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Why we should end the data economy

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Re: Why we should end the data economy

#161

Post by Cederfjard »

slver wrote: post #110
cs702 wrote: post #54

No one sane would ever want their relatives, friends, work colleagues, and neighbors to be able to know (quoting from the OP): > who you sleep with because both you and the person you share your bed with keep your phones nearby > whether you sleep soundly at night or whether your troubles are keeping you up > whether you pick up your phone in the middle of the night and search for things like "loan repayment" > your…

From reading this list, I can deduce OP just made up most of them, because over half of them contains details that are total BS. Also I happen to think we'd be a better society if we all knew everything about each other. Instead of discouraging companies from analyzing us, encourage them to publish everything all the time. Let governments join in on the fun. Everyone should be tracking an analyzing everyone else. Sol…

What a complete and utter nightmare.

You say that you think this would lead to a better society. That aside, how would you personally feel if this vision was to become reality?

For me, I’m certain my mind being totally exposed like that would lead to debilitating mental illness and possibly even the loss of the will to live. I can’t imagine human beings, either as individuals or a collective, being fundamentally equipped to deal with such a thing.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#162

Post by EMM_386 »

I'm curious, can insurance companies get access to this information to potentially affect policy rates?

That would be insane. If they know how sedentary you are, or if you aren't sleeping well, or if you are driving too fast, driving at dangerous hours, or if you hang out at the bar too much ... can you imagine the implications?

It gets even wilder with things like Fitbit Charge 4 where this data, in the hands of data brokers, can include data like your resting heart rate, your SpO2 levels, exactly where/when you walk.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#163

Post by dontparticipate »

There's not a single person that doesn't understand the "why" of this, especially on HN. There's just no "how" there. It's pretty clear so far that GDPR/CCPA have been complete failures. Companies just design around them and consumers are in no position to jump through the hoops those companies have set up to defend themselves. The game is already over and we've lost and articles like these are just hope porn wishing for a better world that we will never see.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#164

Post by anm89 »

Impassionata wrote: post #18
anm89 wrote: post #2

Explaining to people what they should do regarding matters that there are no ways to achieve the stated goals is the laziest, lowest value category of journalism. It's a plague.

There's a way to achieve the stated goals: have the government come down real hard both on the low-level data crime and the big players that are supposedly legit. Burn it all down.

I'm sure we're going to "burn it all down" any day now.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#165

Post by javajosh »

matz1 wrote: post #123
cs702 wrote: post #54

No one sane would ever want their relatives, friends, work colleagues, and neighbors to be able to know (quoting from the OP): > who you sleep with because both you and the person you share your bed with keep your phones nearby > whether you sleep soundly at night or whether your troubles are keeping you up > whether you pick up your phone in the middle of the night and search for things like "loan repayment" > your…

No, I am okay for them to be able to know. Them knowing is not the problem. Them using it to harm me is the problem. These are different thing, latter is a problem, former is not. Let pick this one example : 'your restaurant visits and shopping habits' Just them knowing is not problem, in fact them knowing can also benefit me: e.g when they want to give me gift.

"If invasive tracking is outlawed then only outlaws will use invasive tracking." The problem is that symmetry is impossible.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#167

Post by akdej27nd91ng »

fuckyouriotshit wrote: post #107
Barraketh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to differentiate between data that is anonymized (cookies), and data that is not. I'm unaware of any data leak of anonymized data that resulted in any harm, but if I'm wrong I'd love to hear about it.

How about intentional publishing of "anonymized" data? It's intentional, so it should be even less potentially harmful than an unintentional leak, right? Well, Yahoo's publishing of supposedly "anonymized" data still poses a privacy risk to any of their users: https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp3d8v/yahoos-gigantic-anony... That's just one of many apparently "anonymized" datasets that has been trivially deanonymized b…

Fun fact: one of the top 5 digital advertising platforms "anonymizes" user identifiers with a simple hash algorithm and "salts" all of the hashes with the same "salt". Can you guess the "salt"? Hint: it is commonly found on a dinner table and is used to season food.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#168

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

Impassionata wrote: post #18
anm89 wrote: post #2

Explaining to people what they should do regarding matters that there are no ways to achieve the stated goals is the laziest, lowest value category of journalism. It's a plague.

There's a way to achieve the stated goals: have the government come down real hard both on the low-level data crime and the big players that are supposedly legit. Burn it all down.

Good luck. All those so-called hearings with social media companies? Excuses to get those CEO's into the back rooms, where the REAL discussions -- and graft -- sorry, campaign donations -- happened. Our government is completely captured by the organizations that are most-hostile to our long-term well-being.

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#169

Post by volkk »

slver wrote: post #110
cs702 wrote: post #54

No one sane would ever want their relatives, friends, work colleagues, and neighbors to be able to know (quoting from the OP): > who you sleep with because both you and the person you share your bed with keep your phones nearby > whether you sleep soundly at night or whether your troubles are keeping you up > whether you pick up your phone in the middle of the night and search for things like "loan repayment" > your…

From reading this list, I can deduce OP just made up most of them, because over half of them contains details that are total BS. Also I happen to think we'd be a better society if we all knew everything about each other. Instead of discouraging companies from analyzing us, encourage them to publish everything all the time. Let governments join in on the fun. Everyone should be tracking an analyzing everyone else. Sol…

i'd be happy to be hung from the gallows than live in such a world

Re: Why we should end the data economy

#170

Post by tootie »

infogulch wrote: post #65

Somehow organizations get an immense amount of value out of tracking everything you do, say, think, and buy; everywhere you go; and everyone you meet. Two questions: 1. Why should they profit off of my data without my consent? (Hint: they shouldn't.) 2. Why is it so hard for me to get value out of it? Shit, if it's gonna be collected, aggregated, and analyzed anyway, I should just do it my damn self and actually get…

Google search being free is an absolute enormous amount of value. How much would you pay for a subscription to Google if it weren't free?
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