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SoylentNews is people

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: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:09PM (#182507)

    In the past it happens.

    Buying first house. My father, brothers and I all lived within 60 miles. Our first names all began with the same letter. My father and I have the same name, but I have middle name and he does not. All of us (7 in all) wives' had variations of similar names. My wife and my father shared the same brith date.

    When the bank pulled my credit reports (they tried once per system) each was over 100 pages long! After going through, the first 3 pages and noting to who each item belonged. I gave it back to them to do the work. Via it found relatives that also lived in area that we did not.

    To this day using Anywho. I am 1 of 3 people in the us with my first and last names. So I am rare but look at the mess it can cause. My brothers continue with first initial thing for there kids.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @11:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @11:31PM (#182705)

    All of us (7 in all) wives' had variations of similar names

    8-) Was there an avalanche involved in that? [wikipedia.org]

    .
    A quote I appreciate that was missing from the summary:
    "You have no privacy. Get over it."
      --Scott McNeely, CEO of Sun Microsystems, 1999
    Right on the facts, wrong on the attitude [wikipedia.org]

    -- gewg_

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @12:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @12:42AM (#182735)

    " I am J. Spartacus!"