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Sure, corporate privacy abuse is a different beast and bad for different reasons but your mistake is thinking of this as an either-or scenario. Yes, you may no

by pluma 7y ago

Sure, corporate privacy abuse is a different beast and bad for different reasons but your mistake is thinking of this as an either-or scenario. Yes, you may not care about whose audio you're listening to. But someone might. They may not even know the person prior to listening to that audio and still pose a threat. Stalking is an obvious problem. But what if they think they recognise a voice and then act on that information when they meet the person they (mis-)identified? Or in your sex noises scenario: sure, they may be anonymous to the listener, but so is revenge porn to most consumers of it: the ethical issue isn't whether they can be recognised but they lacked (or withdrew) consent. People in tech generally seem to have an extremely hard time to grasp a basic premise: consent. Consent must be given. Consent must be informed. Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Whether it's consent for physical interactions, social interactions or storing and processing my data -- and make no mistake, it is my data, even if I only shared it passively or explicitly gave you permission to use it. This isn't about security. This isn't about intellectual property. This is entirely about consent.

pluma 7y ago
BTW, this is what most feminists[0] mean when they talk of "rape culture". It's not about women being dragged into the bushes and sexually violated. It's about a widespread lack of understanding of consent. If I allow you to touch my shoulder, that means you're allowed to touch my shoulder, not my groin. It also doesn't mean I allow you to touch me any time you want or that it was okay when you touched me before without asking. Likewise if I allow you to process my e-mail address to send me an invoice, that doesn't mean I allow you to track how many times (and when) I opened the e-mail or to send me marketing e-mails or to give my e-mail address to someone else or that it was okay when you previously stored my e-mail address without telling me. In tech we like to say "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission" and on HN we praise disruption, but remember that these things are meant to be about technology and established business practices, not people. Technology can't give consent and corporations aren't people (no matter how much certain politicians in the US try to convince you) but people are people and you should respect their consent above all else[1]. [0]: No, I'm not talking about Buzzfeed and its ilk. Mainstream journalism cares more about clickbait stories than about academic discourse, so don't base your opinion on feminist issues on the yellow press. [1]: Obvious caveat that there is a whole separate discussion to be had about respecting consent when people present a threat to themselves or others.
raxxorrax 7y ago
There already have been cases where FBI-employees stalked their love interests. If you allow the access, it will be abused. > People in tech generally seem to have an extremely hard time to grasp a basic premise: consent. It is not necessarily people in tech since those had a very tight grasp around the topic, at least historically. But the field has widened a lot.

by pluma 7y ago

pluma 7y ago

BTW, this is what most feminists[0] mean when they talk of "rape culture". It's not about women being dragged into the bushes and sexually violated. It's about a widespread lack of understanding of consent. If I allow you to touch my shoulder, that means you're allowed to touch my shoulder, not my groin. It also doesn't mean I allow you to touch me any time you want or that it was okay when you touched me before without asking. Likewise if I allow you to process my e-mail address to send me an invoice, that doesn't mean I allow you to track how many times (and when) I opened the e-mail or to send me marketing e-mails or to give my e-mail address to someone else or that it was okay when you previously stored my e-mail address without telling me. In tech we like to say "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission" and on HN we praise disruption, but remember that these things are meant to be about technology and established business practices, not people. Technology can't give consent and corporations aren't people (no matter how much certain politicians in the US try to convince you) but people are people and you should respect their consent above all else[1]. [0]: No, I'm not talking about Buzzfeed and its ilk. Mainstream journalism cares more about clickbait stories than about academic discourse, so don't base your opinion on feminist issues on the yellow press. [1]: Obvious caveat that there is a whole separate discussion to be had about respecting consent when people present a threat to themselves or others.

raxxorrax 7y ago

There already have been cases where FBI-employees stalked their love interests. If you allow the access, it will be abused. > People in tech generally seem to have an extremely hard time to grasp a basic premise: consent. It is not necessarily people in tech since those had a very tight grasp around the topic, at least historically. But the field has widened a lot.