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How long until this starts to seriously hurt big tech companies? It can't be too much longer now. The dream is that the market will see this and can solve this

by jonfw 8y ago

How long until this starts to seriously hurt big tech companies? It can't be too much longer now. The dream is that the market will see this and can solve this problem without need of government intervention. Do you all think that this is feasible? Or do we need more legislation?

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
The biggest problem with expecting the market to solve privacy problems is that the way companies use your data is not visible to the user. Even when companies do disclose it, it's often buried in hard-to-understand text. While the 1% or 2% of us who care may focus on it, it's extremely unlikely the general populace will really grasp the full ramifications of how these corporations operate. A company is far more likely to lose public support from it's tendency to axe beloved products with regularity than from it's privacy abuse, even though the former is not an inherent societal wrong.
- jonfw 8y ago
  Is it only 1% or 2% anymore? I feel like these past couple of election cycles have really alerted people to some of the issues we are talking about. But maybe It's just in my circles.
fixermark 8y ago
> It can't be too much longer now. That's really unclear. Users' behavior regarding their own personal data and their claims of privacy expectations seem to deviate pretty significantly. I once nearly sold a company loyalty card to a guy at a bookstore buying a forearm-length stack of books on "Privacy in the digital age." We got as far as the part where I was asking him for his address and date of birth before he politely declined. I've heard the issue most pithily described as "People, when asked, will consistently give two answers: (a) they would like more of their personal information kept private, and (b) yes, they would be happy to fill out the deeply-detailed shopper demographic survey in the mall for a Snickers bar."
syn0byte 8y ago
Does the free market care about how happy it's cows are? Do McDonald's products suffer when cows are unhappy? Does Camberage Analytics give a crap about what you like, does it affect their products? Moo.
- jonfw 8y ago
  I'm sure as hell not a cow, so I don't really see your point. The market would be a lot more concerned about the happiness of cows if cows had the independence and the personal rights to switch farms. Consumers are not property and have free will. Equating them to cows shows an extremely serious lack of faith in humanity from you.
- matz1 8y ago
  Which is good. It's sucks if i have to pay more for a burger because the cow have to be happy.
codedokode 8y ago
Currently it is tech companies who hurt people's privacy and anonimity. They definitely deserve "intervention".

by jonfw 8y ago

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

The biggest problem with expecting the market to solve privacy problems is that the way companies use your data is not visible to the user. Even when companies do disclose it, it's often buried in hard-to-understand text. While the 1% or 2% of us who care may focus on it, it's extremely unlikely the general populace will really grasp the full ramifications of how these corporations operate. A company is far more likely to lose public support from it's tendency to axe beloved products with regularity than from it's privacy abuse, even though the former is not an inherent societal wrong.

jonfw 8y ago
Is it only 1% or 2% anymore? I feel like these past couple of election cycles have really alerted people to some of the issues we are talking about. But maybe It's just in my circles.

fixermark 8y ago

> It can't be too much longer now. That's really unclear. Users' behavior regarding their own personal data and their claims of privacy expectations seem to deviate pretty significantly. I once nearly sold a company loyalty card to a guy at a bookstore buying a forearm-length stack of books on "Privacy in the digital age." We got as far as the part where I was asking him for his address and date of birth before he politely declined. I've heard the issue most pithily described as "People, when asked, will consistently give two answers: (a) they would like more of their personal information kept private, and (b) yes, they would be happy to fill out the deeply-detailed shopper demographic survey in the mall for a Snickers bar."

syn0byte 8y ago

Does the free market care about how happy it's cows are? Do McDonald's products suffer when cows are unhappy? Does Camberage Analytics give a crap about what you like, does it affect their products? Moo.

jonfw 8y ago
I'm sure as hell not a cow, so I don't really see your point. The market would be a lot more concerned about the happiness of cows if cows had the independence and the personal rights to switch farms. Consumers are not property and have free will. Equating them to cows shows an extremely serious lack of faith in humanity from you.
matz1 8y ago
Which is good. It's sucks if i have to pay more for a burger because the cow have to be happy.

codedokode 8y ago

Currently it is tech companies who hurt people's privacy and anonimity. They definitely deserve "intervention".