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Of course this could happen. How about this. Mr. Bigot employs Jeff, or is his client. Ukrainian Bob hacks a database and finds out Jeff goes to gay bars. Bob

by CPLX 7y ago

Of course this could happen. How about this. Mr. Bigot employs Jeff, or is his client. Ukrainian Bob hacks a database and finds out Jeff goes to gay bars. Bob contacts Jeff and says pay me or I tell Mr. Bigot. Or maybe Jeff is a schoolteacher, and the bar is a BDSM themed bar. And Bob the hacker is a student. Or maybe Jeff still goes to a bar in his old neighborhood, which is an ethic neighborhood. And maybe a black box unaccountable AI algorithm used by an insurance company flags him as higher risk because of that data point in his larger profile they've queried from a data broker. Or whatever scenario you can think of. As long as certain things in society are legal and OK but taboo in some contexts, people are going to want privacy around them. Once you keep records like this that privacy is threatened, given that the probability of lists such as this leaking is basically 100% in the current environment. Many of us want that privacy safeguarded. You are clearly not arguing in good faith by pretending not to understand why someone might have this opinion.

imgabe 7y ago
You are either deliberately misrepresenting my argument or I haven't made myself clear. Yes. Those things are problems. I don't disagree they could happen. I disagree on what the appropriate solutions to those problems are. If there is anything the digital age has demonstrated beyond a doubt, it is that attempting to control information is futile. Go ask the music and movie industries how successful they have been in controlling the flow of the digital information representing their IP. Jeff's employer wants to fire him because of his sexuality? Jeff's employer is wrong and we should not allow that. Jeff should have cause to sue his employer and win. A schoolteacher is into BDSM and someone thinks this is a problem for some reason? They are wrong and we should prevent them from taking any action against the schoolteacher. An AI increases someone's insurance premium because of occasional visits to one bar? This AI sucks and its data model is probably severely broken. A better insurance company with a smarter data model should offer a better deal to that customer. For anything that is legal but "taboo" without clear evidence that it actually results in a real problem, we need to aggressively prevent people from interfering with other people's lives because of ill-defined feelings they might have about things that in reality don't matter at all. THAT is what is going to solve this problem. Trying to unpour the jug of water that is digital information is destined to fail and a waste of time. Telling people with unusual but harmless lifestyles that they need to hide and hope that nobody finds out instead taking steps to protect them is wrong.
- CPLX 7y ago
  > For anything that is legal but "taboo" without clear evidence that it actually results in a real problem, we need to aggressively prevent people from interfering with other people's lives because of ill-defined feelings they might have about things that in reality don't matter at all. Indeed. I do in fact fully support your impassioned argument that we should eradicate the legacy of centuries of bigotry and ignorance and bias that underpin nearly all human interactions. In the meantime, while you're working on that, I'd like some fucking data privacy laws.

by CPLX 7y ago

imgabe 7y ago

You are either deliberately misrepresenting my argument or I haven't made myself clear. Yes. Those things are problems. I don't disagree they could happen. I disagree on what the appropriate solutions to those problems are. If there is anything the digital age has demonstrated beyond a doubt, it is that attempting to control information is futile. Go ask the music and movie industries how successful they have been in controlling the flow of the digital information representing their IP. Jeff's employer wants to fire him because of his sexuality? Jeff's employer is wrong and we should not allow that. Jeff should have cause to sue his employer and win. A schoolteacher is into BDSM and someone thinks this is a problem for some reason? They are wrong and we should prevent them from taking any action against the schoolteacher. An AI increases someone's insurance premium because of occasional visits to one bar? This AI sucks and its data model is probably severely broken. A better insurance company with a smarter data model should offer a better deal to that customer. For anything that is legal but "taboo" without clear evidence that it actually results in a real problem, we need to aggressively prevent people from interfering with other people's lives because of ill-defined feelings they might have about things that in reality don't matter at all. THAT is what is going to solve this problem. Trying to unpour the jug of water that is digital information is destined to fail and a waste of time. Telling people with unusual but harmless lifestyles that they need to hide and hope that nobody finds out instead taking steps to protect them is wrong.

CPLX 7y ago
> For anything that is legal but "taboo" without clear evidence that it actually results in a real problem, we need to aggressively prevent people from interfering with other people's lives because of ill-defined feelings they might have about things that in reality don't matter at all. Indeed. I do in fact fully support your impassioned argument that we should eradicate the legacy of centuries of bigotry and ignorance and bias that underpin nearly all human interactions. In the meantime, while you're working on that, I'd like some fucking data privacy laws.