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> I somewhat miss the days when the corruption was at least somewhat veiled. Oh, nonsense. People disagree with you politically. That doesn't make it 'unveil

> I somewhat miss the days when the corruption was at least somewhat veiled. Oh, nonsense. People disagree with you politically. That doesn't make it 'unveiled corruption'. What a lazy way to think.

dbetteridge 6y ago
I can handle political disagreement just fine. But there is a systemic and widely recognised issue in the UK with the government flagrantly handing out public money without due diligence or fair recourse. Selling citizens data for profit is just another data point. https://medium.com/shit-britain/the-bumper-uk-conservative-government-corruption-thread-26d6e0fcd673 https://medium.com/shit-britain/the-bumper-uk-conservative-g... https://thejist.co.uk/politics/a-list-of-alleged-conservative-lies-corruption-and-incompetence/ https://thejist.co.uk/politics/a-list-of-alleged-conservativ... https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how-the-tories-normalised-corruption-report-205523/ https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how-the-tories-no... https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/ https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/
- carmen_sandiego 6y ago
  Believing that companies should be allowed to exploit data for profit is a political position, not corruption. Same for most of the things discussed in your links. Just because you might find something callous, or otherwise objectionable, doesn't make it corruption. It's also not inherently corruption when a (group of) companies go to a politician and say "we think X would be good" and the politician goes on to support X. Even if X is profitable for the companies. Many things that are profitable are also good for wider society.
athrowaway3z 6y ago
Corruption might be the wrong word. But 'disagree politically' suggests that what voters think matters, instead of what financial contributors desire. Every political decision has winners and losers. This one seems heavily biased towards the 0.01% of people directly financially incentivized, while the rest has to deal with the breach of privacy and the social effects of hyper targeted advertisement ( a case can be made that this includes things like the QAnon bubble )
- carmen_sandiego 6y ago
  I disagree. Most startups and other small businesses, for example, are not run by the 0.01%. And yet, the data ecosystem is often key to their success. Targeted ads are a boon to hairdressers and multi-billion-dollar conglomerates alike. Just because something happens to enrich the top end, doesn't mean it's of no use to everyone else. We shouldn't avoid doing overall beneficial things because the rich will tend to benefit more. The rich benefit more from almost everything. We might as well say no to building roads because it provides for Bezos' delivery empire.
  - coddle-hark 6y ago
    > Targeted ads are a boon to hairdressers Are they? Are targeted ads really increasing the number of hairdressers and/or making them more profitable?
mhh__ 6y ago
Our government is happily funneling millions of public money into murky contracts with companies that often barely exist. It is corruption. The tory party has no ideology. What a lazy way to think

> I somewhat miss the days when the corruption was at least somewhat veiled. Oh, nonsense. People disagree with you politically. That doesn't make it 'unveiled corruption'. What a lazy way to think.

dbetteridge 6y ago

I can handle political disagreement just fine. But there is a systemic and widely recognised issue in the UK with the government flagrantly handing out public money without due diligence or fair recourse. Selling citizens data for profit is just another data point. https://medium.com/shit-britain/the-bumper-uk-conservative-government-corruption-thread-26d6e0fcd673 https://medium.com/shit-britain/the-bumper-uk-conservative-g... https://thejist.co.uk/politics/a-list-of-alleged-conservative-lies-corruption-and-incompetence/ https://thejist.co.uk/politics/a-list-of-alleged-conservativ... https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how-the-tories-normalised-corruption-report-205523/ https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how-the-tories-no... https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/ https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/

carmen_sandiego 6y ago
Believing that companies should be allowed to exploit data for profit is a political position, not corruption. Same for most of the things discussed in your links. Just because you might find something callous, or otherwise objectionable, doesn't make it corruption. It's also not inherently corruption when a (group of) companies go to a politician and say "we think X would be good" and the politician goes on to support X. Even if X is profitable for the companies. Many things that are profitable are also good for wider society.

athrowaway3z 6y ago

Corruption might be the wrong word. But 'disagree politically' suggests that what voters think matters, instead of what financial contributors desire. Every political decision has winners and losers. This one seems heavily biased towards the 0.01% of people directly financially incentivized, while the rest has to deal with the breach of privacy and the social effects of hyper targeted advertisement ( a case can be made that this includes things like the QAnon bubble )

carmen_sandiego 6y ago
I disagree. Most startups and other small businesses, for example, are not run by the 0.01%. And yet, the data ecosystem is often key to their success. Targeted ads are a boon to hairdressers and multi-billion-dollar conglomerates alike. Just because something happens to enrich the top end, doesn't mean it's of no use to everyone else. We shouldn't avoid doing overall beneficial things because the rich will tend to benefit more. The rich benefit more from almost everything. We might as well say no to building roads because it provides for Bezos' delivery empire.
- coddle-hark 6y ago
  > Targeted ads are a boon to hairdressers Are they? Are targeted ads really increasing the number of hairdressers and/or making them more profitable?

mhh__ 6y ago

Our government is happily funneling millions of public money into murky contracts with companies that often barely exist. It is corruption. The tory party has no ideology. What a lazy way to think