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Not sure I totally buy that. If anything, I’ve found laypeople to be _more_ creeped out by targeted advertising, in particular, than tech people (with the cavea

Not sure I totally buy that. If anything, I’ve found laypeople to be _more_ creeped out by targeted advertising, in particular, than tech people (with the caveat that this is in Europe, and I do think there’s a cultural gap there; Europe’s stricter regulation on this sort of thing doesn’t arise in a vacuum).

satvikpendem 1y ago
Yes, it's different in America. Yet even in Europe will Michelin star restaurants do things similar to the article.
- defrost 1y ago
  Back in the 1980s both a small italian restaurant in Fremantle West Australia and a larger function restaurant (weddings, etc) further north did the same "social checking" via pre internet local newspapers and gossip circles. Walking in, everyone was treated like family and the regulars treated as close family they actually liked (the next level up). There's always been more to good restaurants than just the food.
  - satvikpendem 1y ago
    Exactly. All these other comments are simply wild to me and it's something I'd only see on HN as well.
  - close04 1y ago
    > "social checking" via pre internet local newspapers and gossip circles People back then could guess how some information about them "leaked" through gossip, and must have known about what's written in the paper about them. If someone found out that a restaurant has info about them that they thought is 100% private then they would find it creepy too. Today information about people is stolen from people. Information people assume is 100% private, everything they do on the internet (and even many offline things) even without explicitly "posting" or talking about it ends up corelated by some data broker and sold to the least likeable parties. Having this kind of information even when obtained more legitimately just feels like spying to people and is creepy or repulsive by association. For any restaurant most of this info is passed on by family to make the experience of the event (birthday, anniversary, etc.) more enjoyable. A regular customer celebrating something probably expects and enjoys some level of familiarity and won't ask too many questions or feel betrayed. From the article, having a CRM, checking public social media, and getting info from the guests themselves is probably fine and even expected for all but a few exceptions.
bigiain 1y ago
> I’ve found laypeople to be _more_ creeped out by targeted advertising, in particular, than tech people "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it" -- Upton Sinclair Tech people are many orders of magnitude more likely to be getting paid to be "the creeps" by targeting the advertising.
- pydry 1y ago
  There's probably going to be stasi-like secret police(s) at some point in the west in which all of the privacy violation infrastructure currently in place and used to sell you stuff will instead be used to dismantle democracy and cement in place an oppressive dictatorship. After that system collapses techbros dismissing privacy as a niche concern will be seen as a dangerous relic of less civilized age.

satvikpendem 1y ago

Yes, it's different in America. Yet even in Europe will Michelin star restaurants do things similar to the article.

defrost 1y ago
Back in the 1980s both a small italian restaurant in Fremantle West Australia and a larger function restaurant (weddings, etc) further north did the same "social checking" via pre internet local newspapers and gossip circles. Walking in, everyone was treated like family and the regulars treated as close family they actually liked (the next level up). There's always been more to good restaurants than just the food.
- satvikpendem 1y ago
  Exactly. All these other comments are simply wild to me and it's something I'd only see on HN as well.
- close04 1y ago
  > "social checking" via pre internet local newspapers and gossip circles People back then could guess how some information about them "leaked" through gossip, and must have known about what's written in the paper about them. If someone found out that a restaurant has info about them that they thought is 100% private then they would find it creepy too. Today information about people is stolen from people. Information people assume is 100% private, everything they do on the internet (and even many offline things) even without explicitly "posting" or talking about it ends up corelated by some data broker and sold to the least likeable parties. Having this kind of information even when obtained more legitimately just feels like spying to people and is creepy or repulsive by association. For any restaurant most of this info is passed on by family to make the experience of the event (birthday, anniversary, etc.) more enjoyable. A regular customer celebrating something probably expects and enjoys some level of familiarity and won't ask too many questions or feel betrayed. From the article, having a CRM, checking public social media, and getting info from the guests themselves is probably fine and even expected for all but a few exceptions.

bigiain 1y ago

> I’ve found laypeople to be _more_ creeped out by targeted advertising, in particular, than tech people "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it" -- Upton Sinclair Tech people are many orders of magnitude more likely to be getting paid to be "the creeps" by targeting the advertising.

pydry 1y ago
There's probably going to be stasi-like secret police(s) at some point in the west in which all of the privacy violation infrastructure currently in place and used to sell you stuff will instead be used to dismantle democracy and cement in place an oppressive dictatorship. After that system collapses techbros dismissing privacy as a niche concern will be seen as a dangerous relic of less civilized age.