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I love that the replies are full of people who, like me, don't mind if advertisers know more about me. Why wouldn't I want to experience more relevant informati

by jschuur 13y ago

I love that the replies are full of people who, like me, don't mind if advertisers know more about me. Why wouldn't I want to experience more relevant information about purchase opportunities? What's the alternative? Random stuff that doesn't apply to me? Sites who can't bring in enough revenue to operate that I don't get to use because they can't target me specifically? I'm confident in my ability to say 'no' to an advertiser, just as I appreciate being told about things that might help my lifestyle. I'll research it, I'll look at the pros and cons as well as the costs and will make the final decision. Although, fair disclosure, I run an ad blocker in my browser, so I don't see most of the ads anyway ;) PleaseRobMe was a fun little project that those with a heightened concern for privacy love to point to, but I doubt it ever led to anyone having their house robbed. Again, the benefits of me being able to selectively tweet a conference hashtag and see if anyone wants to hang out in person outweighs the fear that someone's going to see if I left any Apple gadgets at home to steal.

gnosis 13y ago
One problem is that once information is collected about you, there's no guarantee use of it will be limited to the people or entities who collected it. There's also no guarantee that the information won't be abused. Corporations get hacked in to and have data stolen from them all the time (the frequent news stories we hear about data breaches are probably just a drop in the bucket compared to those that happen and go unreported). Unscrupulous employees of these corporations could use the data the corporation collects. This information could also be sold (either legitimately or illegitimately) to others. It could be for stalking, harassment, identity theft, finding out your political sympathies, sexual orientation, etc. The data collected on you could be used by prospective employers, insurance agencies, or love interests to weed you out based on the impression (accurate or not) that they get of you or your social media "friends". Once the data is collected, it could stick around virtually forever. And good luck correcting any mistakes in it.

by jschuur 13y ago

gnosis 13y ago

One problem is that once information is collected about you, there's no guarantee use of it will be limited to the people or entities who collected it. There's also no guarantee that the information won't be abused. Corporations get hacked in to and have data stolen from them all the time (the frequent news stories we hear about data breaches are probably just a drop in the bucket compared to those that happen and go unreported). Unscrupulous employees of these corporations could use the data the corporation collects. This information could also be sold (either legitimately or illegitimately) to others. It could be for stalking, harassment, identity theft, finding out your political sympathies, sexual orientation, etc. The data collected on you could be used by prospective employers, insurance agencies, or love interests to weed you out based on the impression (accurate or not) that they get of you or your social media "friends". Once the data is collected, it could stick around virtually forever. And good luck correcting any mistakes in it.