Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect

#41

Post by vntok » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 1:20 AM UTC

whoopdedo wrote: post #34

iso1631 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These were recordings from years ago. Why are amazon keeping it that long?

Honestly, what I find most offensive is that Amazon tracks all of this data and yet their recommendations are still awful. I just bought a vacuum cleaner. Why are you trying to sell me another one? How many vacuum cleaners do you think a person goes through in a month!

You're most likely to buy a vaccuum cleaner just after you bought one. Consider the one you bought might not fit your needs.

Re: Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect

#42

Post by Accacin » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 9:05 AM UTC

ISL wrote: post #28

Accacin wrote: post #18

So I hate my data being collected like this, and try to reduce when it happens whenever I can. But, buying an Alexa and then complaining they store the audio? When they confirmed they kept it about two years ago? Imagine I found out the library kept a list of titles I borrowed! Or my bank account storing my transactions.

It is my impression that at least some librarians are adamant about not storing lists of titles borrowed by a single individual.

That may be perfectly correct. What I'm saying that is I expect them to store it, and I'm okay with that. If they don't store it, well that's great.

Re: Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect

#43

Post by Accacin » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 9:19 AM UTC

syspec wrote: post #36

Accacin wrote: post #18

So I hate my data being collected like this, and try to reduce when it happens whenever I can. But, buying an Alexa and then complaining they store the audio? When they confirmed they kept it about two years ago? Imagine I found out the library kept a list of titles I borrowed! Or my bank account storing my transactions.

"Yeah, what was the victim doing wearing that skimpy outfit! They brought this on themselves!"

I absolutely hear your point, and understand where you are coming from. If this where a regular person, I would agree that they would have no idea that Amazon would store their data.

However, this lady seems incredibly smart, hosts a podcast (and newsletter) about many topics (inc. tech). I would personally have the opinion that she would be fully aware of how Alexa works and that Amazon would most likely be storing her data.

I know I shouldn't be blaming her in this instance, and I'm not, I'd just expect her to know better.

Re: Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect

#44

Post by mcphage » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 2:08 PM UTC

denysvitali wrote: post #40

mcphage wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whole Foods store locations are neither PII nor juicy information—especially not sufficient to justify Amazon responding unprompted, encouraging the poster to delete these tweets.

To be honest I would consider "X went to Y at time Z" to be a sensitive information. Whether you care about privacy or not, that's another issue

> To be honest I would consider "X went to Y at time Z" to be a sensitive information

It's not personally identifying information.

> Whether you care about privacy or not, that's another issue

Lol, that's quite the false dichotomy you got there.

Re: Amazon suggests user delete tweet showing how much data they collect

#45

Post by pnathan » Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 8:12 PM UTC

xanaxagoras wrote: post #16

pnathan wrote: post #15

If you log into a loyalty account for a Kroger store (QFC, Fred Meyer, others)... you see similar transaction lists. This is extremely normal for retailers. Also, machine learning can create shadow profiles for people, even those who don't have a loyalty account. (E.g., a purchase occurs every Friday around 5:30 and buys a specific beer and specific brats...). This is all obvious stuff to me, but, also, people might…

Does paying in cash "protect" me from these shadow profiles?

as I mentioned, they can observe purchase patterns and derive that a given individual is making those purchases if its unique enough.

gently, my take on privacy is that, we will never be able to turn the clock back to 1970; we have to instead reconceptualize privacy in the age of pervasive sousviellance & surveillance.