I'm about to give up.
On the one hand, I see countless people get loyalty cards and enjoy discounts on their purchases. They connect with friends on Facebook and Twitter. They use apps on android or apple smartphones to give them turn-by-turn directions, find out where their friends are, or find places of interest. Their e-mail is "in the cloud" where they can get to it from multiple places. They use services like dropbox to share files. They get their news on-line and read e-books. I could go on and on.
On the other hand, I see opportunities for tracking and profiling in every one of those activities. So much so that it seems like one would be under constant observation and surveillance. We are just data points to be sliced and diced and marketed to — a society of consumers rather than customers.
So, I've got a major "ick factor" knowing about these practices and yet I'm hard-pressed to explain any negative consequences to otherwise intelligent people. "I don't do anything that's THAT interesting." "I've done nothing wrong, so I don't worry about it." "I like getting the bonuses and discounts."
Yet, I see companies expend great amounts of money implementing tracking mechanisms such as cookies, super-cookies, clear gifs, as well as huge databases of purchases, travels, and interests. I don't believe they are doing this for purely philanthropic reasons.
In no particular order, I include these for consideration:
I use a variety of Addons while browsing the web using Pale Moon: a custom HOSTS file, Self-Destructing Cookies, Ad-Block Plus, Ghostery, NoScript, Better Privacy, Flashblock, and Ref Control. I have a firewall and use anti-virus products. "In real life" I prefer to use cash over charge cards for my purchases. I have no loyalty cards.
What say you Soylentils? Am I being unreasonably paranoid? Or not paranoid enough? What dangers, really, are there? Why not sign up for all those loyalty cards and social apps? What privacy protections do YOU use?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:46AM
> "If you are not paying for it, you are the product."
Then you consider this site's tagline: "SoylentNews is people". It's true.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Wootery on Wednesday May 13 2015, @11:24AM
I guess so: the value of the site is in the users' comments, after all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:20PM
"I don't do anything that's THAT interesting." "I've done nothing wrong, so I don't worry about it."
You say these are otherwise intelligent people, but that does not seem to be the case. Using such awful logic makes it rather unlikely these people are otherwise intelligent.
The third one just shows a complete lack of principles.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:30PM
The Jews did nothing wrong, still Hitler decided to kill them.
Russians did nothing wrong, so Stalin decided to throw them into Gulag.
American citizens decided to fight for civil rights using legal means (or at least peaceful), so FBI decided to wreck their life.
People that fully legally write about their vacation on Facebook, got raided by thieves because of the given opportunity.
Being open about fully legal and consensual sexual practices can make moral warriors wreck your life.
Etc..
Being peaceful and legal isn't the same as being transparent is the same as a good idea!
(Score: 4, Informative) by cafebabe on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:26PM
To give a fictional example, Archibald Buttle [wikipedia.org] had nothing hide. To give a real life example, Jean Charles de Menezes [wikipedia.org] had nothing to hide either.
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