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I have no idea how this comes off as creepy in an era where hundreds of millions of people voluntarily broadcast their daily activity and all their interpersona

I have no idea how this comes off as creepy in an era where hundreds of millions of people voluntarily broadcast their daily activity and all their interpersonal relationships on social networks. Shit, Hacker News knows "where you are" and "what you like" good enough for government work.

rue 16y ago
Privacy is not no-one knowing anything about you. Privacy is being able to control what others know about you.
- mechanical_fish 16y ago
  Damn it, somebody mod this up to make up for my accidental downmod button press.
  - TheSOB88 16y ago
    Done
- Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
  Possibly. Maybe, privacy is about being able to control what others you care about know about you. I wouldn't for example want Nazi Germany to know that I am Jewish. That of course is an example, I am neither in Nazi Germany nor Jewish. But I suppose if I were Jewish, I would not care that the Israeli government knows I am Jewish. I do not care what Google knows about me. I do not care either that Google knows where I am. I too roughly know where most visitors to my website are. Indeed sometimes I know where they are precisely. If google wants to offer a service to remind me to buy milk, I might use it. I do not think that machines are at such a level yet where they can control me and tell me what to do next. If it reminds me to buy milk I might or might not go and buy milk. Indeed, possibly having a little google robot to go and buy my milk would be the science fiction future. If however google decides all the sudden to tell for example my employer that I have said that I hate them, that is an invasion of privacy. As it would be if they told my girlfriend I slept with someone, or if they told my friend I lied to them. Now that would be the fiction future, or possibly the non fiction past of 1984.
  - rue 16y ago
    Point being, you should be free to not care. I should be free to care.
  - prodigal_erik 16y ago
    > I wouldn't for example want Nazi Germany to know that I am Jewish. Then you can't afford to let the Weimar Republic gather records saying you're Jewish, not because they're untrustworthy but because collating pre-existing data (gee, thanks, IBM) is where the Nazis got their lists.
jsz0 16y ago
You make a fair point but it's still creepy to me. I guess partly because I'm becoming paranoid about exactly what data Google is collecting. I know exactly what Facebook has on me. The other day I was about to do a Google search and actually stopped and thought about it for a second because the search terms I was using were not something I wanted recorded and linked to my account. It occurred to me I might be seeing some really strange ads in the future if I put those search terms into Google. I ended up using a different search engine.

rue 16y ago

Privacy is not no-one knowing anything about you. Privacy is being able to control what others know about you.

mechanical_fish 16y ago
Damn it, somebody mod this up to make up for my accidental downmod button press.
- TheSOB88 16y ago
  Done
Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
Possibly. Maybe, privacy is about being able to control what others you care about know about you. I wouldn't for example want Nazi Germany to know that I am Jewish. That of course is an example, I am neither in Nazi Germany nor Jewish. But I suppose if I were Jewish, I would not care that the Israeli government knows I am Jewish. I do not care what Google knows about me. I do not care either that Google knows where I am. I too roughly know where most visitors to my website are. Indeed sometimes I know where they are precisely. If google wants to offer a service to remind me to buy milk, I might use it. I do not think that machines are at such a level yet where they can control me and tell me what to do next. If it reminds me to buy milk I might or might not go and buy milk. Indeed, possibly having a little google robot to go and buy my milk would be the science fiction future. If however google decides all the sudden to tell for example my employer that I have said that I hate them, that is an invasion of privacy. As it would be if they told my girlfriend I slept with someone, or if they told my friend I lied to them. Now that would be the fiction future, or possibly the non fiction past of 1984.
- rue 16y ago
  Point being, you should be free to not care. I should be free to care.
- prodigal_erik 16y ago
  > I wouldn't for example want Nazi Germany to know that I am Jewish. Then you can't afford to let the Weimar Republic gather records saying you're Jewish, not because they're untrustworthy but because collating pre-existing data (gee, thanks, IBM) is where the Nazis got their lists.

jsz0 16y ago

You make a fair point but it's still creepy to me. I guess partly because I'm becoming paranoid about exactly what data Google is collecting. I know exactly what Facebook has on me. The other day I was about to do a Google search and actually stopped and thought about it for a second because the search terms I was using were not something I wanted recorded and linked to my account. It occurred to me I might be seeing some really strange ads in the future if I put those search terms into Google. I ended up using a different search engine.