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I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

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Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#151

Post by 8bitsrule »

samatman wrote: post #121
avs733 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you assume the people doing this see a problem with it. They could easily... * just be a nihilist and not give a damn * Think its fine because they are encouraging people to do something they see as good. * Think its fine because 'its just ads' * Think it's someone else's responsibility to make decisions about ethics (as an engineering prof, I see this all the time...students who say engineers' jobs are technology no…

> Think it's someone else's responsibility to make decisions about ethics (as an engineering prof, I see this all the time...students who say engineers' jobs are technology not ethics/morals) The problem is that they're correct in a practical sense. The company they work for might get fined, but all the engineers see is the performance review. This system encourages engineers to think of compliance and morality as so…

Morality (definition left as an exercise) is something you have to be able to afford. Get hungry enough, get tired of sleeping on cardboard enough, get tired enough of restrictions imposed on you by society for stupid mistakes you made while out of your mind ... and morality is a luxury you can't afford. (In many countries, that luxury is permanently out-of-reach for the great majority.)

Now add to that the constant reminders that morality doesn't stop a lot of people at the top from immoral behavior. Banks, politicians, Wall-Street, celebrities, billionaires etc. are in the news all the time for pulling shady shit. When they get caught, they say OOPS! They hear: 'don't do that any more, where people can see you' and they're free for another round.

Many people tend to adopt behavior that's rewarded. It takes a strong moral compass; some people never got magnetized. Show people a society that rewards moral behavior (they exist) and they might go there. (Some countries have low recidivism rates because of how well they treat people in prison.) If people can afford to move, they might. Else they may just say screw it, XYZ throws toxins in the river, I'll do it too. Choice: track people or go shoot 'terrorists'. Hmmmm.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#152

Post by FridgeSeal »

Whitespace wrote: post #36
retSava wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, an "accept" holds for seemingly till the end of time, while a "I don't accept" is valid not much more than the mouse button click echoes through my room before you stand before the dialog box yet again, contemplating why you don't do something more useful with your life.

Even worse, nowadays there's only "accept" and "maybe later"

That's a classic Google move.

Tried to deny some google apps access to fine location, and it would ask at every single opportunity, it was so easy to accidentally enable it as well, which I guess is the point, wear you down until you press the wrong thing or just give in.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#153

Post by ssklash »

I hope all the people who work at Google and Facebook see this and know that this is the goal of their jobs. Not "solving hard problems" or "bringing the world closer together". It's to gather incredibly fine-grained data on every person possible and use it/sell it to people who will use it to influence and change the behavior of those people in a way never imagined, as well as hand it over to governments at the drop of a hat to enable surveillance Orwell couldn't have dreamed of.

Pleas reconsider where you work and what you enable.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#154

Post by takeda »

corobo wrote: post #144
takeda wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what's really needed is an extension that automatically selects options for you to disable everything.

The default is disable everything (otherwise it's not GDPR compliant). That banner is to try to trick you into accepting the same old. You're better off finding a good cookie/GDPR banner blocker

ah I see, so basically the uBlock list that blocks from displaying these is all I need.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#155

Post by mastazi »

teekert wrote: post #3

This latest trend is so annoying: there is either "Accept" or: "See purpose". And the "Don't accept" stuff is hidden under "See purpose". Infuriating.

On sherdog.com, you get a giant cookie dialogue that covers half screen on mobile.

If you don't accept, but click on "cookie settings" instead, a page will tell you that you can't choose to block 3rd party cookies unless you accept their 3rd party cookie, because they need to save your setting of not accepting 3rd party cookies in a 3rd party cookie. It's not a Monty Python episode, it's real: https://ibb.co/6YFpGWK

alternatively, if you click on the next link, you will be taken to a page that explains how to disable cookies in all latest-gen browsers such as Netscape 3 or IE 4.0:

http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/

Needless to say, I now exclusively use Sherdog's competitor, Tapology.com

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#156

Post by endgame »

samatman wrote: post #121
avs733 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you assume the people doing this see a problem with it. They could easily... * just be a nihilist and not give a damn * Think its fine because they are encouraging people to do something they see as good. * Think its fine because 'its just ads' * Think it's someone else's responsibility to make decisions about ethics (as an engineering prof, I see this all the time...students who say engineers' jobs are technology no…

> Think it's someone else's responsibility to make decisions about ethics (as an engineering prof, I see this all the time...students who say engineers' jobs are technology not ethics/morals) The problem is that they're correct in a practical sense. The company they work for might get fined, but all the engineers see is the performance review. This system encourages engineers to think of compliance and morality as so…

> The company they work for might get fined, but all the engineers see is the performance review. This system encourages engineers to think of compliance and morality as someone else's problem because: it is.

Didn't work so well for the VW guy: https://www.theregister.com/2017/08/25/vw_engineer_gets_3yrs...

> "if I don't do it, someone else will"

Maybe, but at the very least it raises the price for companies to buy unethical people.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#157

Post by mleonhard »

motohagiography wrote: post #38

It occurred to me that if you want to see fewer ads and be generally left alone by marketers, get your IP and online data footprint associated with pariah topics like fringe news sites, weird subcultures, edgy politics, drug use, and privacy. Basically like being a hacker in the 1980s and 90s, or even part of early rave culture, where the sort of people who work in marketing would be afraid or uncomfortable with bein…

Wouldn't it be easier to use a VPN on your router?

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#158

Post by rkagerer »

I bought a NET10 international SIM card 7 years ago. Only used it for a couple weeks. Last month I asked them to delete my account. Spoke to 3 people and they weren't able to do it. One agent outright lied and said he did, but I was still able to log in after the fact. The best they managed was to change some of the profile details on the account (name, etc).

I submitted a formal request under California's "Right to Delete" legislation (CCPA section 1798.105).

The response was a formal letter from the parent company denying my request. It's a template letter with legalese bullshit that's totally inapplicable (e.g. they argue there's still a "business relationship", even though we haven't done any business in 7 years).

NET10 is owned by TracFone Wireless, which in turn is 100% owned by América Móvil (NYSE:AMX, $41B market cap). I believe they had my address, email address, phone number, date of birth, etc.

It's disgusting what these giant telco bastards get away with. Why don't US laws have the same "teeth" as GDPR, and any advice to force them to delete my data? (e.g. If anyone here advocates for this sort of thing on social media and wants a slightly-redacted copy of the letter to publicly shame them I'd be happy to deliver that).

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#159

Post by dgellow »

raxxorrax wrote: post #2

This reminds me of a story of a litte boy that just said: "I like seeing personalized ads."... while dragging everyone with him. It is incredible that this industry is allowed to operate like it does. If it vanished over night nothing would happen. The EU just had its strategy changed and pronounced that it is everyone's civic duty to share even more. Doubtful it would be able to handle advertisers. Although I don't…

> The EU just had its strategy changed and pronounced that it is everyone's civic duty to share even more.

What do you mean? I don’t really understand what that would mean, or what you’re referencing. Was that part of the State of the Union, or is it another announcement?

Edit: I found it. It’s an information based on EU strategy document from February.

“The EU is launching a market for personal data”

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/11/1006555/eu-data-...

That doesn’t look good...

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#160

Post by square_usual »

rkagerer wrote: post #158

I bought a NET10 international SIM card 7 years ago. Only used it for a couple weeks. Last month I asked them to delete my account. Spoke to 3 people and they weren't able to do it. One agent outright lied and said he did, but I was still able to log in after the fact. The best they managed was to change some of the profile details on the account (name, etc). I submitted a formal request under California's "Right to…

FWIW, the GDPR doesn't have too much teeth, either; most big players haven't received big fines. The biggest fine to date has been the French fine of EUR 50m on Google, and Facebook has gotten off almost entirely scot-free so far. That should tell you almost everything you need to know about how effective the GDPR has been.

Of course, I don't mean to say the GDPR is useless. There's a lot of good work being done, and an Italian telecom was fined ~EUR28 mn for violations similar to what you had to face. I just think GDPR enforcement needs to step it up and hit the usual suspects with fines that go beyond a slap on the wrist for it to really change the world. You can track major fines using an enforcement tracker, I check on [1], but you can also just google it every now and then to stay up to date.

1: https://www.coreview.com/blog/alpin-gdpr-fines-list/

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