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I think I might step away as well. There is a very large amount of frustration, it seems, at the lack of privacy concerns, the failures of governmental power to

I think I might step away as well. There is a very large amount of frustration, it seems, at the lack of privacy concerns, the failures of governmental power to stop it, and the fact that "mainstream media" (I really don't like using the term) doesn't report on privacy nearly enough. There's a lack of transparency that's been apparent for years but has been tacitly approved of. As for a timeline, to me the "privacy war" if we're calling it that began when the US made it legal for ISPs to sell data. Google is just a very large target for collateral damage.

badrabbit 8y ago
I've seen first hand people.I know getting exploited and abused by Google,fb and other bigtech. How bad should things get? Google isn't just a large target,they are an extremely hostile and abusive company. I'll say this,tech can't fix these companies. 1984 is supposed to be fiction. Even most of HN crowd underestimates how bad things are.
- greenyoda 8y ago
  Except that in "1984", the people were living under a brutal, totalitarian regime and had no way to escape the pervasive surveillance. We, on the other hand, are free to stop using Google and Facebook, install ad/tracker-blockers in our browsers, use Tor, VPNs, etc. and urge our friends and families to do the same. We're also free to fight back against pervasive surveillance by our government by supporting civil rights organizations like EFF, voting for candidates who favor more freedom, etc. It's harder to fight the government than the tech companies, but possible.
  - SmirkingRevenge 8y ago
    We really aren't free to stop using google or facebook. To think otherwise (IMHO), is to underestimate the reach these companies really have. If you are on the internet, you are using facebook. You are using google. Sure, there might be brief periods where ad blockers and similar tools black-out the info gathering capabilities of these tech giants (but only for the most privacy-conscientious among us), but they'll leap frog you in short order, one way or another. If they can't do it technologically, they'll do it politically (if we let them). Market incentives dictate that the tech giants spend their vast resources to track and predict your behavior, in ever more accurate ways. And beyond that - to dictate your behavior. They have billions of dollars, and the worlds smartest programmers to make it reality. The entity that learns how to predict/control human behavior the best, first, basically wins the universe. The common folk are stuck trying to figure out who the least shitty entity is to get that crown: time warner... china... google...
    - SmirkingRevenge 8y ago
      Re-reading this the next day, I realized my above post is exactly the type of woeful chatter the OP was talking about. I'll take that as my cue to lighten up! =)
  - badrabbit 8y ago
    This is what I meant by how even hn users are unaware. Whether you use google or fb they will still spy on you. You the tech savvy hn users might make it a tad bit harder for them but 90% of people can't. You can fight government surveillance but a very large majority of people don't care because they don't understand the extent and implications of what's happenning to them. In many(not all) ways 1984 was better

badrabbit 8y ago

I've seen first hand people.I know getting exploited and abused by Google,fb and other bigtech. How bad should things get? Google isn't just a large target,they are an extremely hostile and abusive company. I'll say this,tech can't fix these companies. 1984 is supposed to be fiction. Even most of HN crowd underestimates how bad things are.

greenyoda 8y ago
Except that in "1984", the people were living under a brutal, totalitarian regime and had no way to escape the pervasive surveillance. We, on the other hand, are free to stop using Google and Facebook, install ad/tracker-blockers in our browsers, use Tor, VPNs, etc. and urge our friends and families to do the same. We're also free to fight back against pervasive surveillance by our government by supporting civil rights organizations like EFF, voting for candidates who favor more freedom, etc. It's harder to fight the government than the tech companies, but possible.
- SmirkingRevenge 8y ago
  We really aren't free to stop using google or facebook. To think otherwise (IMHO), is to underestimate the reach these companies really have. If you are on the internet, you are using facebook. You are using google. Sure, there might be brief periods where ad blockers and similar tools black-out the info gathering capabilities of these tech giants (but only for the most privacy-conscientious among us), but they'll leap frog you in short order, one way or another. If they can't do it technologically, they'll do it politically (if we let them). Market incentives dictate that the tech giants spend their vast resources to track and predict your behavior, in ever more accurate ways. And beyond that - to dictate your behavior. They have billions of dollars, and the worlds smartest programmers to make it reality. The entity that learns how to predict/control human behavior the best, first, basically wins the universe. The common folk are stuck trying to figure out who the least shitty entity is to get that crown: time warner... china... google...
  - SmirkingRevenge 8y ago
    Re-reading this the next day, I realized my above post is exactly the type of woeful chatter the OP was talking about. I'll take that as my cue to lighten up! =)
- badrabbit 8y ago
  This is what I meant by how even hn users are unaware. Whether you use google or fb they will still spy on you. You the tech savvy hn users might make it a tad bit harder for them but 90% of people can't. You can fight government surveillance but a very large majority of people don't care because they don't understand the extent and implications of what's happenning to them. In many(not all) ways 1984 was better