The irony of npr.org welcoming me with
"We and our 474 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device."
474!!!
Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
11–20 of 88 posts
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#12Listen, this is nothing new. You can find articles like that going back years and years. The truth is: convenience trumps privacy in practice in a lot of cases. Two examples: 1. Theoretically speaking, my (data) privacy is of a high value to me! -- Then you should stop using a smart phone. -- Well... 2. I don't want anyone to create a profile of my habits because it's none of their business! -- Hi, do you have a Walm…
> Listen, this is nothing new. "Violations of your constitutional rights have been going on for decades now, so it's time to shut up about them" is certainly a take.
Putting words into other people's mouth isn't the best etiquette: where did I say "it's time to shut up about them"??
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#13This story cones uo time and time again, people rail about the data buyer, but practically speaking any one or thing can buy that data and use it against you and yours. The very collection/assembly of life data is dangerous.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Listen, this is nothing new. "Violations of your constitutional rights have been going on for decades now, so it's time to shut up about them" is certainly a take.
Action speaks louder than words. It doesn't matter what people say they prefer, their actions reveal a true preference.
This is just idiotic to say. Nobody actually prefers to have their data siphoned off, in the abstract. If you make it a choice between "privacy" and "being able to participate in society in any way at all", obviously they're going to pick the latter. That's not a "revealed preference", that's coercion. It doesn't actually have to be that way. We can have a world where we have smartphones, and the government can't use those smartphones to track your location at all times.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#15Listen, this is nothing new. You can find articles like that going back years and years. The truth is: convenience trumps privacy in practice in a lot of cases. Two examples: 1. Theoretically speaking, my (data) privacy is of a high value to me! -- Then you should stop using a smart phone. -- Well... 2. I don't want anyone to create a profile of my habits because it's none of their business! -- Hi, do you have a Walm…
> Listen, this is nothing new. "Violations of your constitutional rights have been going on for decades now, so it's time to shut up about them" is certainly a take.
The majority of the population has been ok with this path for a very long time so it’s unlikely to change.
There are basic ways to act, not just talk, to support resistance to this path. And people, even some people reading this very comment, are unwilling to take those basic actions while also whining loudly and/or downvoting in angst.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Listen, this is nothing new. "Violations of your constitutional rights have been going on for decades now, so it's time to shut up about them" is certainly a take.
Putting words into other people's mouth isn't the best etiquette: where did I say "it's time to shut up about them"??
Your tone implies it. "Listen, this is nothing new" is a phrase dripping with "I'm tired of hearing about this". You surely know that the people pointing out continually escalating violations know that the violations are not new.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Action speaks louder than words. It doesn't matter what people say they prefer, their actions reveal a true preference.
This is just idiotic to say. Nobody actually prefers to have their data siphoned off, in the abstract. If you make it a choice between "privacy" and "being able to participate in society in any way at all", obviously they're going to pick the latter. That's not a "revealed preference", that's coercion. It doesn't actually have to be that way. We can have a world where we have smartphones, and the government can't use…
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Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Listen, this is nothing new. "Violations of your constitutional rights have been going on for decades now, so it's time to shut up about them" is certainly a take.
The majority of the population has been ok with this path for a very long time so it’s unlikely to change. There are basic ways to act, not just talk, to support resistance to this path. And people, even some people reading this very comment, are unwilling to take those basic actions while also whining loudly and/or downvoting in angst.
There is nothing "basic" about preserving your privacy in this age. I go to ridiculously great lengths to preserve my privacy. That entails using VMs with separate VPNs for every different thing I do on the internet to avoid cross-pollination between my online identities, that entails never taking my smartphone out of the house, that entails using burner phones, that entails accepting that I simply can't use an increasingly large number of services that are being gated by identity verification, which is now trying to be forced on being able to use a computer at all at the OS-level. It is an absolute pain in the ass to worry about this, and it's completely understandable why people give up, but that doesn't mean they actually want it to be this way. Privacy should be the default, not something you have to fight for.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Putting words into other people's mouth isn't the best etiquette: where did I say "it's time to shut up about them"??
Your tone implies it. "Listen, this is nothing new" is a phrase dripping with "I'm tired of hearing about this". You surely know that the people pointing out continually escalating violations know that the violations are not new.
You inferred it. They did not imply it.
They might simply be tired of listening to armchair protestors who don’t take even the most basic actions to backup their words.
Re: Government agencies buy commercial data about Americans in bulk
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your tone implies it. "Listen, this is nothing new" is a phrase dripping with "I'm tired of hearing about this". You surely know that the people pointing out continually escalating violations know that the violations are not new.
You inferred it. They did not imply it. They might simply be tired of listening to armchair protestors who don’t take even the most basic actions to backup their words.
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