4 ms·

Why are people so paranoid about privacy? We want better services, well those services need to know what you like. It's just a bunch of computers trying to figu

by ibdf 7y ago

Why are people so paranoid about privacy? We want better services, well those services need to know what you like. It's just a bunch of computers trying to figure out what's trending and what you need. There's no human driven analytics team out there reading and sifting through your e-mails trying to figure out who you are. I much rather be concerned about security than privacy.

ilikehurdles 7y ago
Every violation of privacy is an additional security risk. Also, there is a partly human-driven surveillance state.
jm4 7y ago
I think, with regards to Google, it's all about their business model. Allowing a company to collect data for the sole purpose of personalizing the products you bought from them and recommending content is not an unreasonable choice. Google offers personalized services as a vehicle for data collection to fuel a business model where they sell targeted access to you to their other group of customers.
frenchman99 7y ago
Not everyone considers a "better service" to be a service that is more efficient. For a lot of people, privacy is more valuable than being handed a personalized ad for a product I didn't know I wanted. It's not "just a bunch of computers". It's potentially putting a lot of leverage in the same hands. Here are 3 examples. As a woman, it's nearly impossible to get a job when you're pregnant, so it's better not to let anyone know during the job search. If you have HIV and people find out, they freak out thinking you'll infect them right away. If you're chronically sick, do you want insurance companies to know that ? No you don't, because the price of the insurance policy will "magically" be higher for you. Privacy has it good sides.
jacquesm 7y ago
If a company violates your privacy and they are hacked then you have a double problem. So your focus on security is correct but security only really matters when companies have your data in the first place. And given the general state of security the very best way to ensure that your data does not end up in the wrong hands is by not giving it out in the first place, hence privacy ends up - for practical reasons - trumping security. Not a week goes by without a major hack of some sort hitting the media, a much larger amount goes unreported. And even if the data isn't hacked it could easily be lifted using some legal instrument.
apocalyptic0n3 7y ago
It isn't about privacy for me personally. - Gmail: I'm still undecided if I will switch from this. I don't actually use email for communicating with anyone; it's really just for notifications and receipts and stuff. Beyond knowing what I'm buying, there's not much I care about in here anyway - Search: Also iffy on this one. It's just leaps and bounds better than any other service provided. I think I might give DDG a chance just to see, but I don't worry about it too much. - Chrome: I already dumped this thanks to their decisions with ad blockers. Even if I was not using ad blockers, they are forcing Chromium (not just Chrome!) users to conform to a standard that is in the best interest of their business and absolutely no one else. I can't support that. - Hangouts: this is shutting down in a few months with no clear replacement plan. My friends and I are still trying to figure out where we will go, but you cannot trust Google to run a messaging service without shutting it down these days so it will not be one they provide - Google Play Music: Already switched to a self-hosted Plex server. Other than the horrible bluetooth support in their Android phone, it's a superior experience in my opinion - Nest: I may switch my thermostat away with them deprecating their APIs. A few IFTTT integrations I use are going to stop working and that is extremely frustrating. - Home/Assistant: This is the one where privacy may make me toss them in the trash. I was satisfied initially with the security and the third parties supporting that it's only recording the keyword and anything said after, but this one is admittedly bugging me. - Calendar: I only use this to remember birthdays and for keeping track of when TV shows are airing. There's no reason to get rid of this unless I am truly removing Google entirely - Android: This is another privacy sore spot and one where I want to switch but I would greatly miss the customization options (Nova for example) and Relay for Reddit specifically (I've yet to find an iOS Reddit app worth using). For now, I've just locked it down the best I can and turned off things like GPS and bluetooth to limit what tracking can be done. A lot of my sore points with Google are coming from how many of their services they are killing off and preparing for them to ultimately kill off the others that I am using, honestly. So while privacy is certainly on my mind, that is the ultimate factor for me.
iamnothere 7y ago
Once companies gather enough data about you, they begin to fluidly cross the line from providing "better services" into "psychological manipulation". Informative advertising, better UX, and more desirable features are positives and can be implemented with only a modest amount of data gathering. Intrusive manipulative ads, dark patterns, and addictive "stickiness" are negatives enabled by excessive collection of data.
patrick5415 7y ago
Personally, I prefer generic services that don’t know what I like. Confirmation bias is a hard enough foe as it is.

by ibdf 7y ago

ilikehurdles 7y ago

Every violation of privacy is an additional security risk. Also, there is a partly human-driven surveillance state.

jm4 7y ago

I think, with regards to Google, it's all about their business model. Allowing a company to collect data for the sole purpose of personalizing the products you bought from them and recommending content is not an unreasonable choice. Google offers personalized services as a vehicle for data collection to fuel a business model where they sell targeted access to you to their other group of customers.

frenchman99 7y ago

Not everyone considers a "better service" to be a service that is more efficient. For a lot of people, privacy is more valuable than being handed a personalized ad for a product I didn't know I wanted. It's not "just a bunch of computers". It's potentially putting a lot of leverage in the same hands. Here are 3 examples. As a woman, it's nearly impossible to get a job when you're pregnant, so it's better not to let anyone know during the job search. If you have HIV and people find out, they freak out thinking you'll infect them right away. If you're chronically sick, do you want insurance companies to know that ? No you don't, because the price of the insurance policy will "magically" be higher for you. Privacy has it good sides.

jacquesm 7y ago

If a company violates your privacy and they are hacked then you have a double problem. So your focus on security is correct but security only really matters when companies have your data in the first place. And given the general state of security the very best way to ensure that your data does not end up in the wrong hands is by not giving it out in the first place, hence privacy ends up - for practical reasons - trumping security. Not a week goes by without a major hack of some sort hitting the media, a much larger amount goes unreported. And even if the data isn't hacked it could easily be lifted using some legal instrument.

apocalyptic0n3 7y ago

It isn't about privacy for me personally. - Gmail: I'm still undecided if I will switch from this. I don't actually use email for communicating with anyone; it's really just for notifications and receipts and stuff. Beyond knowing what I'm buying, there's not much I care about in here anyway - Search: Also iffy on this one. It's just leaps and bounds better than any other service provided. I think I might give DDG a chance just to see, but I don't worry about it too much. - Chrome: I already dumped this thanks to their decisions with ad blockers. Even if I was not using ad blockers, they are forcing Chromium (not just Chrome!) users to conform to a standard that is in the best interest of their business and absolutely no one else. I can't support that. - Hangouts: this is shutting down in a few months with no clear replacement plan. My friends and I are still trying to figure out where we will go, but you cannot trust Google to run a messaging service without shutting it down these days so it will not be one they provide - Google Play Music: Already switched to a self-hosted Plex server. Other than the horrible bluetooth support in their Android phone, it's a superior experience in my opinion - Nest: I may switch my thermostat away with them deprecating their APIs. A few IFTTT integrations I use are going to stop working and that is extremely frustrating. - Home/Assistant: This is the one where privacy may make me toss them in the trash. I was satisfied initially with the security and the third parties supporting that it's only recording the keyword and anything said after, but this one is admittedly bugging me. - Calendar: I only use this to remember birthdays and for keeping track of when TV shows are airing. There's no reason to get rid of this unless I am truly removing Google entirely - Android: This is another privacy sore spot and one where I want to switch but I would greatly miss the customization options (Nova for example) and Relay for Reddit specifically (I've yet to find an iOS Reddit app worth using). For now, I've just locked it down the best I can and turned off things like GPS and bluetooth to limit what tracking can be done. A lot of my sore points with Google are coming from how many of their services they are killing off and preparing for them to ultimately kill off the others that I am using, honestly. So while privacy is certainly on my mind, that is the ultimate factor for me.

iamnothere 7y ago

Once companies gather enough data about you, they begin to fluidly cross the line from providing "better services" into "psychological manipulation". Informative advertising, better UX, and more desirable features are positives and can be implemented with only a modest amount of data gathering. Intrusive manipulative ads, dark patterns, and addictive "stickiness" are negatives enabled by excessive collection of data.

patrick5415 7y ago

Personally, I prefer generic services that don’t know what I like. Confirmation bias is a hard enough foe as it is.