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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-await-the-shitstorm dept.

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?

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 13 2015, @11:15AM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday May 13 2015, @11:15AM (#182316) Homepage

    "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." - Cardinal Richelieu

    Leaving aside the disputed attribution, there is a school of though that the meaning of this statement, rather than being that charges could be drummed up on the flimsiest of evidence (or that everyone is guilty of something), was meant to be that six lines would be enough to contain most letters of alphabet, and therefore be a good source of handwriting for a forger to knock up something truly incriminating in the suspect's own handwriting.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
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    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Ezber Bozmak on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:15PM

    by Ezber Bozmak (764) on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:15PM (#182347)

    was meant to be that six lines would be enough to contain most letters of alphabet, and therefore be a good source of handwriting for a forger to knock up something truly incriminating in the suspect's own handwriting.

    I don't buy it. Because if that's a thing I'm having a hard time finding evidence of it.
    What I did find were four different translations of the original french [wikiquote.org] and none of them sound like it refers to handwriting.

    french: Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.

    If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.
    -- The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1896) by Jehiel K̀eeler Hoyt, p. 763
    Give me six lines written by the most honest man in the world, and I will find enough in them to hang him.
    -- Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Classical Quotations (1908) edited by Hugh Percy Jones, p. 327
    If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.
    -- America Debates Privacy Versus Security‎ (2007) by Jeri Freedman
    Give me six lines written by the most honest man, and I will find something there to hang him.
    -- Champlain's Dream‎ (2008) by David Hackett Fischer
    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:17PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:17PM (#182445) Homepage

      none of them sound like it refers to handwriting.

      It does to me. Écrites de la main, lit.: written by the hand. Note that that rules out dictated letters or a report of conversation.

      Still open to interpretation, though, and all the better as a quote for it. Perhaps it was said in just that manner to sound more threatening that it actually is - imply that you can get anyone arrested for anything because you're so powerful, whereas it's actually because you know a decent forger down the Rue de la Plonk.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:39PM (#182453)

        That could also be interpreted as a confession. “Look what he wrote: he confessed this, which leads to this and that, which means he’s a traitor. Off with his head!”

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:45PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:45PM (#182458)

        > It does to me. Écrites de la main, lit.: written by the hand. Note that that rules out dictated letters or a report of conversation.

        That is not the part the part that matters.

        It is the part about 'j'y trouverai' - lit.: I shall find. You don't 'find' a full alphabet to copy for forgery.

        • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 13 2015, @07:16PM

          by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday May 13 2015, @07:16PM (#182554) Homepage

          Again, that [i]could[/i] be down to it being a dissembling statement.

          You don't 'find' a full alphabet to copy for forgery.

          You will find most if not all of the letters you'll need in six lines of handwritten text. That's the idea behind the alternative interpretation. Still seems a perfectly reasonable, if somewhat poetic (this, again, being something of the nature of a good quote), reading of the words to me.

          --
          systemd is Roko's Basilisk
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @12:39AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @12:39AM (#182733)

            Yes bold makes it all the more plausible.

            In the past you've demonstrated OCD level fixation issues with respect to phrasing.
            I'm confident you are doing the same thing here.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday May 14 2015, @06:33AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday May 14 2015, @06:33AM (#182821) Journal

        Écrites de la main,

        This is why, you see, that whenever I had occasion to correspond with the delightful Cardinal, it was always via telegraph, teletype, or email.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:46PM (#182362)

    It doesn't really matter, because it can be taken to mean either thing.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:53PM (#182541)

      > It doesn't really matter, because it can be taken to mean either thing.

      It kind of does matter.

      The forgery interpretation carries with it no insight of the human condition, it is purely a mechanical issue - if you have a large enough writing sample you can forge a letter from the person you are persecuting. So what?

      The interpretation that says even the most innocent man can be made to look guilty is a caution against a rush to judgment and a warning that innocence is no protection against malicious prosecution.