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Am I alone in not really caring about my privacy that much? I understand many people care about theirs, and I fully respect their right to their privacy. With t

by wpasc 9y ago

Am I alone in not really caring about my privacy that much? I understand many people care about theirs, and I fully respect their right to their privacy. With that said, I could care less how much data Google/Facebook acquire on me. For now, all it is for more targeted advertisements. My tune would obviously change if that data were used in more malicious ways. But as long as it is advertising targets, I personally don't care.

jonathanjaeger 9y ago
You're not alone. If we're talking unintended consequences of privacy invasions, I'm more inclined to not like something like letting people add you to groups without your permission (e.g. when people were outed by being added to a gay choir group on FB many years ago). I might be biased because I run ad campaigns on FB and the data is helpful (more efficient than Snapchat or Twitter where they have less data on you).
seangrant 9y ago
The fear comes from exactly that. People aren't worried about targeted advertising. People are worried that swathes of their data isn't "theirs" anymore and can suddenly be used maliciously. Sure maybe not by Facebook. But Facebook's customers? The customers to those customers?
psyc 9y ago
Of course not. Nobody I know IRL cares about their privacy, save one or two people who also happen to be generally paranoid (I don't mean it's paranoid to worry about Facebook, though). From the looks of the web, people I don't know are far, far less concerned about their privacy.
nabla9 9y ago
Are you aware that 'your data' can involve your reactions and small actions like mouse moments and that all that data can be used to steer your emotions and behaviour without you noticing it. Then there is the the combined effect of everyones data that is threatening.
sverige 9y ago
My question is whether I am alone in actually caring very much about my privacy. I don't consider myself to be paranoid, but I have never been willing to share details of my life with strangers. I recognize that any online activity is subject to surveillance, but I do what I can to minimize sharing that. There's a lot you can do along those lines, with really fairly minimal effort -- though I consider "minimal" to include not having a facebook account and not having any photos of myself on the internet, for example, which I know from having these conversations in the past is for many people some insurmountable hurdle. Anyway, why would I want strangers to know the details of my personal preferences and tastes? There's no benefit to sharing it as far as I can tell. That is what has always stumped me when people say they don't care about their privacy.
- 1812Overture 9y ago
  Not just online activity. Bank/credit card transactions. Utility/tax information. Postal information. Subscriptions to anything. DMV records. A detailed profile of you is for sale to anyone who cares to pay. Probably less detailed than most people, since you're careful, but enough to be spooky.
rlayton2 9y ago
Would you be upset if Facebook used information about you to choose what to display on your feed? Probably not. What about if they were simply experimenting to see if they could make you happier or more depressed by carefully choosing that information?
AlexandrB 9y ago
> My tune would obviously change if that data were used in more malicious ways. But as long as it is advertising targets, I personally don't care. Diamonds are not actually forever, but data is. There's little you can do to prevent Facebook from using the data you've already given them in malicious ways tomorrow. Throw in an economic crisis or major war and it's almost a certainty that they will do so due to desperation or legislation.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  But how can you be sure that Facebook will keep your data safe? Experian showed us that you cannot trust these data companies to keep your data out of the hands of nefarious people.
MayeulC 9y ago
Well, besides the fact that privacy violations are (should be?) against the law and unethical, there are a few considerations you could have. The one that springs to my mind right now is: Knowledge is power; which is also true in that case: the more an entity knows about you, the more power it has over you. And not only blackmail, but recent hints (AI-powered election meddlings, addictive user interfaces, etc.) have proven that your instinct can be, and will be used against you, whether you are conscious of it or not. And of course, there are problems linked to physical security (if the wrong person can see you're spending a week abroad, your house might be broken into, or worse). Let's not dwell on the ethics of financing a company that sells your personal data. Private data is by definition not supposed to be made public, it is sensitive. Treat it like an attack surface: the more there is out there, the more likely it is that something can be used against you.
groby_b 9y ago
If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. Once your data is collected, you have no control over it any more. Are you sure there's a valid retention policy, it is actually working and enforced, there are no secret agreements with e.g. the national security apparatus, and it is absolutely secure from malicious employees? That is the big issue around data collection. Even if you're fine with it being collected now, you might not want a recording of this at a later point. For many different reasons. But a big one being that it's really easy to twist your words against you.

by wpasc 9y ago

jonathanjaeger 9y ago

You're not alone. If we're talking unintended consequences of privacy invasions, I'm more inclined to not like something like letting people add you to groups without your permission (e.g. when people were outed by being added to a gay choir group on FB many years ago). I might be biased because I run ad campaigns on FB and the data is helpful (more efficient than Snapchat or Twitter where they have less data on you).

seangrant 9y ago

The fear comes from exactly that. People aren't worried about targeted advertising. People are worried that swathes of their data isn't "theirs" anymore and can suddenly be used maliciously. Sure maybe not by Facebook. But Facebook's customers? The customers to those customers?

psyc 9y ago

Of course not. Nobody I know IRL cares about their privacy, save one or two people who also happen to be generally paranoid (I don't mean it's paranoid to worry about Facebook, though). From the looks of the web, people I don't know are far, far less concerned about their privacy.

nabla9 9y ago

Are you aware that 'your data' can involve your reactions and small actions like mouse moments and that all that data can be used to steer your emotions and behaviour without you noticing it. Then there is the the combined effect of everyones data that is threatening.

sverige 9y ago

My question is whether I am alone in actually caring very much about my privacy. I don't consider myself to be paranoid, but I have never been willing to share details of my life with strangers. I recognize that any online activity is subject to surveillance, but I do what I can to minimize sharing that. There's a lot you can do along those lines, with really fairly minimal effort -- though I consider "minimal" to include not having a facebook account and not having any photos of myself on the internet, for example, which I know from having these conversations in the past is for many people some insurmountable hurdle. Anyway, why would I want strangers to know the details of my personal preferences and tastes? There's no benefit to sharing it as far as I can tell. That is what has always stumped me when people say they don't care about their privacy.

1812Overture 9y ago
Not just online activity. Bank/credit card transactions. Utility/tax information. Postal information. Subscriptions to anything. DMV records. A detailed profile of you is for sale to anyone who cares to pay. Probably less detailed than most people, since you're careful, but enough to be spooky.

rlayton2 9y ago

Would you be upset if Facebook used information about you to choose what to display on your feed? Probably not. What about if they were simply experimenting to see if they could make you happier or more depressed by carefully choosing that information?

AlexandrB 9y ago

> My tune would obviously change if that data were used in more malicious ways. But as long as it is advertising targets, I personally don't care. Diamonds are not actually forever, but data is. There's little you can do to prevent Facebook from using the data you've already given them in malicious ways tomorrow. Throw in an economic crisis or major war and it's almost a certainty that they will do so due to desperation or legislation.

jjeaff 9y ago
But how can you be sure that Facebook will keep your data safe? Experian showed us that you cannot trust these data companies to keep your data out of the hands of nefarious people.

MayeulC 9y ago

Well, besides the fact that privacy violations are (should be?) against the law and unethical, there are a few considerations you could have. The one that springs to my mind right now is: Knowledge is power; which is also true in that case: the more an entity knows about you, the more power it has over you. And not only blackmail, but recent hints (AI-powered election meddlings, addictive user interfaces, etc.) have proven that your instinct can be, and will be used against you, whether you are conscious of it or not. And of course, there are problems linked to physical security (if the wrong person can see you're spending a week abroad, your house might be broken into, or worse). Let's not dwell on the ethics of financing a company that sells your personal data. Private data is by definition not supposed to be made public, it is sensitive. Treat it like an attack surface: the more there is out there, the more likely it is that something can be used against you.

groby_b 9y ago

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. Once your data is collected, you have no control over it any more. Are you sure there's a valid retention policy, it is actually working and enforced, there are no secret agreements with e.g. the national security apparatus, and it is absolutely secure from malicious employees? That is the big issue around data collection. Even if you're fine with it being collected now, you might not want a recording of this at a later point. For many different reasons. But a big one being that it's really easy to twist your words against you.