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It's not blame, it's advice. Advice that is strongly needed, because most people think "they have nothing to hide" until they discover than: - they do - they

It's not blame, it's advice. Advice that is strongly needed, because most people think "they have nothing to hide" until they discover than: - they do - they can't

dahart 5y ago
You’re right, everyone has a need for privacy, and there is almost always private info on devices people use. So why is “advice” to avoid repair and eat the costs considered a tenable solution? The “advice” would also apply if you ever logged into your bank or bought anything, if you ever read your email, if you have any secret keys or certificates for authentication of anything, if you ever visited a web site or searched for something you wouldn’t want someone else to see, if you have a list of contacts, if you have any personally identifiable information, if you ever worked on something considered confidential by your employer, etc., etc., etc.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  > So why is “advice” to avoid repair and eat the costs considered a tenable solution? It's not an "or" proposition. You can fully push for a society where such behavior is dealt with or inexistant, because that's the right thing to do. At the same time, you can ackownledge this life is full of terrible unfair things, and preparing for them can spare you a lof of pain.
  - dahart 5y ago
    > It’s not an “or” proposition. I agree, but I’m confused; I didn’t make an or proposition, and you followed that statement with one. We can realistically deal with privacy problems using laws, and we cannot realistically ever expect people to never repair devices that have private information on them. Right? There’s also an unfortunate environmental downside to suggesting that people avoid repair.
    - BiteCode_dev 5y ago
      It's about taking precautions in general, not avoiding repair in particular. And deal with privacy problems at the society levels, not just using laws in particular. And it's not "or" them. It's "and".
      - dahart 5y ago
        Sorry, I’m lost about what your point is. What “or” are you still referring to? You seem to be trying to correct something, and I have no idea what it is. You defended the specific idea of avoiding repair. If we’re talking about other “precautions”, I’m not sure what you mean because you haven’t made it clear. My point, I guess, is that “advice” about taking “precautions” really does boil down to victim blaming. There are no reasonable precautions that the general public can take when sending a device in for repair; private information will be available to the person with physical access to the device. We already have some laws protecting against privacy violations, and the issue in this article is likely covered by some of them. The remaining solution is for Google or Google’s subcontractor to be held accountable and pay damages, which is exactly what is needed to address privacy problems at the social level: consequences for breach. Otherwise, I don’t see how your suggestion to take “precautions” is helpful or realistic.

It's not blame, it's advice. Advice that is strongly needed, because most people think "they have nothing to hide" until they discover than: - they do - they can't

dahart 5y ago

You’re right, everyone has a need for privacy, and there is almost always private info on devices people use. So why is “advice” to avoid repair and eat the costs considered a tenable solution? The “advice” would also apply if you ever logged into your bank or bought anything, if you ever read your email, if you have any secret keys or certificates for authentication of anything, if you ever visited a web site or searched for something you wouldn’t want someone else to see, if you have a list of contacts, if you have any personally identifiable information, if you ever worked on something considered confidential by your employer, etc., etc., etc.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
> So why is “advice” to avoid repair and eat the costs considered a tenable solution? It's not an "or" proposition. You can fully push for a society where such behavior is dealt with or inexistant, because that's the right thing to do. At the same time, you can ackownledge this life is full of terrible unfair things, and preparing for them can spare you a lof of pain.
- dahart 5y ago
  > It’s not an “or” proposition. I agree, but I’m confused; I didn’t make an or proposition, and you followed that statement with one. We can realistically deal with privacy problems using laws, and we cannot realistically ever expect people to never repair devices that have private information on them. Right? There’s also an unfortunate environmental downside to suggesting that people avoid repair.
  - BiteCode_dev 5y ago
    It's about taking precautions in general, not avoiding repair in particular. And deal with privacy problems at the society levels, not just using laws in particular. And it's not "or" them. It's "and".
    - dahart 5y ago
      Sorry, I’m lost about what your point is. What “or” are you still referring to? You seem to be trying to correct something, and I have no idea what it is. You defended the specific idea of avoiding repair. If we’re talking about other “precautions”, I’m not sure what you mean because you haven’t made it clear. My point, I guess, is that “advice” about taking “precautions” really does boil down to victim blaming. There are no reasonable precautions that the general public can take when sending a device in for repair; private information will be available to the person with physical access to the device. We already have some laws protecting against privacy violations, and the issue in this article is likely covered by some of them. The remaining solution is for Google or Google’s subcontractor to be held accountable and pay damages, which is exactly what is needed to address privacy problems at the social level: consequences for breach. Otherwise, I don’t see how your suggestion to take “precautions” is helpful or realistic.