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Privacy is indeed the main motivation. But you're missing the threat model. Facebook,Google, Target, etc all run sophisticated customer tracking programs. Targ
by ianmiers 9y ago
Privacy is indeed the main motivation. But you're missing the threat model. Facebook,Google, Target, etc all run sophisticated customer tracking programs. Target was predicting if their customers were pregnant based on spending habits 5 years ago[0]. If blockchain payments go mainstream, customers will use them and those companies will build profiles based on that data. If 10 grad students on a shoe string budget with ethics/IRB restrictions can break a system, so can many people you should be worried about far short of goverments.
[0]https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits....
- supreme_sublime 9y agoIt really isn't difficult to tell if someone is pregnant. I actually make a game out of it when looking through facebook at women I know. So many will drop hints that are seemingly unrelated, but which often tip me off that they're pregnant. More on topic, there is a difference though, from what I read in the article it doesn't seem like Target had access to what the people bought at other stores. It would be like if Target could see what you bought at Walmart, or at least went there and see how much you spend.