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It’s becoming impossible to practice what you preach when it comes to data privacy. ‘Don’t like it, don’t buy it’ is difficult to execute unless you don’t mind

It’s becoming impossible to practice what you preach when it comes to data privacy. ‘Don’t like it, don’t buy it’ is difficult to execute unless you don’t mind not having a car, mobile phone, tv, browse the internet or even go out in a public place. There needs to be regulation and at least the ability to at least easily opt out of any of this insanity, but until there’s one (or probably many) widespread data-breaches related to this total abuse of power, so I suspect we’re at least a decade off that, if it even happens at all. Edit: location Australia, where political power is toothless due to the small scale of our country. Maybe we can fall in-line with GDPR or something someday, but currently there’s almost no discourse related to privacy (yet everyone is losing their minds over tiktok)

javajosh 3y ago
The EU seems to have it's act together. Things in the US won't change until the elites feel that pervasive surveillance impacts them personally and negatively.
- vGPU 3y ago
  Did you miss the story about how spying on journalists is OK?
- cosentiyes 3y ago
  Yes, the EU is doing what needs to be done (criminalizing end-to-end encryption) /s
paddw 3y ago
imo, if you don't want the government to track you, the battle is already lost, but there is probably room to limit what private companies are allowed to do on the regulatory front.
- graftak 3y ago
  The problem here is that governments themselves became dependent on the insane amount of user tracking these companies do, to the point where it is against their own ‘best interests’ to stop these practices. Stuff like this happens all over the place—even the EU—under the guise of stopping terrorism and/or child pornography.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I'm actually less concerned about the government tracking me than I am about corporations or other private entities tracking me.
MisterTea 3y ago
Remeber the uproar over cameras on phones? Then the fury over a person bringing a google glass into a bathroom. Now people film themselves in the bathroom. No one cares as we live in a very connected world where privacy is almost gone - in fact many people like broadcasting themselves. (To add - I don't like nor endorse it - "computas shoulda stayed hard!" is my motto. But that is reality. Hell, my friends kids ape youtubers and they're just 6 or 7 years old. I find it gross they find it cute. go figure. poh-tay-toe poh-toh-toe)
- hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
  I’m not sure that your neighbours kids voluntary use of an app versus me not being able to buy a car that won’t track my location are really all that equivalent.
Retric 3y ago
If you don’t want to be tracked then you have to make sacrifices on the scale of not carrying around a cellphone. But that really doesn’t scale. Handing out your customers secrets doesn’t have a big red flag that automatically tells them you’re selling them out. That’s the core issue which has nothing to do with customer choices and why regulation is one of the few ways to give customers informed choices.
- hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
  Name any major organisation that’s not selling data excluding companies such as signal and (presumably) apple…
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    That's ok, but there should always be transparency in who is collecting the data and the chain-of-custody of data collected. The ad agencies and everyone affilliated thrive in the current darkness...
    - hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
      Sorry that’s a valid point, my point is that I’d like to not have my data sold in the first place,
  - xnx 3y ago
    Google, Facebook, Microsoft
    - hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
      You don’t think they’re selling the data to other departments internally?
    - ethbr0 3y ago
      The only reason those 3 aren't selling data is that they have the vertical integration to launder and monetize it themselves. They don't have to sell it, because they can keep it, productize it, and then sell the targeting information to advertisers, without revealing the underlying data. -- Imagine a Google, Facebook, or Microsoft without an ad network and devices/apps to serve it on. Then tell me they wouldn't immediately be selling their tracking data to anyone who would buy.
dionidium 3y ago
The parsimonious explanation is that most people do not care about this issue as much as you do, which suggests quite plainly that no such regulation is necessary. You might want to consider that your views on privacy are eccentric and unpopular and that nobody is asking for laws to "protect them" from something that doesn't bother them in the first place.
- the_gastropod 3y ago
  You’re kind of suggesting that most people understand this issue and still don’t care about it. I suspect that’s very much not the case. Like with leaded gasoline, a lack of major public outcry does not imply there’s no need for government regulation.
  - ethbr0 3y ago
    Indeed. People cannot be said to be making a choice when they're uninformed about the relevant details. Study after study has shown that the general public has no idea about how their data is bought and sold, beyond "Oh, yeah, some tracking is done." Chain of custody and user visible notification would change that. Not "data may be used by third parties" but rather "{Toyota} sold your {radio listening data} to {iHeartRadio} on {6/23/2023}."

javajosh 3y ago

The EU seems to have it's act together. Things in the US won't change until the elites feel that pervasive surveillance impacts them personally and negatively.

vGPU 3y ago
Did you miss the story about how spying on journalists is OK?
cosentiyes 3y ago
Yes, the EU is doing what needs to be done (criminalizing end-to-end encryption) /s

paddw 3y ago

imo, if you don't want the government to track you, the battle is already lost, but there is probably room to limit what private companies are allowed to do on the regulatory front.

graftak 3y ago
The problem here is that governments themselves became dependent on the insane amount of user tracking these companies do, to the point where it is against their own ‘best interests’ to stop these practices. Stuff like this happens all over the place—even the EU—under the guise of stopping terrorism and/or child pornography.
JohnFen 3y ago
I'm actually less concerned about the government tracking me than I am about corporations or other private entities tracking me.

MisterTea 3y ago

Remeber the uproar over cameras on phones? Then the fury over a person bringing a google glass into a bathroom. Now people film themselves in the bathroom. No one cares as we live in a very connected world where privacy is almost gone - in fact many people like broadcasting themselves. (To add - I don't like nor endorse it - "computas shoulda stayed hard!" is my motto. But that is reality. Hell, my friends kids ape youtubers and they're just 6 or 7 years old. I find it gross they find it cute. go figure. poh-tay-toe poh-toh-toe)

hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
I’m not sure that your neighbours kids voluntary use of an app versus me not being able to buy a car that won’t track my location are really all that equivalent.

Retric 3y ago

If you don’t want to be tracked then you have to make sacrifices on the scale of not carrying around a cellphone. But that really doesn’t scale. Handing out your customers secrets doesn’t have a big red flag that automatically tells them you’re selling them out. That’s the core issue which has nothing to do with customer choices and why regulation is one of the few ways to give customers informed choices.

hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
Name any major organisation that’s not selling data excluding companies such as signal and (presumably) apple…
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  That's ok, but there should always be transparency in who is collecting the data and the chain-of-custody of data collected. The ad agencies and everyone affilliated thrive in the current darkness...
  - hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
    Sorry that’s a valid point, my point is that I’d like to not have my data sold in the first place,
- xnx 3y ago
  Google, Facebook, Microsoft
  - hsbauauvhabzb 3y ago
    You don’t think they’re selling the data to other departments internally?
  - ethbr0 3y ago
    The only reason those 3 aren't selling data is that they have the vertical integration to launder and monetize it themselves. They don't have to sell it, because they can keep it, productize it, and then sell the targeting information to advertisers, without revealing the underlying data. -- Imagine a Google, Facebook, or Microsoft without an ad network and devices/apps to serve it on. Then tell me they wouldn't immediately be selling their tracking data to anyone who would buy.

dionidium 3y ago

The parsimonious explanation is that most people do not care about this issue as much as you do, which suggests quite plainly that no such regulation is necessary. You might want to consider that your views on privacy are eccentric and unpopular and that nobody is asking for laws to "protect them" from something that doesn't bother them in the first place.

the_gastropod 3y ago
You’re kind of suggesting that most people understand this issue and still don’t care about it. I suspect that’s very much not the case. Like with leaded gasoline, a lack of major public outcry does not imply there’s no need for government regulation.
- ethbr0 3y ago
  Indeed. People cannot be said to be making a choice when they're uninformed about the relevant details. Study after study has shown that the general public has no idea about how their data is bought and sold, beyond "Oh, yeah, some tracking is done." Chain of custody and user visible notification would change that. Not "data may be used by third parties" but rather "{Toyota} sold your {radio listening data} to {iHeartRadio} on {6/23/2023}."