3 ms·

Sorry to say, but if you act like someone you aren't, you are not going to be welcome at websites that want to know they are responding to a real person. Basic

Sorry to say, but if you act like someone you aren't, you are not going to be welcome at websites that want to know they are responding to a real person. Basically you are acting like you have something to hide which typically is something that people up to no good would do. I'm not saying you are up to no good, but your activity mirrors as such.

Darkphibre 6y ago
It's just unfortunate that companies are employing precog future-crime concepts to what (should) be standard privacy approaches. And, to be clear, I'm not acting like someone I'm not. I'm forthcoming that I have an identity, and I'm even willing to prove that I'm a self-consistent individual. I'm acting like someone that has purchased a month-to-month phone, and have signed up for a free email account, and values their internet privacy. It's become apparent to me that a number of companies discriminate against people for whom this is their only choice... heaven help you if you can't afford a proper phone (or don't have the credit to open a proper cellphone account). As a transgendered person that's been discriminated against, I do indeed have valid reasons for wanting my most personal conversations to be secure from being used against me. There are other aspects of my private life that that would be wildly misinterpreted if taken out of context. I would prefer to keep my private life wholly separate from my public persona, and that's... harder to do in the age of COVID isolation where everything is online. It's astonishing to me how many people just... don't care about their privacy these days. And that the bar is so crazy high to be anonymous. To the point that wanting to be anonymous for a few hours is indistinguishable from being up to no good?! Hell, I'd have to _break_ the law and craft a truly new identity just to be able to be anonymous on some of these platforms that don't have real-world identities as a sign-up requirement. The argument of "you're not doing anything wrong, so why be concerned about your privacy" is disingenuous. https://lifehacker.com/why-your-privacy-matters-even-if-youre-not-doing-anyt-1645884650 https://lifehacker.com/why-your-privacy-matters-even-if-your...
- pksebben 6y ago
  For my money, I can't help but think of people who have legitimate reasons for wanting privacy and how my relative lack thereof deprives them of it. For every one of us that has a well defined presence, it becomes that much easier to spot people who hide, and like you say, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to do so. I would venture out even and say that categorically, there are unjust laws that people should be able to hide from - I would want to help them do that. By creating a culture that respects privacy, we insulate ourselves against a lot of the damage that can be done by a poorly managed legal system / toxic culture / opportunistic economic structure. I was just recently reading about how the military buys adtech data to track foreign nationals. I feel like we're living out a Gibson novel. I do try to "fuzz" my presence as much as possible, because of this. However, like you mention, it ain't easy.
  - Darkphibre 6y ago
    Thank you so much. I was worried recounting my experience would be perceived much like the first person responded. It feels good to know there are those out there that get it. May your holidays be safe and rejuvenating.
isogon 6y ago
I think the thrust of the complaint is that the society doesn't sufficiently value privacy for its own sake. In a different kind of society, websites of the sort that you describe would be unpopular, because users at large would place less value on the real-person guarantee than on the non-collection of their identifying information. Closely related to this is the topic of end-to-end encryption. To withstand attacks that I expect will continue to be mounted on it, I think the society has to believe in privacy as a terminal good. The answer to the argument that "we could catch such and such criminals if we had key escrow" ought to be "yes, and not catching those criminals is a price we agree to pay, because privacy is just that valuable to us".

Darkphibre 6y ago

It's just unfortunate that companies are employing precog future-crime concepts to what (should) be standard privacy approaches. And, to be clear, I'm not acting like someone I'm not. I'm forthcoming that I have an identity, and I'm even willing to prove that I'm a self-consistent individual. I'm acting like someone that has purchased a month-to-month phone, and have signed up for a free email account, and values their internet privacy. It's become apparent to me that a number of companies discriminate against people for whom this is their only choice... heaven help you if you can't afford a proper phone (or don't have the credit to open a proper cellphone account). As a transgendered person that's been discriminated against, I do indeed have valid reasons for wanting my most personal conversations to be secure from being used against me. There are other aspects of my private life that that would be wildly misinterpreted if taken out of context. I would prefer to keep my private life wholly separate from my public persona, and that's... harder to do in the age of COVID isolation where everything is online. It's astonishing to me how many people just... don't care about their privacy these days. And that the bar is so crazy high to be anonymous. To the point that wanting to be anonymous for a few hours is indistinguishable from being up to no good?! Hell, I'd have to _break_ the law and craft a truly new identity just to be able to be anonymous on some of these platforms that don't have real-world identities as a sign-up requirement. The argument of "you're not doing anything wrong, so why be concerned about your privacy" is disingenuous. https://lifehacker.com/why-your-privacy-matters-even-if-youre-not-doing-anyt-1645884650 https://lifehacker.com/why-your-privacy-matters-even-if-your...

pksebben 6y ago
For my money, I can't help but think of people who have legitimate reasons for wanting privacy and how my relative lack thereof deprives them of it. For every one of us that has a well defined presence, it becomes that much easier to spot people who hide, and like you say, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to do so. I would venture out even and say that categorically, there are unjust laws that people should be able to hide from - I would want to help them do that. By creating a culture that respects privacy, we insulate ourselves against a lot of the damage that can be done by a poorly managed legal system / toxic culture / opportunistic economic structure. I was just recently reading about how the military buys adtech data to track foreign nationals. I feel like we're living out a Gibson novel. I do try to "fuzz" my presence as much as possible, because of this. However, like you mention, it ain't easy.
- Darkphibre 6y ago
  Thank you so much. I was worried recounting my experience would be perceived much like the first person responded. It feels good to know there are those out there that get it. May your holidays be safe and rejuvenating.

isogon 6y ago

I think the thrust of the complaint is that the society doesn't sufficiently value privacy for its own sake. In a different kind of society, websites of the sort that you describe would be unpopular, because users at large would place less value on the real-person guarantee than on the non-collection of their identifying information. Closely related to this is the topic of end-to-end encryption. To withstand attacks that I expect will continue to be mounted on it, I think the society has to believe in privacy as a terminal good. The answer to the argument that "we could catch such and such criminals if we had key escrow" ought to be "yes, and not catching those criminals is a price we agree to pay, because privacy is just that valuable to us".