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Honest question: if the source of the data was anonymous (as in gdpr anonymous, not “we use UUID instead of your name + SSN” anonymous) would you find it cooler

Honest question: if the source of the data was anonymous (as in gdpr anonymous, not “we use UUID instead of your name + SSN” anonymous) would you find it cooler? Because we have the tech, but struggling to properly monetize. Throwaway bc not sure if boss is OK with disclosure

jsutton 8y ago
The problem is that given enough data, you can infer the identity of a what would otherwise be an anonymous driver. If you could track an anonymous data point (person) for multiple days, you could find out where the location data was confined to for the longest times (home and work), etc.
- tw_hey_boss 8y ago
  Yeah, that's the problem we solved. there are a few caveats, but it's precisely why we don't consider UUIDs anonymous
  - JohnFen 8y ago
    How have you solved it? If you really have, then you're in a position to clean up, since nobody else has managed to crack that nut. Your mention of "gdpr anonymous" doesn't really give much reassurance, as you can be GDPR compliant but still expose your users to de-anonymization.
floatingatoll 8y ago
If I’m not being paid cash for my location data, I’m not going to be excited to help Foursquare collect it, whether it's anonymous or not. Paying me in contextually-relevant advertisements and recommendations (cough exposure) will never be enough.
- tehlike 8y ago
  Would you do it for 10 bucks a year? The companies make money because they have data for a lot of people, your individual location is not worth a lot as a result.
  - AznHisoka 8y ago
    Yes I would. if you offer that to everyone, I doubt you would be profitable though.
  - floatingatoll 8y ago
    No. The flat rate forces them to pay me when they don’t earn revenue and screws me when they earn too much revenue. The content publication industry worked out residuals years ago. They’ll need to do the same to earn my trust, and thus my location data.
    - floatingatoll 8y ago
      Heh: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/california-gov-newsom-calls-for-new-data-dividend-for-consumers.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/california-gov-newsom-calls-...
AznHisoka 8y ago
As another person said, if Foursquare isn’t paying me, I would never find it cool. I am not impressed by data hoarding and creating cool visualizations to distract from foursquare’s true motive: money.
JohnFen 8y ago
> if the source of the data was anonymous (as in gdpr anonymous, not “we use UUID instead of your name + SSN” anonymous) would you find it cooler? I wouldn't, unless I could be convinced that the data was actually anonymized -- and considering that effective anonymization is actually a really hard problem to solve, that's a very high bar. Not to mention that in the end, I'd have to take the company's word for it, which requires a high degree of trust to begin with.

jsutton 8y ago

The problem is that given enough data, you can infer the identity of a what would otherwise be an anonymous driver. If you could track an anonymous data point (person) for multiple days, you could find out where the location data was confined to for the longest times (home and work), etc.

tw_hey_boss 8y ago
Yeah, that's the problem we solved. there are a few caveats, but it's precisely why we don't consider UUIDs anonymous
- JohnFen 8y ago
  How have you solved it? If you really have, then you're in a position to clean up, since nobody else has managed to crack that nut. Your mention of "gdpr anonymous" doesn't really give much reassurance, as you can be GDPR compliant but still expose your users to de-anonymization.

floatingatoll 8y ago

If I’m not being paid cash for my location data, I’m not going to be excited to help Foursquare collect it, whether it's anonymous or not. Paying me in contextually-relevant advertisements and recommendations (cough exposure) will never be enough.

tehlike 8y ago
Would you do it for 10 bucks a year? The companies make money because they have data for a lot of people, your individual location is not worth a lot as a result.
- AznHisoka 8y ago
  Yes I would. if you offer that to everyone, I doubt you would be profitable though.
- floatingatoll 8y ago
  No. The flat rate forces them to pay me when they don’t earn revenue and screws me when they earn too much revenue. The content publication industry worked out residuals years ago. They’ll need to do the same to earn my trust, and thus my location data.
  - floatingatoll 8y ago
    Heh: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/california-gov-newsom-calls-for-new-data-dividend-for-consumers.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/california-gov-newsom-calls-...

AznHisoka 8y ago

As another person said, if Foursquare isn’t paying me, I would never find it cool. I am not impressed by data hoarding and creating cool visualizations to distract from foursquare’s true motive: money.

JohnFen 8y ago

> if the source of the data was anonymous (as in gdpr anonymous, not “we use UUID instead of your name + SSN” anonymous) would you find it cooler? I wouldn't, unless I could be convinced that the data was actually anonymized -- and considering that effective anonymization is actually a really hard problem to solve, that's a very high bar. Not to mention that in the end, I'd have to take the company's word for it, which requires a high degree of trust to begin with.