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> What's wrong with data collection and tracking? Privacy seems extremely overrated here on HN. Am I missing something? Plenty wrong. It seems you're not new

> What's wrong with data collection and tracking? Privacy seems extremely overrated here on HN. Am I missing something? Plenty wrong. It seems you're not new here so I'm amazed you asked that question. Have you been living under a rock in 2013? Just to start, it creates a big power imbalance between consumer and corporations [1] and due to the tightly knit relationship between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley it's also a civil liberties problem [2]. It also screws with your ideology by turning your internet usage into an echo chamber. And here's some books: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10384432 https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10384432 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/452645 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/452645 https://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/5/digital_disconnect_robert_mcchesney_on_how https://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/5/digital_disconnect_rob... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16006587-spying-on-democracy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16006587-spying-on-democ... [1] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2309703 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2309703 [2] https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/ https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

citrablue 8y ago
Is a power imbalance necessarily wrong? Is it avoidable? Is it suddenly OK if you try to avoid the imbalance but swap one entity for another (dependent on companies versus dependent on your own time/ability to audit code)?
- decebalus1 8y ago
  > Is a power imbalance necessarily wrong? No, it's great, actually! We enjoy it a lot here. > Is it avoidable? Yes, yes it is. > Is it suddenly OK if you try to avoid the imbalance but swap one entity for another (dependent on companies versus dependent on your own time/ability to audit code)? It's never 'suddenly' OK. More like 'eventually' OK, as you know, you need to take the time to audit code, etc..

citrablue 8y ago

Is a power imbalance necessarily wrong? Is it avoidable? Is it suddenly OK if you try to avoid the imbalance but swap one entity for another (dependent on companies versus dependent on your own time/ability to audit code)?

decebalus1 8y ago
> Is a power imbalance necessarily wrong? No, it's great, actually! We enjoy it a lot here. > Is it avoidable? Yes, yes it is. > Is it suddenly OK if you try to avoid the imbalance but swap one entity for another (dependent on companies versus dependent on your own time/ability to audit code)? It's never 'suddenly' OK. More like 'eventually' OK, as you know, you need to take the time to audit code, etc..