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I worked for a tech company popular with enthusiasts when GDPR was first rolled out. We had a lot of requests from users who wanted us to provide their data per
by PragmaticPulp 6y ago
I worked for a tech company popular with enthusiasts when GDPR was first rolled out. We had a lot of requests from users who wanted us to provide their data per the GDPR allowance. We also had an influx of tech journalists filing GDPR requests in hopes of catching us doing something wrong or tracking too much personal data.
When we sent users their "data", many of them were in disbelief at how little data they received. Many had come to believe that all tech companies are secretly building inventories of user data to sell to 3rd parties, when really most of us just want to know if our heavy users of Feature A are also heavy users of Feature B, or if Feature C is more popular with new users but not old users.
The strange part is that tech companies are taking the brunt of the bad PR for things like gathering customer feedback and serving relevant ads, while traditional companies like cell phone providers and credit card companies are actually selling customer data. The latter doesn't get enough attention despite being a much more widespread issue.
Facebook doesn't sell your data, but your phone provider and credit card company probably do. But ask the average person who's selling their data, and Facebook will get all the blame.
- godelski 6y agoI think Facebook gets the blame because they are at the end of the chain. They don't sell your data but they do sell the access to your data (from themselves through the website or tracking and what they bought from said other companies). Being that major player in the service it makes sense that they get the heat, but at the same time most people are still tech illiterate. I mean look at how people think Amazon is only a retail company.
- mattnewton 6y agoI have never been inside a newsroom, so I can't know for sure, but I suspect facebook also gets a fair amount of the blame from news media because of their fraught relationship as pseudo-competitors.
- reaperducer 6y agoI have been inside a newsroom (for 20 years), and your assumptions are not correct. Very very very few journalists have time to grind axes for any reason. They're too busy feeding the beast.
- mattnewton 6y agoHuh, thank you. Obviously the people on the ground don't, but there's no truth to the idea of what stories are greenlit by editors? Could be as simple as occasionally removing mentions of companies that advertise with the paper in peices about customer data creating the effect, not J. J. Jamison telling people to get him pictures of zuckerberg :D
- layoutIfNeeded 6y ago>serving relevant ads Relevant ads are the kind you get on DuckDuckGo: relevant to the content you're looking at. E.g. if you look at a site about origami, you get ads from arts&crafts supply stores. What you've probably meant are called predatory ads: they chase you around the Web wherever you go, like a predator chases its prey.
- DebtDeflation 6y agoAnd continue chasing you around for months after you've made the actual purchase and are no longer interested in the product.
- reaperducer 6y agoWhich makes at least a little sense when I'm on another site. But just this morning, Amazon started "recommending" a product to me that I'd actually bought from Amazon two months ago. How many printers does Amazon think I need?
- musicale 6y ago> How many printers does Amazon think I need? I usually buy a new printer when it runs out of ink because it's cheaper than buying a new ink cartridge.
- haihaibye 6y agoNew printers usually come with less than full sized cartridges. Also look at third party solutions like external feeds. Even if it is cheaper, the externalities are not fully priced in, please think of the planet, thanks.
- hsgdh3487 6y agoIf "the externalities are not fully priced in", isn't that just good for me? I hate to say it, but my financial situation hasn't been great recently; I might just go for it.
- musicale 6y agoI wonder how GDPR and CCPA apply to data brokers and credit bureaus?