The thing is, "big tech" aren't really the really scary data collectors, the data brokers are. They buy details from your supermarket, health insurer etc. And yet people here don't often bring them up.
I agree that data brokers are underscrutinized and probably the least ethical of the companies who make money from user data. I didn't realize that they could buy my data from a health insurer—where can I read more about this?
Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
71–80 of 87 posts
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
WhatsApp doesn't require a phone number any more ?
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
> any improvement to your digital lifestyle is worth making
>> Are they, though?
Yes
>> What tangible benefit does one actually get from refusing to give out personal data one doesn't care about?
Being loved and respected, and more successful in life. People who care about themselves are generally better liked and so gain social advantages. Self-care does not mean being selfish. If you treat yourself like someone you are responsible for, others see that you are the kind of person who can care for them too.
You should care about every part of your person, including your data, as if it were your literal personal hygiene.
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#74I 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…
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Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Burner numbers are close, but if you use the same one for all your contacts it still becomes an identifier, even if you rotate it. An alternative is a proxy service where you get issued a unique pin for each person-to-person connection, so the same phone number gets used by multiple parties. Those both use the existing phone network in better ways. With a VoIP system you don't need numbers, you just don't want to trade them for usernames or some other global identifier. I implemented one approach with Severus, but I'm also looking for alternatives that increase privacy.
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#76Thought experiment: What if we just continue like we did in the last two decades? Would there be any real harm if we simply returned to the pre "cookie banner world" of the internet?
I’m sorry to break it to you, but the issue is not the cookie banners but the fact that website share your personal information with thousand of entities and brokers. You do not need a cookie banner if you do not track your users beyond what is needed for the website to work.
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#77HN 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://n…
I figured SOMEONE would have responded to that.
This has the same energy as "Click here to create account, but do a whole bunch outside the account to delete it".
It's like NYT doing the scammy "pay online, but cancel after calling on business hours to a retention specialist, and they may also just ignore your *request*"
The simple answer: put this in the website, not some email that may or may not actually request anything.
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
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://n…
I figured SOMEONE would have responded to that. This has the same energy as "Click here to create account, but do a whole bunch outside the account to delete it". It's like NYT doing the scammy "pay online, but cancel after calling on business hours to a retention specialist, and they may also just ignore your *request*" The simple answer: put this in the website, not some email that may or may not actually request a…
Though I've not requested deletion, I've found HN's mod team exceptionally responsive in general.
Have you actually tried to follow the process?
Are you aware of any instances in which requests have been denied?
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#79The thing is, "big tech" aren't really the really scary data collectors, the data brokers are. They buy details from your supermarket, health insurer etc. And yet people here don't often bring them up.
I agree that data brokers are underscrutinized and probably the least ethical of the companies who make money from user data. I didn't realize that they could buy my data from a health insurer—where can I read more about this?
I don't know about this case in particular, but generally these things are hard to pin down for a reason. But start with the privacy policy.
Re: Why to care about privacy after years of sharing data
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I figured SOMEONE would have responded to that. This has the same energy as "Click here to create account, but do a whole bunch outside the account to delete it". It's like NYT doing the scammy "pay online, but cancel after calling on business hours to a retention specialist, and they may also just ignore your *request*" The simple answer: put this in the website, not some email that may or may not actually request a…
Though I've not requested deletion, I've found HN's mod team exceptionally responsive in general. Have you actually tried to follow the process? Are you aware of any instances in which requests have been denied?
If I'm trying to keep my self anonymous-ish, Why do YOU think email is the best way to do that?
This should be in-app as a request or an action I can self-execute. "Email us" is the New York Times model of "buy online, but deal with hours of phone-hell"