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Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data

blog.thenewoil.org

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

#61

Post by prima-facie »

freebuju wrote: post #22
wolverine876 wrote: post #21

The value of data declines over time, often rapidly. Think about what a business would pay for current user data, data one year old, data five years old, etc.; who buys five year old data? I suppose it depends on the application. Imagine how your life changes over time, an accumulation of small and large changes. Data on your health, finances, social network, interests, politics, activities, etc. was different 1 year…

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…

What if you go even further and pollute the data to such an extent that you start fitting into all buckets.

You could be male, female and any other gender, any race, any job, work as a CEO and a janitor, live both in Russia and the US.

You could probably do this to Google search.

Edit: Apparently somebody already built an extension which does exactly this for Facebook. https://floorvandenberghe.be/derivedscrolling/

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

#62

Post by wolverine876 »

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.

> Why not have a system where you can receive phone calls without a phone number?

How would you do that?

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

#63

Post by deadbeeves »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #39
gonehome wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's an accessible middle ground for most people. My first suggestion would be to get every account in a password manager like 1Password. In addition to the obvious security benefits, this creates a record of where all your accounts are. For the average person it'll take time for them to remember everything (and they'll realize ones they forgot) - having a place for it all to get documented is the first st…

> I think there's an accessible middle ground for most people. It doesn't even need to be a middle ground. Even the least effort is enough. Think about smoking, drinking and other risky behaviour. I make a similar plea and argument in Digital Vegan [1] as is made in the blog post. Like plenty of other thinkers now (Newport, Doctorow, Kingsnorth, Vaidhyanathan, Kardaras, Tufekci, Rushkoff, Lanier, Véliz and Oddell) I…

>any improvement to your digital lifestyle is worth making

Are they, though? What tangible benefit does one actually get from refusing to give out personal data one doesn't care about?

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

#64

Post by evancoop »

One useful regulation might be to prevent neutering the functionality of a product if the user does not elect to share their data. Unless those data are part and parcel of the core functionality, choosing not to share should not prevent receiving software updates, etc.

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

#65

Post by ranger_danger »

selestify wrote: post #60
unboxingelf wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I think both of you can understand why I wouldn't want to answer those questions.

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

#66

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#67

Post by yeetsfromhellL2 »

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…

Honestly, move and consider getting a new rig. Unless your story gets traction with nationwide news or you get the governor's attention, these guys act with impunity.

Out of curiosity...are you displaying a "Fuck the Police" kind of message, or do you have a bunch of aftermarket parts that makes you distinctive?

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

#68

Post by cascom »

I find the only way I can get a little traction with people on this subject is through the consequences on insurance markets:

“Imagine you your car insurance is triple because waze said you speed”

“Imagine you and your entire extended family can’t get health insurance because of genetic conditions discovered via 23andme” (assumes law change)

“Imagine your health insurance goes up because you buy too much junk food”

Etc

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

#69

Post by JetAlone »

wolverine876 wrote: post #21

The value of data declines over time, often rapidly. Think about what a business would pay for current user data, data one year old, data five years old, etc.; who buys five year old data? I suppose it depends on the application. Imagine how your life changes over time, an accumulation of small and large changes. Data on your health, finances, social network, interests, politics, activities, etc. was different 1 year…

Interesting thought. I wonder if the value of the time in a person's life spent without having their data tracked, sold and used to influence their thought and decisions doesn't increase over time like an investment. So let's say they were not under heavy surveillance and sway from such a system for one year 5 years ago... Could that year away have given them a base formation of better adjusted mental health habits that helps them more today because it happened earlier in life than it would have if they had been free of it for only the past year, after 4 years more of continued privacy and attention degradation? I bet this is especially poignant when neuroplasticity is considered.

Optimistically, this would mean any resistance made today hurts the state-corp alliance hard now, and benefits the human being especially hard later, giving courage to make efforts for the long game.

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

#70

Post by helloworld11 »

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…

Could you offer any practical specific tips for going dark as thoroughly as you describe, or guides that you especially recommend? Honestly curious. It's not difficult to find advice for digital privacy online, but finding advice that's genuinely good and useful can be trickier.
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