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> well, "your" data in perhaps some rhetorical sense. In this context, "your data" is 100% of the time used to indicate data you've provided to someone else ab

by deong 11y ago

> well, "your" data in perhaps some rhetorical sense. In this context, "your data" is 100% of the time used to indicate data you've provided to someone else about you. Have you ever seen an article saying "Facebook to target ads based on their photos" or "Google using their data to make money"?

tedunangst 11y ago
I think you've overshot with the Facebook photos. They are, in fact, not their photos and remain the property of the uploader.
oldmanjay 11y ago
Well yes, as I indicated, the author is using a phrase in a rhetorical sense to frame the narrative emotionally. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear that I understand what the technique is accomplishing. I am merely pointing out the essential dishonesty in its use.
- deong 11y ago
  But if everyone uses the phrase that way, then it's not dishonest for this person to do it too. That's how language works. If I tell my student, "the early bird gets the worm", it's idiotic to call me stupid because I confused a human with a bird. I didn't in fact do that. I used a common idiom in the language that we all understand. The fact that you can recognize there's a literal meaning that wasn't accurate is pointless. I'm not dishonest or a liar either. I used language in a non-literal way, just like all of us do hundreds of times every day. When someone says "company X is using your data", there's a common understanding in play. We all know what they mean. They mean "data they've collected about you". If you want to call everyone names because, taken literally, it's incorrect, then go ahead, but you're beating a dead horse here. And I'm not actually accusing you of pummeling the carcass of an equine. I'm saying you're spending your energy on a pointless task, but doing so in a way that relies on you understanding that the meaning of a sentence isn't strictly determined by the meaning and order of the individual words in it.

by deong 11y ago

tedunangst 11y ago

I think you've overshot with the Facebook photos. They are, in fact, not their photos and remain the property of the uploader.

oldmanjay 11y ago

Well yes, as I indicated, the author is using a phrase in a rhetorical sense to frame the narrative emotionally. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear that I understand what the technique is accomplishing. I am merely pointing out the essential dishonesty in its use.

deong 11y ago
But if everyone uses the phrase that way, then it's not dishonest for this person to do it too. That's how language works. If I tell my student, "the early bird gets the worm", it's idiotic to call me stupid because I confused a human with a bird. I didn't in fact do that. I used a common idiom in the language that we all understand. The fact that you can recognize there's a literal meaning that wasn't accurate is pointless. I'm not dishonest or a liar either. I used language in a non-literal way, just like all of us do hundreds of times every day. When someone says "company X is using your data", there's a common understanding in play. We all know what they mean. They mean "data they've collected about you". If you want to call everyone names because, taken literally, it's incorrect, then go ahead, but you're beating a dead horse here. And I'm not actually accusing you of pummeling the carcass of an equine. I'm saying you're spending your energy on a pointless task, but doing so in a way that relies on you understanding that the meaning of a sentence isn't strictly determined by the meaning and order of the individual words in it.