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Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

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Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#51

Post by bdominy »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #49
bdominy wrote: post #16

Identity theft, scams, robocalls, spam, etc. all get started by harvesting people’s personal information. It’s a commodity hackers trade for big bucks. The question is how to protect yourself? I use end-to-end encryption wherever possible, so WhatsApp for chats and Neucards for contact sharing. It makes collecting my data much tougher.

I don't see how you can trust WhatsApp when it's closed source and owned by Facebook ? (Who, furthermore, already violated their promise made when buying WhatsApp to not use the phone numbers and contact books they got from them for their other services.)

They care about end-to-end encryption and let me use the app after I denied them access to my contacts. Signal is another possibility, but I don't like they require my phone number to make an account.

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#52

Post by nicbou »

ls65536 wrote: post #5
Aeolun wrote: post #2

I think there is a bit of a problem with the initial analogy in the proceeding in the wrong direction won’t get me where I want to go. For most people, privacy isn’t a goal in itself.

Privacy may not be a goal in itself, but it sure would be painful to wake up one day and realise one has given it up for perhaps more trivial and ephemeral "benefits" along the way, especially if this took place relatively slowly over many years. Privacy (among other things like personal freedom, health, etc.) really seems to be one of those things many people take for granted until they realise they have lost it, or…

The best way to get the point across: think about sending nudes. Once they’re sent, there is no recalling them, even if your relationship goes south or they end up in the wrong hands.

It’s the same for all that data about you out there. If anyone who accesses your data goes rogue or leaks it, it’s hanging over your head forever.

It could be that this data will be judged against changing standards, so that your once innocuous behaviour is now considered bad. It could be that your data is misinterpreted and the judgement used against you.

Once you get bitten, it’s too late.

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#53

Post by ranger_danger »

spansoa wrote: post #18

I used to have a large online presence pre-Snowden leaks and was signed up to hundreds of services, some even in my legal name. Gradually I attempted to 'go dark' and delete all those accounts, which was tedious, but worth it. There's two extremes to being online: you can wear your heart on your shirt sleeve and post under your legal name, and share details about your private life, or you can be a ghost and leave no…

My biggest source of "being exposed" has been due to the car I drive being unique, which in turn causes people to post pictures of it online, where corrupt local cops who are part of those forums end up posting my name and address online for people to stalk or try to steal the car/rob me/whatever. Do you have any tips for combating this besides getting rid of the car entirely? Keep in mind the operators of these forums do not care who their users dox, and always win any lawsuits/DMCA/etc filed against them (similar to kiwifarms).

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#54

Post by dredmorbius »

thenerdhead wrote: post #24

I don't think everyone changes as fast as the data can get stale. Humans are both creatures of habit and agents of change. For the former, this data is still relevant and ads can do their jobs. For the latter, the data is stale and ads do not convert. Age may be a huge factor here. I do believe in data privacy. Mostly from the lens of not living in a future world where data removes an individual's critical thinking a…

Mander is strongly recommended reading.

Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television

https://www.worldcat.org/title/four-arguments-for-the-elimin...

https://archive.org/search.php?query=mander+Four+arguments+f...

http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=F119513A778FC924D7ED96B4...

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#55

Post by suifbwish »

spansoa wrote: post #18

I used to have a large online presence pre-Snowden leaks and was signed up to hundreds of services, some even in my legal name. Gradually I attempted to 'go dark' and delete all those accounts, which was tedious, but worth it. There's two extremes to being online: you can wear your heart on your shirt sleeve and post under your legal name, and share details about your private life, or you can be a ghost and leave no…

One problem with going dark is a lot of people forgot all the accounts they have signed up for.

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#56

Post by dredmorbius »

noasaservice wrote: post #38

HN itself is one such black-hole of data permanentness. They do not support deletion of your data, modifying of your data after 1h, and are what I would describe as a data-tarpit. Nor do they support any of the European privacy directives. Sure, they're in the US, but they should definitely be forward-thinking about this stuff - The writing's on the wall. It's why I create junk accounts and abandon them after a bit.…

Can I delete my account?

We try not to delete entire account histories because that would gut the threads the account had participated in. However, we care about protecting individual users and take care of privacy requests every day, so if we can help, please email hn@ycombinator.com. We don't want anyone to get in trouble from anything they posted to HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23623799

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#57

Post by cxcorp »

suifbwish wrote: post #55
spansoa wrote: post #18

I used to have a large online presence pre-Snowden leaks and was signed up to hundreds of services, some even in my legal name. Gradually I attempted to 'go dark' and delete all those accounts, which was tedious, but worth it. There's two extremes to being online: you can wear your heart on your shirt sleeve and post under your legal name, and share details about your private life, or you can be a ghost and leave no…

One problem with going dark is a lot of people forgot all the accounts they have signed up for.

I feel that using a password manager makes it easier. Although, it definitely took some time back when I started using one to dig through the services I had registered for from my emails.

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#58

Post by unboxingelf »

ranger_danger wrote: post #53
spansoa wrote: post #18

I used to have a large online presence pre-Snowden leaks and was signed up to hundreds of services, some even in my legal name. Gradually I attempted to 'go dark' and delete all those accounts, which was tedious, but worth it. There's two extremes to being online: you can wear your heart on your shirt sleeve and post under your legal name, and share details about your private life, or you can be a ghost and leave no…

My biggest source of "being exposed" has been due to the car I drive being unique, which in turn causes people to post pictures of it online, where corrupt local cops who are part of those forums end up posting my name and address online for people to stalk or try to steal the car/rob me/whatever. Do you have any tips for combating this besides getting rid of the car entirely? Keep in mind the operators of these foru…

I’m sorry that’s happened to you, but now you’ve piqued my curiosity - what kind of car gets this type of attention?

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#59

Post by [deleted] »

anothersullivan wrote: post #46
freebuju wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are just wrong. Some of your data such as health data stays constant throughout your life. Especially for guys living with chronic conditions. Your key identifiers stay the same too. E.g your phone number etc. These are then used to re-establish your advertising identity. This theory that old data declines in value couldn't be more wrong given that the "old" data is never deleted. Just waiting to find its origina…

You can change your phone number though. What if you change it so frequently that it's no longer a key identifier? Why not have a system where you can receive phone calls without a phone number? I believe some of the solution here is to stop having globally unique identifiers.

[deleted]

Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

#60

Post by selestify »

unboxingelf wrote: post #58
ranger_danger wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest source of "being exposed" has been due to the car I drive being unique, which in turn causes people to post pictures of it online, where corrupt local cops who are part of those forums end up posting my name and address online for people to stalk or try to steal the car/rob me/whatever. Do you have any tips for combating this besides getting rid of the car entirely? Keep in mind the operators of these foru…

I’m sorry that’s happened to you, but now you’ve piqued my curiosity - what kind of car gets this type of attention?

And where are you that you get corrupt cops acting in that manner?
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