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Let's go back to the world where there is no internet. Imagine someone spreads a rumor about you. Or a praise. People might have heard this, before they even me

Let's go back to the world where there is no internet. Imagine someone spreads a rumor about you. Or a praise. People might have heard this, before they even met you. It can be illegal, harmful, or beneficial, but it's under the control of the people you interact with. If you meet someone for the first time, and the person heard from someone that you're dealing drugs, and you tell her you don't, and ask them where they heard that, they might trust you over the rumor, and you'll try to eradicate the rumor. There are differences, mainly in that the call receiver has greater power to reject the call based on the information they have. I think the real story is in the interaction and how the app behaves, for the receiver. Were they aware that they were putting Chloe into the database? The article doesn't say. Without this, it's hard to judge whether the same thing couldn't have happened in a world without internet (imagine a small village). It doesn't seem to be entirely black and white.

Alterlife 7y ago
Truecaller is one of those "it just works" apps. It is completely transparent to the user. You can use it as a dialer to make and receive calls. A lot of people don't understand that it's silently uploading their contact lists, personal information and call behavior off to the internet. The customer service agent in the article from truecaller is correct about the usefulness of the app. A friend of mine was able to track down the owner of a fraudulent dishwasher service center in Bangalore because of truecaller. The photo and name of the owner in the app attached to the business mobile number.
- tqi 7y ago
  > A lot of people don't understand that it's silently uploading their contact lists, personal information and call behavior off to the internet. At least in the case of the tags, is that true? How do they think it works then when they get a call from a new number and it has the person's name / other information?
pjc50 7y ago
You cannot run a global civilization on the norms of a small village.
- lapnitnelav 7y ago
  It doesn't scale.
zambal 7y ago
Sure, the mechanism is the same, but the scale and effectiveness are not. In your scenario, if someone wants to spread rumors about you in bad faith, they have to spend a lot of time and resources to make sure everybody you might interact with knows about the rumors. A service like TrueCaller makes this much easier, which I personally think is very problematic. And as others have noted, another issue is that people even might not do this in bad faith. Just as a little prank, without realizing the potential consequences.
DarkWiiPlayer 7y ago
uh... I'm pretty sure if I went around telling everyone my friends telephone number, and what they work as, I'd get in trouble with the police rather quickly.

Alterlife 7y ago

Truecaller is one of those "it just works" apps. It is completely transparent to the user. You can use it as a dialer to make and receive calls. A lot of people don't understand that it's silently uploading their contact lists, personal information and call behavior off to the internet. The customer service agent in the article from truecaller is correct about the usefulness of the app. A friend of mine was able to track down the owner of a fraudulent dishwasher service center in Bangalore because of truecaller. The photo and name of the owner in the app attached to the business mobile number.

tqi 7y ago
> A lot of people don't understand that it's silently uploading their contact lists, personal information and call behavior off to the internet. At least in the case of the tags, is that true? How do they think it works then when they get a call from a new number and it has the person's name / other information?

pjc50 7y ago

You cannot run a global civilization on the norms of a small village.

lapnitnelav 7y ago
It doesn't scale.

zambal 7y ago

Sure, the mechanism is the same, but the scale and effectiveness are not. In your scenario, if someone wants to spread rumors about you in bad faith, they have to spend a lot of time and resources to make sure everybody you might interact with knows about the rumors. A service like TrueCaller makes this much easier, which I personally think is very problematic. And as others have noted, another issue is that people even might not do this in bad faith. Just as a little prank, without realizing the potential consequences.

DarkWiiPlayer 7y ago

uh... I'm pretty sure if I went around telling everyone my friends telephone number, and what they work as, I'd get in trouble with the police rather quickly.