third-parties who can make all sorts of decisions based on a made up story about who I am, my preferences, my values and whatnot You're going to be presented with ads and preyed on by marketing no matter what. The "made up story about who you are" is just even more imaginary the less they know about you. You'll simply be presented with less-targeted ads.

Not the point, no one benefits by having an accurate (or non) dossier built on them, up for sale. The drawbacks may be infrequent and postponed but as history confirms, quite real.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#362

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

esseph wrote: post #144
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t upload a “file” in a “folder” to TikTok. You upload a “video” from your “library”. Consumers have been conditioned to stop thinking about files especially when it comes to media since iTunes and the iPod in 2001.

> files especially when it comes to media since iTunes and the iPod in 2001 As a non-Apple user, this is not something that happened to me. I literally have a "Files" app on my Android phone and my laptop/desktop.

That's what the file browser is called on iOS as well :)

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#363

Post by londons_explore »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #307
mcv wrote: post #228

I completely agree. The only services for which I will verify my age (and the entire rest of my ID) are bank accounts and other services involving a real legal requirement for real ID. The notion that you should upload a passport to random sites for age verification is unbelievably dangerous. That's a recipe for identity theft. And face scanning is also an invasion of privacy, not to mention very unreliable (my 16 ye…

1000% this. Fake info for everything that isn't directly tied to money or government. HN doesn't have my info. Apple doesn't have it. Google doesn't have it. Amazon doesn't have it. Microsoft doesn't have it. They don't care who I really am, and that hasn't, ever never, been a problem for using their stuff. They want your real ID. They do not need it. At all.

Remember that just typing 'John Smith DOB 1/1/1900' into a random webform and clicking submit to get in is technically wire fraud.

Sure, it usually won't be prosecuted... Until you upset the wrong person and they're looking for a crime you did...

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#364

Post by cm2012 »

sophacles wrote: post #350
cm2012 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if a product is harmful, advertising it should be banned. Alcohol, drugs, gambling ads should be banned.

What about food products that can be used to excess? What about cars or AI or vacations? All these products can be harmful when misused.

Those all pass the utilitarian calculation for me, goods greater than harm.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#365

Post by cortesoft »

keerthiko wrote: post #353
cortesoft wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, this still doesn't do anything to show me that I should opt out. I, as an individual, am not going to have any effect on a business if I opt out or not. No business decision is going to be made because I opt out. You might argue that it will matter if enough of us do it. Sure, that is true... but again, it won't matter if I do it or not. If N number of people opting out is enough to ruin the business model, th…

This is the exact same logic as opting to not go through the hassle of registering to and casting your vote in your national elections (unless that physically isn't an option where you live) -- yes, your government isn't going to make a decision one way or another based on your vote alone. But will you affect the sociopolitical trends by whatever fraction of societal opinion you represent? It may be you don't believe…

Yes, the Paradox of Voting is the exact same situation [1]. My decision to vote is not rational, but I know if all the rational people don't vote that is bad, and so I focus on the other parts of voting, like civic pride and the little sticker that says "I voted"

> It may be you don't believe in democracy at all, and that's fair, but consumer action is the only way you can affect business decisions, by joining the decision-cohort you agree with more. Joining the opposite cohort because it's less work represents that you're okay with things continuing in that direction.

I actually believe even less in 'voting with your wallet' than in actual voting, for all the same reasons except the cost of 'voting' in this case is even higher (choosing an individually suboptimal option with my wallet hurts me directly even more than the cost of voting in an election does... e.g. choosing to pay more to avoid major corporations costs me every time I shop) I personally think the only way to avoid companies destroying the common good for profit is to price in the destruction to make it explicit (e.g. carbon taxes, pollution taxes, etc).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_voting

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#366

Post by alpaca128 »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #327
dexterdog wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it gives you access to almost none of your actual files

So exactly which of “your actual files” do you need access to?

The Files app cannot access images in the Photos app or music in the Music app. The only way to add music to the Music app is to copy the files onto the iPhone from a computer. You can however install VLC player and copy the files into the VLC folder. I guess VLC player is more trustworthy than Apple Music considering it's less isolated. Or Apple really wants you to pay the Music subscription, who knows. Want to give another app access to these files? You'll have to duplicate them, using up more storage space.

I get that it's supposedly about security, but this is not the only secure way. It is however the most convenient secure way for Apple, as now the only simple method of backing up and syncing files through all those isolated containers is iCloud.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#367

Post by cortesoft »

ryanwhitney wrote: post #339
cortesoft wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, this still doesn't do anything to show me that I should opt out. I, as an individual, am not going to have any effect on a business if I opt out or not. No business decision is going to be made because I opt out. You might argue that it will matter if enough of us do it. Sure, that is true... but again, it won't matter if I do it or not. If N number of people opting out is enough to ruin the business model, th…

While I have no idea of the actual outcome, I’ll muddle through the extra step + thinking to opt-out where possible. My own personal bend is that I do not want to be sold anything and I want anonymity where possible. We’re constantly being advertised to. Anything small action that I can take to deter that, or make the ads less personalized/interesting/distracting to me, is worth it. Even if I also will never knowingl…

> My own personal bend is that I do not want to be sold anything

You can always choose this no matter what ads they show you. In some ways, choosing to not be sold AFTER being shown ads might be more effective at shutting down that behavior than simply avoiding the ads entirely; forcing the company to pay to show you the ad that you ignore is costlier to them than simply not being able to show you the ad at all.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#368

Post by wao0uuno »

cortesoft wrote: post #163
bArray wrote: post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

I am in my mid forties, been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years. I click “accept the cookies” almost every time. I just personally don’t feel it’s worth the effort and cost to try to avoid it. What “dark pattern cookie trick” are you worried about? I just can’t come up with a scenario where it will actually harm me in any way. All the examples I have heard are either completely implausible…

For me it's mostly a matter of principle. I'm against online tracking and I will do everything I can to not be monetized. Also clicking reject is not that difficult and if a website tries to make it difficult I just close the tab.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#369

Post by mixmastamyk »

crummy wrote: post #358
cluckindan wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying ”I don’t have anything to hide”? All of your data starts affecting everything your data is used for. You may get worse rates for a mortgage, or not get one at all. You may be denied insurance or insurance claims. Cherry-picked details of your online activities may be used against you in a court of law, if you ever find yourself in one for any reason (think custody). These are the very mild examples fro…

Presumably you might also get better rates for a mortgage, to be fair.

Possibly, but the big companies have ratcheting expectations to meet, and prefer to keep benefits to themselves, while leaving us with the drawbacks. e.g. Tesla using telemetry to protect itself but not customers without court order.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#370

Post by makerofthings »

cortesoft wrote: post #163
bArray wrote: post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

I am in my mid forties, been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years. I click “accept the cookies” almost every time. I just personally don’t feel it’s worth the effort and cost to try to avoid it. What “dark pattern cookie trick” are you worried about? I just can’t come up with a scenario where it will actually harm me in any way. All the examples I have heard are either completely implausible…

I don’t think there is much short term danger from the cookies. It’s more the principle of the thing. I hate the bullshit language of how we and our 1500 partners respect your privacy choices. They don’t respect anything and would sell their own grandmothers for a dollar.
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