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Amazon.com delivers product suggestions by profiling you. Google provides better search results by profiling your search history. How can this be a bad thing fo

by synarch 17y ago

Amazon.com delivers product suggestions by profiling you. Google provides better search results by profiling your search history. How can this be a bad thing for you?

gnosis 17y ago
If I could trust them to do that and only that with the information they collect about me, maybe I wouldn't mind so much. But, first, what they do with the information they collect about me is completely out of my control. They could sell it to someone else or to another corporation or to the/a government for all I know. And I won't even know, as they're not required to tell me about what they actually do with the information they collect about me. And even if the only thing they do now with my information is provide suggestions and improve search results for me and don't sell any of this information to others, that doesn't mean that they won't change their minds and start doing something else at a later date. Second, and more importantly, I have a profound distrust of corporations. Knowledge is power and I don't want to allow corporations to get even more power over me (or over anyone else). Third, I believe any information about me is information I own, and if these companies want to collect information about me or use it in any way, they should ask my permission. If I feel that it would be a good thing for them to either collect information about me or use it to "improve search results" or make recommendations or do whatever else they propose to do with that information, then I'll give them that permission. If not, they should be forbidden by law from doing so. But, since there are no such laws (at least not in the US, that I'm aware of) I'll just forego using their service completely. In fact, even if there were laws, I'm not sure if I'd use their service, since it would take a lot of convincing for me to believe these corporations were actually obeying the law.
- pavs 17y ago
  Lock yourself in the basement, destroy the key.
  - gnosis 17y ago
    It's amazing just how much hostility there is towards the notion of trying to keep information about yourself private.
    - synarch 17y ago
      I took it more as true privacy is an impossibility. Any time you participate in the system there is a trail.
    - Lazlo_Nibble 17y ago
      It's not so much hostility towards privacy as strong disagreement about where to draw the line.

by synarch 17y ago

Amazon.com delivers product suggestions by profiling you. Google provides better search results by profiling your search history. How can this be a bad thing for you?

gnosis 17y ago

If I could trust them to do that and only that with the information they collect about me, maybe I wouldn't mind so much. But, first, what they do with the information they collect about me is completely out of my control. They could sell it to someone else or to another corporation or to the/a government for all I know. And I won't even know, as they're not required to tell me about what they actually do with the information they collect about me. And even if the only thing they do now with my information is provide suggestions and improve search results for me and don't sell any of this information to others, that doesn't mean that they won't change their minds and start doing something else at a later date. Second, and more importantly, I have a profound distrust of corporations. Knowledge is power and I don't want to allow corporations to get even more power over me (or over anyone else). Third, I believe any information about me is information I own, and if these companies want to collect information about me or use it in any way, they should ask my permission. If I feel that it would be a good thing for them to either collect information about me or use it to "improve search results" or make recommendations or do whatever else they propose to do with that information, then I'll give them that permission. If not, they should be forbidden by law from doing so. But, since there are no such laws (at least not in the US, that I'm aware of) I'll just forego using their service completely. In fact, even if there were laws, I'm not sure if I'd use their service, since it would take a lot of convincing for me to believe these corporations were actually obeying the law.

pavs 17y ago
Lock yourself in the basement, destroy the key.
- gnosis 17y ago
  It's amazing just how much hostility there is towards the notion of trying to keep information about yourself private.
  - synarch 17y ago
    I took it more as true privacy is an impossibility. Any time you participate in the system there is a trail.
  - Lazlo_Nibble 17y ago
    It's not so much hostility towards privacy as strong disagreement about where to draw the line.