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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:
- "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
- "If you are not paying for it, you are the product."
- Joel on Software - Strategy Letter V: Commoditize your Complement
- Using Metadata to find Paul Revere
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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:45PM
> 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
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
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.