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Nobody dies from Google Analytics. People die from failing to follow fire codes or food safety laws. This is a false equivalence.

EnFinlay 9y ago
Most people don't die from food safety violations, they just have a really bad day. I would say this is equivalent to the harm done by something like the Equifax breach.
- FireBeyond 9y ago
  > they just have a really bad day And those who end up in hospital, in the US, possibly without insurance? I guess that, and the ensuing bills is "just" an _extremely_ bad day then?
  - girvo 9y ago
    Not a worry in most other developed countries.
00N8 9y ago
of course they do! what magical kingdom of the future do you think you're living in, where economic ends have no bearing on survival?! your business on the brink succeeds or fails; a personal relationship blossoms or sours. sure, we mustn't rely too much one any one thing going a certain way on these kinda things that data sharing or Google Analytics can impact. but in aggregate these factors have significant bearing on one's access to medical, nutritional, & fitness resources & technology, even will to live, thus they do drive life or death outcomes all the same.
- cromwellian 9y ago
  So Google Analytics kills people? It saps your bodily fluids, I mean, will to live, at the same level as fluoridated water, and is equally dangerous with building fires. Gotcha. This is the best example of false equivalence I've yet seen.
  - summerdown2 9y ago
    People subject to identity theft due to poor control of their data do indeed suffer real world consequences. I wouldn't necessarily want to argue it's a case of life or death - but there's undoubtedly actual harm in some cases ranging from social issues if their data is sensitive, right down to financial loss. And if you wanted to examine whether it could be a matter of life or death, it wouldn't be that big of a stretch. Consider what might be the result of someone trying to escape from an abusive relationship having their personal data exposed. Or a whistleblower / political dissident. For example, imagine a Chinese dissident with a free-Tibet facebook record whose data gets back to the Chinese government. I'd focus on China particularly because they're developing a system for working out how much people align with the state and it appears it may be partly based on the information they can find out about people's internet postings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System
quantummkv 9y ago
Google and Facebook analytics get people like Trump elected. Which is a far more dangerous situation than food poisoning or a building fire due to its long term impact.
- hueving 9y ago
  People like Trump have been elected since there were elections. Keep the lame political statements elsewhere.
mercer 9y ago
I find it quite worrying that 1) you are all over this discussion downplaying/minimizing the value and importance of privacy, and 2) you are the "founder of iCouch, a platform for psychologists, therapists and counselors".
Too 9y ago
Nobody died from detailed records of peoples religion and ethnicity in Germany 70 years ago either.
- kimi 9y ago
  Such were held and enforced by the state, not by local businesses. Say, more or less the same people who run network-scale intercepts and tracking nowadays, and collect/access/process a lot of real-word records about you. Do you really think that as a EU citizen I can go ask TSA all data they have on me and why they opened my bag last time I flew out of the US?
  - Too 9y ago
    Intersting question. How far into state agencies does the GDPR apply in the same way it does for businesses? Can i make a GDPR request to my city library, hosptial, police or secret service? Or maybe even to the state as a whole?
    - aazar 9y ago
      Yes, you can and you should. Every government should be able to respond. Nobody is bared on Data subject request

EnFinlay 9y ago

Most people don't die from food safety violations, they just have a really bad day. I would say this is equivalent to the harm done by something like the Equifax breach.

FireBeyond 9y ago
> they just have a really bad day And those who end up in hospital, in the US, possibly without insurance? I guess that, and the ensuing bills is "just" an _extremely_ bad day then?
- girvo 9y ago
  Not a worry in most other developed countries.

00N8 9y ago

of course they do! what magical kingdom of the future do you think you're living in, where economic ends have no bearing on survival?! your business on the brink succeeds or fails; a personal relationship blossoms or sours. sure, we mustn't rely too much one any one thing going a certain way on these kinda things that data sharing or Google Analytics can impact. but in aggregate these factors have significant bearing on one's access to medical, nutritional, & fitness resources & technology, even will to live, thus they do drive life or death outcomes all the same.

cromwellian 9y ago
So Google Analytics kills people? It saps your bodily fluids, I mean, will to live, at the same level as fluoridated water, and is equally dangerous with building fires. Gotcha. This is the best example of false equivalence I've yet seen.
- summerdown2 9y ago
  People subject to identity theft due to poor control of their data do indeed suffer real world consequences. I wouldn't necessarily want to argue it's a case of life or death - but there's undoubtedly actual harm in some cases ranging from social issues if their data is sensitive, right down to financial loss. And if you wanted to examine whether it could be a matter of life or death, it wouldn't be that big of a stretch. Consider what might be the result of someone trying to escape from an abusive relationship having their personal data exposed. Or a whistleblower / political dissident. For example, imagine a Chinese dissident with a free-Tibet facebook record whose data gets back to the Chinese government. I'd focus on China particularly because they're developing a system for working out how much people align with the state and it appears it may be partly based on the information they can find out about people's internet postings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System

quantummkv 9y ago

Google and Facebook analytics get people like Trump elected. Which is a far more dangerous situation than food poisoning or a building fire due to its long term impact.

hueving 9y ago
People like Trump have been elected since there were elections. Keep the lame political statements elsewhere.

mercer 9y ago

I find it quite worrying that 1) you are all over this discussion downplaying/minimizing the value and importance of privacy, and 2) you are the "founder of iCouch, a platform for psychologists, therapists and counselors".

Too 9y ago

Nobody died from detailed records of peoples religion and ethnicity in Germany 70 years ago either.

kimi 9y ago
Such were held and enforced by the state, not by local businesses. Say, more or less the same people who run network-scale intercepts and tracking nowadays, and collect/access/process a lot of real-word records about you. Do you really think that as a EU citizen I can go ask TSA all data they have on me and why they opened my bag last time I flew out of the US?
- Too 9y ago
  Intersting question. How far into state agencies does the GDPR apply in the same way it does for businesses? Can i make a GDPR request to my city library, hosptial, police or secret service? Or maybe even to the state as a whole?
  - aazar 9y ago
    Yes, you can and you should. Every government should be able to respond. Nobody is bared on Data subject request