"If you want to opt out that is fine. You can just toil in the hinterlands, and die young"
The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
81–90 of 170 posts
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Companies can still track me, my data's still out there. I don' think this is right. When you were being a "luddite" you probably had less data collected about you, but you couldn't see that. All you can see is the cool tech stuff you are missing out on, so you feel that keenly. I think the reason a lot of people give up their privacy is that they feel like they have lost it already, so they might as well "Get what…
No way. The largest threats to your privacy by several orders of magnitude over the stuff we complain about: - Electric, gas, sewer, water, trash utilities that you basically can't live without. - Thinking of going rustic? Better not own the land in your own name. Most places, parcels are easy to find online. - Property management companies - Sites that facilitate rental applications - Your 100+ year old bank - Credi…
What?
Why would Verizon want to connect anything to your mom's car?
That's very strange. Could it be that they want to monitor cellphone coverage maybe? Or even monitor their competitors' coverage?
It just creeps me the hell out thinking that my telecom would like to connect something to unrelated stuff...
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#83I used to feel strongly about not trading my privacy away for some convenience. For a long time I took a luddite pride in not being on various services, having a dumb phone, keeping it turned off, etc. Over time, though, I've found myself having a change of heart. What started as little inconveniences have turned into big ones, as I'm more and more out of touch with my peers, contemporaries, and family. I don't like…
I'm more concerned about the government tracking me than private companies tracking me. As we've seen with the NSA over the last few years, mere laws will not stop the government from spying on you (if you can convince them to implement token restrictions on government surveillance in the first place, which is not often the case).
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Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but the convenience is, for example, I get cheap flight tickets, Cortana picks those out of my email and adds the trip to my calendar automatically, etc. How am I going to lie about any of that? If your answer involves paying cash for airline tickets, then we're back to the high-priced, inconvenient world I'm no longer interested in trying to maintain. Stuffing databases with fake data is fun when you're signin…
Isn't being selective with what you lie about the answer to this? If you don't care that Google know about a purchase then use your normal email/credit card etc. If you want additional privacy then use methods that allow this. Privacy can be a continuum. Given that it can probably be traced back to a mailing address and credit card these measures may be worthless anyway.
Flying commercially is never going to be a privacy-preserving activity, for a wide variety of reasons that have nothing to do with payments or online calendars. This is just a trade-off that one must accept.
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Companies can still track me, my data's still out there. I don' think this is right. When you were being a "luddite" you probably had less data collected about you, but you couldn't see that. All you can see is the cool tech stuff you are missing out on, so you feel that keenly. I think the reason a lot of people give up their privacy is that they feel like they have lost it already, so they might as well "Get what…
No way. The largest threats to your privacy by several orders of magnitude over the stuff we complain about: - Electric, gas, sewer, water, trash utilities that you basically can't live without. - Thinking of going rustic? Better not own the land in your own name. Most places, parcels are easy to find online. - Property management companies - Sites that facilitate rental applications - Your 100+ year old bank - Credi…
People's situations may vary, but most of the ones you list differ in two important ways. One, they need to make an effort to invade your privacy. Yeah, my neighbours could observe my daily routine, my electric company may do more than know my use of electricity, but these would take some effort, while the tech companies can data mine about millions of people at a time.
And the other important distinction is that these other things are highly compartmentalized, tech isn't, especially for the kind of person likely to be reading HN. I'm sure I am not alone here in that I basically live on the Internet. I read news online, I buy the books that I read online, discuss topics that interest me, watch movies, research my medical issues, read about stocks I invest into, talk to friends and family. My complete browsing history would certainly reveal more about me than ransacking my house for all the physical items, and corporations like Facebook try to have access to that, plus more - such as your private conversations, which is why they push their own messaging services.
This is the truly scary combination. The extent to which online activities matter in your life (especially for the tech-inclined), and the ability of large companies to automatically process and analyse those activities.
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#86> Eventually, some lawyer is going to convince a judge that, say, 1% the victims of a deep-pocketed company’s breach will end up losing their houses to identity thieves as a result of the data that the company has leaked, and that the damages should be equal to 1% of all the property owned by a 53 million (or 500 million!) customers whom the company has wronged. It will take down a Fortune 100 company, and transfer b…
"They're portraying the negligent company as the victim!"
Perhaps that's why Experia's little breach never made the headlines. They couldn't be framed as a victim as the guy bought all the data legally. It's less than reassuring to ponder, depending on the "how" the data is used, anyone with a shell company, a little diligence and, most importantly, cash could buy this info, too.
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/03/experian-lapse-allowed-id...
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't being selective with what you lie about the answer to this? If you don't care that Google know about a purchase then use your normal email/credit card etc. If you want additional privacy then use methods that allow this. Privacy can be a continuum. Given that it can probably be traced back to a mailing address and credit card these measures may be worthless anyway.
Flying commercially is never going to be a privacy-preserving activity, for a wide variety of reasons that have nothing to do with payments or online calendars. This is just a trade-off that one must accept.
Not if you're John Gilmore.
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
No way. The largest threats to your privacy by several orders of magnitude over the stuff we complain about: - Electric, gas, sewer, water, trash utilities that you basically can't live without. - Thinking of going rustic? Better not own the land in your own name. Most places, parcels are easy to find online. - Property management companies - Sites that facilitate rental applications - Your 100+ year old bank - Credi…
What? Why would Verizon want to connect anything to your mom's car? That's very strange. Could it be that they want to monitor cellphone coverage maybe? Or even monitor their competitors' coverage? It just creeps me the hell out thinking that my telecom would like to connect something to unrelated stuff...
They could collect coverage data with a 12V barrel adapter, no need for OBD-II. That can only be nefarious.
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#89I used to feel strongly about not trading my privacy away for some convenience. For a long time I took a luddite pride in not being on various services, having a dumb phone, keeping it turned off, etc. Over time, though, I've found myself having a change of heart. What started as little inconveniences have turned into big ones, as I'm more and more out of touch with my peers, contemporaries, and family. I don't like…
I don't want to give up, and I don't want to check out. One thing to try, would be to lie more. We don't owe giant corporations the truth, but we especially don't owe them the whole truth. Never use your real name. Use fake addresses when you can. Use different email accounts for each site that needs one. Never use "social media logins". When you have to make payments, do so through Paypal or some other obfuscating s…
Give em all the bad info they deserve!
I've been giving city park addresses, lottery hotlines and/or obscure character names to everyone but the essentials & the guv. My first lesson in guerrilla counter-marketing came when my book club mis-typed my middle initial and I was flooded with pre-approved credit cards with said typo. My twelve year old brain was alive with all the possibilities I could buy with free cash! Apparently, without a job, a SS# and that particular middle initial, I wasn't really pre-approved. Meh.
Re: The privacy wars are about to get a whole lot worse
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Companies can still track me, my data's still out there. I don' think this is right. When you were being a "luddite" you probably had less data collected about you, but you couldn't see that. All you can see is the cool tech stuff you are missing out on, so you feel that keenly. I think the reason a lot of people give up their privacy is that they feel like they have lost it already, so they might as well "Get what…
Also consider that data isn't timeless. Data about your habits now, are outdated and close to worthless in a few months. So, reducing your data footprint always has an effect.
This cannot be stressed enough. I can't tell you how many useless things websites have suggested I would be interested in because I purchased a gift for someone's kid 5 years ago, or whatever.
Also, consider that data isn't necessarily properly associated with who you think it is. I often see suggestions that are clearly due to my wife's browsing on her own computer (which is nearly identical to mine in terms of browser fingerprinting). Obviously we have the same IP to the outside world and we share some interests, but not everything!