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Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

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Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#21
post #2

What grand times we live in, where you can actually get this kind of data from the services that you use. Having the law say your personal data is owned by you and not some company just because it's on their server may turn out to be a landmark in consumer friendly legislation!

I don't think everyone agrees people have the right to claim ownership to all data exchanged in a multi-party interaction. Further I don't think anyone understands Identity well enough to be able to provide transitively collected data without breaching confidence of similar third-parties. Nothing is as simple as a quip can make it sound.

>Further I don't think anyone understands Identity well enough to be able to provide transitively collected data without breaching confidence of similar third-parties.

I'm obviously not a lawyer or anything but I think that this would be more compeling if Spotify was open source. "You don't want to share this? Well just remove the code then."

Here not only can't I do that but I've been a paying customer of Spotify for years and I had no idea that they even collected 90% of that stuff. In these conditions how can it be argued that I gave them ownership of data I didn't even know existed?

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#22
post #15

Impressive-- https://twitter.com/steipete/status/1025029133175336960 "They even store the brand of headphone I use. How do you even get that data, digging deep in CoreBluetooth?"

If you think about it, now it makes sense why big names in smartphone industry like Apple and Samsung are removing P2 plugs from smartphones in favor of more powerful interfaces like Lighting/USB-C: so you can track more information about the user.

Just imagine: you can track which kind of phone a user that likes to listen to Heavy Metal, for example, likes to use, or which phone is more popular at the moment. Based on this you can develop phones that is more likely to sell or use specific marketing campaigns depending of the kind of music a person listen.

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#24
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think everyone agrees people have the right to claim ownership to all data exchanged in a multi-party interaction. Further I don't think anyone understands Identity well enough to be able to provide transitively collected data without breaching confidence of similar third-parties. Nothing is as simple as a quip can make it sound.

Further I don't think anyone understands Identity well enough to be able to provide transitively collected data without breaching confidence of similar third-parties. Would you be willing to unpack this statement a bit, please? I'm not quite sure I understand.

If I may intrude, I think they mean that revealing to you data that involves you and other people could invade the privacy of those other people.

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#26
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have to ask me if they can use it and for what purpose. And even better, they can’t condition the use of the site/product on me accepting that they sell it.

That sounds good. How is it enforced? ( not being sarcastic )

Every EU country has a data regulator. These regulators have a range of enforcement options at their disposal, from politely asking a company to comply up to a fine of €20m or 4% of global revenues.

You can see a list of previous enforcement action and adjudication decisions by the British Information Commissioner's Office at the link below. These are all under the old Data Protection Directive, which was broadly similar to GDPR but somewhat lacking in teeth. You'll see everything from a slap on the wrist to six-figure fines.

https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/enforcement/

https://icosearch.ico.org.uk/s/search.html?collection=ico-me...

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#27

Meh you are the product spotify is free!

The pressure to collect any and all data to increase a company's valuation isn't lessened by charging your customers to use the service. That cliché is not really informative nor helpful in the fight for privacy and transparency.

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#28

Seems like CSV would've been a better format than JSON for this type of data based on the screenshots.

Indeed. Your typical data requester isn't going to know code for working with JSON. And converting JSON to CSV is a pain.

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Further I don't think anyone understands Identity well enough to be able to provide transitively collected data without breaching confidence of similar third-parties. Would you be willing to unpack this statement a bit, please? I'm not quite sure I understand.

If I may intrude, I think they mean that revealing to you data that involves you and other people could invade the privacy of those other people.

Gotcha. Thank you, for some reason that wasn't immediately clicking in my brain.

Re: Spotify GDPR data export: user receives 250MB containing every interaction

#30
post #22
post #15

Impressive-- https://twitter.com/steipete/status/1025029133175336960 "They even store the brand of headphone I use. How do you even get that data, digging deep in CoreBluetooth?"

If you think about it, now it makes sense why big names in smartphone industry like Apple and Samsung are removing P2 plugs from smartphones in favor of more powerful interfaces like Lighting/USB-C: so you can track more information about the user. Just imagine: you can track which kind of phone a user that likes to listen to Heavy Metal, for example, likes to use, or which phone is more popular at the moment. Based…

There's a much more mundane explanation - waterproofing. Lightning and USB-C connectors can both be made intrinsically waterproof up to IPx7, while the 3.5mm jack can't. Waterproofing is a key point of differentiation for recent flagship phones. An iPhone 7 will survive a dip in a toilet bowl or a pint of beer, but an iPhone 6 probably won't.
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