4 ms·

> As an Australian, I'm not sure that I care about the safety of my data when it comes to LLMs. US companies already stole scores of data I'm not sure I unders

> As an Australian, I'm not sure that I care about the safety of my data when it comes to LLMs. US companies already stole scores of data I'm not sure I understand this. I'm not defending the US, but isn't your data being in more hands worse? Also, isn't Australia in a more contentious situation with China? Them being more allied with the US and all? Not to mention the whole nuclear sub issue. Having data stolen is shitty either way but isn't data taken by an adversarial country a worse situation?

stephen_g 4mo ago
Most Aussies aren't really worried about China... China remains our largest trading partner, and polling shows less than half of Australians think the AUKUS alliance (which includes the nuclear subs) makes our region safer.
est 4mo ago
> isn't your data being in more hands worse? > Having data stolen is shitty Fun fact: Deepseek can be hosted by third parties even yourself.
florkbork 4mo ago
Re Australia vs China https://youtu.be/sgspkxfkS4k?si=JgnhenF0qeTZXeGS https://youtu.be/sgspkxfkS4k?si=JgnhenF0qeTZXeGS basically explains the situation. While having data/code stolen isn't ideal, there is a certain point where you need to assume it's already out there. There's actually more probability of harm from shady US companies imo, because people are less suspicious about data sovereignty
- l33tman 4mo ago
  When you paste youtube (or instagram) links, it's good practice to remove the doxxing share link identifiers (?si and everything past it)
technion 4mo ago
As an Australian.. politically I need to worry about business data touching China. It will come up at a Risk Advisory Committee meeting as a serious issue. In actual personal practice, no. China having my data presents no actual impact to me, America will do things that impact me.
- nujabe 4mo ago
  Exactly. And I feel the same way as a US citizen. China is mostly interested in geopolitical stuff and getting an economic advantage, plus they have no jurisdiction in the US. Your data in the hands of the US government however could potentially land you in prison.
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
hodgehog11 4mo ago
Historically speaking, the US might even be a larger risk to Australia than China is. The US alliance goes back a long way, and so does the opposition to US influence. Since the Whitlam government, MPs are generally fearful of US retaliation, rendering much of our politics hostage to US influence. Of course, some PMs have openly embraced the US so this feeling isn't universal. But many of our issues are directly tied to the US. China has been far more beneficial to Australia by comparison, with the downside being the encroaching influence of CCP propaganda. Many of our strengths are tied to our relationships with Southeast Asia. Paul Keating has famously declared US as an "aggressive ally", "our colonial masters", AUKUS as our "worst international decision", and that "our future is in Southeast Asia". This was under Biden too. So the situation is much more complicated, and the feelings on the ground right now is that the US are not our friends (of course, the CCP is not great either).
- throwburn202605 4mo ago
  You don't even need to step foot on US soil for the US to be a risk to you c.f. Kim Dotcom
  - cwnyth 4mo ago
    The same Kim Dotcom who was arrested in Germany, extradited from Thailand to Germany, and most recently has been parroting Russian propaganda points about Ukraine? The same one whom the New Zealand legal system has allowed to exhaust every legal avenue and remains free to this day? There are much better examples to use to showcase the US's extrajudicial/international reach than this guy.
    - joe_mamba 4mo ago
      >and most recently has been parroting Russian propaganda points about Ukraine Yeah but is that a jailable offense though? What about his freedom of speech? Or should we just lock up everyone who says things we don't like?
      - 4mo ago
apatheticonion 4mo ago
If I spoke freely about how I feel about the US right now and the direct personal impact of policies implemented by the recent administration, I'd be denied entry into the country to visit friends later this year. It is inconsequential if the US or China have my data, both will misuse it and I am powerless to protect myself from that fact. Not using LLMs presents a bigger threat to my career than protecting my data.
- godelski 4mo ago
  > If I spoke freely about how I feel about the US right now If you read my comment as defending the US then you've misread. Also, you're probably just as pissed as 60% of Americans > It is inconsequential if the US or China have my data Sure it does. The way each distributes data between government and industry has some differences. So too does the different disinformation campaigns each country is running against Australia. But the main point is really that 2 > 1. 1 country scraping your data is bad. 2 is worse.
  - Cub3 4mo ago
    > you're probably just as pissed as 60% of Americans Yet you voted for it
    - apatheticonion 4mo ago
      To be fair, most of their votes don't actually count. And even with our westminster system, One nation has swept the right wing. Considering how many seats they will likely get in the next election, my high horse has shrunk a fair bit.
    - godelski 4mo ago
      Me? I didn't vote for the orange Nazi
      - LtWorf 4mo ago
        Because you think by voting for the other person AI companies and USA government wouldn't misuse all the data they hoard?
sandworm101 4mo ago
China is not digging through my social media in order to find a reason to cut my grant funding. China isnt going to pull me over for speeding in montana only to examine my phone to see whether i am maga enough to get off with a warning. And china isnt at o'hare security scanning for anyone with skin darker than freshly fallen snow. China may be evil, but it is a far away evil that doesnt have a physical impact on my day to day. The other evil is much closer to home. Even if it is not the biggest, the crocodile closest to the canoe is always more concerning than the one still on the bank.
- alfiedotwtf 4mo ago
  … the one closet to your canoe is loudly warning you of the dangers of the one still on the bank
  - LtWorf 4mo ago
    AKA don't worry about an imminent death threat! You might get seriously ill decades from now! Worry about that instead!
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
fjdjshsh 4mo ago
Latinamerican here. When you talk about "adversarial country" I think of the USA (they can kidnap a president, kill people on boats without a trial, etc) and not China. YMMV for different regions.
- cwnyth 4mo ago
  Yes, that's why they specifically were talking to an Australian person about their experience in Australia.
prmoustache 4mo ago
USA is an adversarial country to everyone in 2026.
- imadierich 4mo ago
  [dead]
- myko 4mo ago
  even itself! Given what happened January 6th the unsettling truth is the USA is essentially an occupied nation.
zrn900 4mo ago
> Also, isn't Australia in a more contentious situation with China? China does not run 'rendition flights' to kidnap other countries' citizens and hold them in gitmo style prisons for decades. China cannot compel and does not compel random countries to extradite foreign citizens to China to persecute them and lock them up. Guess who does.

stephen_g 4mo ago

Most Aussies aren't really worried about China... China remains our largest trading partner, and polling shows less than half of Australians think the AUKUS alliance (which includes the nuclear subs) makes our region safer.

est 4mo ago

> isn't your data being in more hands worse? > Having data stolen is shitty Fun fact: Deepseek can be hosted by third parties even yourself.

florkbork 4mo ago

Re Australia vs China https://youtu.be/sgspkxfkS4k?si=JgnhenF0qeTZXeGS https://youtu.be/sgspkxfkS4k?si=JgnhenF0qeTZXeGS basically explains the situation. While having data/code stolen isn't ideal, there is a certain point where you need to assume it's already out there. There's actually more probability of harm from shady US companies imo, because people are less suspicious about data sovereignty

l33tman 4mo ago
When you paste youtube (or instagram) links, it's good practice to remove the doxxing share link identifiers (?si and everything past it)

technion 4mo ago

As an Australian.. politically I need to worry about business data touching China. It will come up at a Risk Advisory Committee meeting as a serious issue. In actual personal practice, no. China having my data presents no actual impact to me, America will do things that impact me.

nujabe 4mo ago
Exactly. And I feel the same way as a US citizen. China is mostly interested in geopolitical stuff and getting an economic advantage, plus they have no jurisdiction in the US. Your data in the hands of the US government however could potentially land you in prison.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]

hodgehog11 4mo ago

Historically speaking, the US might even be a larger risk to Australia than China is. The US alliance goes back a long way, and so does the opposition to US influence. Since the Whitlam government, MPs are generally fearful of US retaliation, rendering much of our politics hostage to US influence. Of course, some PMs have openly embraced the US so this feeling isn't universal. But many of our issues are directly tied to the US. China has been far more beneficial to Australia by comparison, with the downside being the encroaching influence of CCP propaganda. Many of our strengths are tied to our relationships with Southeast Asia. Paul Keating has famously declared US as an "aggressive ally", "our colonial masters", AUKUS as our "worst international decision", and that "our future is in Southeast Asia". This was under Biden too. So the situation is much more complicated, and the feelings on the ground right now is that the US are not our friends (of course, the CCP is not great either).

throwburn202605 4mo ago
You don't even need to step foot on US soil for the US to be a risk to you c.f. Kim Dotcom
- cwnyth 4mo ago
  The same Kim Dotcom who was arrested in Germany, extradited from Thailand to Germany, and most recently has been parroting Russian propaganda points about Ukraine? The same one whom the New Zealand legal system has allowed to exhaust every legal avenue and remains free to this day? There are much better examples to use to showcase the US's extrajudicial/international reach than this guy.
  - joe_mamba 4mo ago
    >and most recently has been parroting Russian propaganda points about Ukraine Yeah but is that a jailable offense though? What about his freedom of speech? Or should we just lock up everyone who says things we don't like?
    - 4mo ago

apatheticonion 4mo ago

If I spoke freely about how I feel about the US right now and the direct personal impact of policies implemented by the recent administration, I'd be denied entry into the country to visit friends later this year. It is inconsequential if the US or China have my data, both will misuse it and I am powerless to protect myself from that fact. Not using LLMs presents a bigger threat to my career than protecting my data.

godelski 4mo ago
> If I spoke freely about how I feel about the US right now If you read my comment as defending the US then you've misread. Also, you're probably just as pissed as 60% of Americans > It is inconsequential if the US or China have my data Sure it does. The way each distributes data between government and industry has some differences. So too does the different disinformation campaigns each country is running against Australia. But the main point is really that 2 > 1. 1 country scraping your data is bad. 2 is worse.
- Cub3 4mo ago
  > you're probably just as pissed as 60% of Americans Yet you voted for it
  - apatheticonion 4mo ago
    To be fair, most of their votes don't actually count. And even with our westminster system, One nation has swept the right wing. Considering how many seats they will likely get in the next election, my high horse has shrunk a fair bit.
  - godelski 4mo ago
    Me? I didn't vote for the orange Nazi
    - LtWorf 4mo ago
      Because you think by voting for the other person AI companies and USA government wouldn't misuse all the data they hoard?

sandworm101 4mo ago

China is not digging through my social media in order to find a reason to cut my grant funding. China isnt going to pull me over for speeding in montana only to examine my phone to see whether i am maga enough to get off with a warning. And china isnt at o'hare security scanning for anyone with skin darker than freshly fallen snow. China may be evil, but it is a far away evil that doesnt have a physical impact on my day to day. The other evil is much closer to home. Even if it is not the biggest, the crocodile closest to the canoe is always more concerning than the one still on the bank.

alfiedotwtf 4mo ago
… the one closet to your canoe is loudly warning you of the dangers of the one still on the bank
- LtWorf 4mo ago
  AKA don't worry about an imminent death threat! You might get seriously ill decades from now! Worry about that instead!

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

fjdjshsh 4mo ago

Latinamerican here. When you talk about "adversarial country" I think of the USA (they can kidnap a president, kill people on boats without a trial, etc) and not China. YMMV for different regions.

cwnyth 4mo ago
Yes, that's why they specifically were talking to an Australian person about their experience in Australia.

prmoustache 4mo ago

USA is an adversarial country to everyone in 2026.

imadierich 4mo ago
[dead]
myko 4mo ago
even itself! Given what happened January 6th the unsettling truth is the USA is essentially an occupied nation.

zrn900 4mo ago

> Also, isn't Australia in a more contentious situation with China? China does not run 'rendition flights' to kidnap other countries' citizens and hold them in gitmo style prisons for decades. China cannot compel and does not compel random countries to extradite foreign citizens to China to persecute them and lock them up. Guess who does.