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Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
241–250 of 346 posts
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#242I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…
The sad reality is that this behavior gets normalized in the name of making money. For employees it gets normalized at the first signal that your livelihood might be affected if you don't comply. As someone who's privacy conscious, it's an uphill battle to convince co-workers to actually follow laws instead of trying to find loopholes. I've worked at places who collect every possible data point and distributes it wil…
Instead of reporting it to their legal department, report it to an EU data privacy regulator.
(I know this wasn't your main point.)
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Give your WA contacts alternative contact method. Uninstall. Stop using WhatsApp.
Try having kids in Europe, everything they do is organized through WhatsApp group chats. I had to get a separate burner phone just for that.
Yeah, people in the US can choose not to have WhatsApp. In the rest of the world you have to be opt out of lots of stuff to not have WhatsApp.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#244I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…
I know it's not so hip here but the answer is money. You go to work for money. It's not to socialize, not for personal growth, and not for charity. If I want those things I have hobbies (including hobby programming.)
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
Money, it's just business. I think every big corp is morally bankrupt (otherwise they wouldn't be big). There are some exceptions, of course, if a company found a sustainable way to monetize their output. But the baseline is really bad.
This is basically it. There are a dozen ways to become huge, and they all are essnetially anti-humanity. There's an expression: normalization of deviance. This is where we are now. People idolize others because of their wealth, and that wealth is always gained by means which are ultimately harmful to the greater population. Even the wealthy philanthropistMS which will remain unnamed acquired their greatness by cheati…
> There are a dozen ways to become huge, and they all are essnetially anti-humanity.
Offering customers lower prices is a way to gain more customers. Software allows for automation and efficiencies of scale. The end result will be a few big organizations that win, without cheating or stealing. (Although, there most likely is cheating or stealing due to other factors).
But I would not classify the success of most larger modern businesses solely due to cheating or stealing. It was simply being at the right place at the right time and executing correctly to take advantage of developing technologies to take advantage of economies of scale.
In this specific case, I know my family and friends benefit greatly from the “free” instant communication and file transfer capabilities that Meta offers (WhatsApp). There obviously might be costs, but international communications have been made far, far cheaper and higher quality due to WhatsApp.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#246I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…
The sad reality is that this behavior gets normalized in the name of making money. For employees it gets normalized at the first signal that your livelihood might be affected if you don't comply. As someone who's privacy conscious, it's an uphill battle to convince co-workers to actually follow laws instead of trying to find loopholes. I've worked at places who collect every possible data point and distributes it wil…
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
If understanding that it’s wrong to invade people’s privacy is incompatible with keeping your job, you probably won’t understand it.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#247I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…
Money, it's just business. I think every big corp is morally bankrupt (otherwise they wouldn't be big). There are some exceptions, of course, if a company found a sustainable way to monetize their output. But the baseline is really bad.
Big companies are paperclip maximizers, for money instead of paperclips. It’s strange how many people can see the danger of a hypothetical nonhuman intelligence with a goal of making as many paperclips as possible, but not the danger of actual nonhuman intelligences with the goal of making as much money as possible.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#248I like the succinctness of it. Reminded me of "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" as Michael Pollan says about dieting.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Money, it's just business. I think every big corp is morally bankrupt (otherwise they wouldn't be big). There are some exceptions, of course, if a company found a sustainable way to monetize their output. But the baseline is really bad.
Big companies are paperclip maximizers, for money instead of paperclips. It’s strange how many people can see the danger of a hypothetical nonhuman intelligence with a goal of making as many paperclips as possible, but not the danger of actual nonhuman intelligences with the goal of making as much money as possible.
In theory optimizing for money long term should align everyone's interests. The problem is that (for a number of reasons) public executives have far more incentive to be short sighted.
Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)
#250I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…
+1 for “money”. how many years until AI makes everyone’s job obsolete? do you really think countries like the US have their citizens’ best interests in mind? i’m guessing Forced Meaningless Labor (like the cartoon prisoners hammering rocks) is more probable than Universal Basic Income.