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> "I felt invaded," she said. "A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, 'I'm never plugging that device in again, because I can't trust it.'" Let this lad
by mtgx 8y ago
> "I felt invaded," she said. "A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, 'I'm never plugging that device in again, because I can't trust it.'"
Let this lady's reaction be a lesson to all of those who say "people don't care about privacy." She wired her home with Alexa devices, and yet when she found out how her privacy could practically be invaded through such devices, she seems like couldn't get rid of them fast enough.
People care deeply about their privacy. They just don't understand the true implications of even a device that's supposed to "listen to you" and the possibilities of what someone else could do to their internet-connected devices.
This is why governments must intervene with laws such as GDPR or even much stronger ones in the future to protect people's privacy, because the companies themselves have no incentive to "self-regulate" other than a negligible amount.
The only problem is some governments will not intervene unless enough people go through similar situations such as this lady. In the US even that may not help much because the vast majority of politicians care most about continuing to receive (however modest) donations (also called bribe money elsewhere) from the industry.
- ubi_now 8y ago> This is why governments must intervene with laws such as GDPR or even much stronger ones in the future to protect people's privacy, because the companies themselves have no incentive to "self-regulate" other than a negligible amount. Market failure does not imply government solution. You're going to need a much stronger argument than "companies aren't doing a good enough job." Amazon invaded her privacy, she realized it, and now she doesn't use the product. If you want others to do the same, start raising awareness yourself instead of enacting nanny state laws with other people's money.
- Proziam 8y agoI fail to see how market failures are not a reasonable point to look at whether governmental solutions are applicable. Case and point - 2008 Market Crash, everyone agrees the dishonest practices that led to the crash should have been made absolutely illegal (in the cases where they already weren't) In this case, we have MANY significant and potentially extraordinarily damaging failures in the markets to effectively protect people's privacy occurring fairly regularly. GDPR is not the ideal solution my any metric, but that's a failure of government to create effective legislation - not a lack of need for effective rules.
- calcifer 8y ago> People care deeply about their privacy. No, they don't. Do you really think if, before she made this purchase, someone explained to her all the things that could theoratically go wrong with this device, she would have chosen not to buy it? She only cares now and acts like she doesn't share quite a bit of the blame because it actually affected her. I think it is highly likely she'll just switch to an Apple or Google equivalent instead of noticing the larger problem with these devices.
- BeetleB 8y agoCompletely agree with you. I've seen this over and over and over with people I know. They always want something badly enough that they'll find any excuse to dismiss any downsides to it. "Amazon/Google/Apple/Facebook/X have very smart people who will not allow this to happen." "I have nothing to hide." "People who want to listen to our boring conversations are losers. Let them waste their time doing so." And the list goes on. I'm not making any of this up. And then when it (occasionally) happens to them, there is a whole lot of dramatic outrage and someone else must be blamed. (Although in this case, I agree someone else is to blame - but I've seen this play out when people explicitly agree in the contract to consequences, and are warned quite clearly by a human about the implications of the contract).
- lopmotr 8y agoThat's not unreasonable. Lots of good things come with risk and when they go wrong we blame someone. Your house burns down and you blame the arsonist, not yourself for having a house made from fuel! Car crashes kill people and we blame the drunk driver not the victim innocently using the road which is known to be one of the most dangerous places to be.
- reaperducer 8y ago"I have nothing to hide." Response: "Cool. What's your e-mail password?"
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rohit89 8y agoPeople care about privacy to the extent that they don't want people in their social circle knowing stuff. They don't care so much about a faceless organization taking it.