Big Tech. A serious issue that needs to be addressed.

[FrantzM]

Hope this doesn't devolve but there is a need for awareness. This opinion on Moneyweek is IME on point. We must wake-up. I share the sentiments of @Frank Dernie , expressed in this post.

Here is the Article.

This is not something we can shrug off ... in the name of convenience.

 

[ta240]

.....This is not something we can shrug off ... in the name of convenience.

Convenience and free stuff makes many forget their morals and give up all sorts of things with little thought.

 

[Grotti]

I am also concerned about my data. For this reason you won't find me on Facebook, WhatsApp etc. The price to pay is a form of social isolation.

But on the other hand I am posting in this thread with a Huawei Phone, which always reminds me not to hold it on top when unlocking it because of covering the front camera. Could be literally "big brother is watching you"....

All one can do when creating data is to be aware of the fact and to avoid it, whenever possible. Even though this will not solve the problem.

 

[mhardy6647]

I am sure that the Big Tech of old, e.g., Radio Corporation of America, was above reproach.


You could ask, e.g., Maj. Edwin Armstrong, had RCA/Sarnoff not driven him to suicide.

 

[ta240]

I am sure that the Big Tech of old, e.g., Radio Corporation of America, was above reproach.....

It isn't that companies are more evil now; it was a completely different world concerning personal information back then. They had no way of knowing where you where and what you were doing every moment of every day.

I know a guy that won't use a smart speaker in his home because he doesn't want them listening but uses google assistant on his phone and finds it entertaining when after he leaves a restaurant, google pops up and asks him to rate the place simply because it knew his location.

Companies of old would have killed for that kind of marketing data and now they just have to let us brag to our friends about what we are doing and we hand it all over for free.

I used to think people overreacted about facial recognition software until I saw a story where a guy got arrested based on a match when it wasn't him. Silly me, I thought they'd use it as just one bit of information when investigating, maybe establish a person to look into, and not act completely off of it to where he had to prove it wasn't him.

 

[SimpleTheater]

Personally, I've eliminated Twitter / Facebook /Instagram from my life. No accounts any longer. Not that they aren't excellent at what they do, but for me the overall negatives outweighed the positives.

When the author wrote "Google tends to comply with government requests for information, reporting suspicious activity. ", IMO that's not a great thing UNLESS that gov't request came with a judge's authorization.

My only fear of big tech is linking it with gov't control. The two together would be an unstoppable force (big tech provides the information on citizens to the government, government provides road blocks via regulations that make potential nimble competitors into slow snails).

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Never joined Facebook. Figured from the very beginning it was a system to monetize the details of my private life for the benefit of someone other than me.

What gets me about all this surveilence tech is precisely that someone is figuring how to obtain the private details of my life-- my buying behavior, my health, my potential creditworthiness. my political affiliations, etc-- by finding out things like what OTC drugs I take, whether I have an Android or IPhone, my style of playing Angry Birds, and turning around and selling that without my knowledge or consent to creditors, law enforcement, employers, and even potential sex partners. And they're making themselves billionaires (like Zuckerberg) in the process while giving zero compensation to me and others like me for the "pieces of me" they obtain under false, sereptitious. and misleading circumstances.

 

[mhardy6647]

I am semi-trackable. Lots of ill-advised forum peregrinations but no smart phone, and the cell phone I have is off except when I need to use it.
No cell coverage where we live, so we still have a land line, too.

 

[ta240]

I once made an online purchase at homedept.com and then a few days later bought something in the store with the same credit card. At the time of the instore purchase I didn't provide them any other information besides the credit card. A few days later I got an email asking me to rate the item I'd bought in store. Since they had my credit card linked to all my personal information from the online purchase they were now using it to track my in store activity.
I didn't join any discount club or even get any special deals based on them now mining my shopping data. I'm sure they used the information I gave them to get more info on my home, what its worth, my income, family and on and on.

I used to manage an email list for a company and towards the end the list started offering upgrades we could pay for that would provide more customer information based only on their email address.

 

[Bob-23]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

windows, macOs Linux
gmail Posteo
chrome Firefox
google Startpage
twitter Mastodon
youtube Odysee

Firefox addons:

For those reading German:
Firefox: Ein Browser für Datenschutzbewusste – Firefox-Kompendium Teil1

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/firefox-ein-browser-fuer-datenschutzbewusste-firefox-kompendium-teil1/

 

[Inner Space]

 

[q3cpma]

If we're doing these kind of olympics, give me the medal right now: I have no smartphone, no TV, use Gentoo GNU/Linux with the least freedesktopware and the most suckless and UNIX/Plan 9 philosophy compliant programs possible, program lots of my own tools, use qutebrower (will switch to Nyxt soon) with Tor/no JS when appropriate. What I could do to get further: glibc → musl, recursive DNS resolver → encrypted DNS (but I prefer not having to trust the server), ISP router → ISP router in bridge mode or something else with a router under OpenWRT.

The only useful "truth" I can give on the subject is that true technological freedom can only be had by users who understands completely the systems used. Which is why I'm not too fond of the FSF's mission of spoonfeeding people instead of giving them power: you just replace their master by a benevolent one, which has always been a "solution" for the masses, but the exceptional individuals should follow a different path.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

windows, macOs Linux
gmail Posteo
chrome Firefox
google Startpage
twitter Mastodon
youtube Odysee

Both startpage and firefox are compromised; startpage since it was bought a few years ago. https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/browsers.html is a useful resource; the guy is retarded on other topics, so beware.

 

[Wes]

It's not just personal info. I used Google's shopping service and after a few months Google YouTube prime or whatever it is had placed a spurious charge on my credit card, claiming I had signed up for their service.

I got the card co. to remove it but it was a hassle to go thru.

 

[RayDunzl]

On the rare occasion that I just have to have a facebook account to see something of special interest:

I registered it a few years ago, just before the Facebook IPO when they were blowing smoke about removing "fake" accounts and generally cleaning up, but I guess I didn't qualify to be banished.

I have no posts, so don't bother with that.

I thought the photo I chose represented a nice clean cut friendly terrorist looking guy, maybe Fonz Al Fonz, or something.

 

[Vini darko]

On the rare occasion that I just have to have a facebook account to see something of special interest:


View attachment 129551


I registered it a few years ago, just before the Facebook IPO when they were blowing smoke about removing "fake" accounts and generally cleaning up, but I guess I didn't qualify to be banished.

I have no posts, so don't bother with that.

I thought the photo I chose represented a nice clean cut friendly terrorist looking guy, maybe Fonz Al Fonz, or something.

Legend

 

[SKBubba]

What could possibly go wrong?

https://blog.google/products/google-pay/reimagined-pay-save-manage-expenses-and-more/

If you choose to connect your bank account or cards to Google Pay, the app will provide periodic spending summaries and show your trends and insights over time—giving you a clearer view of your finances.

Google Pay can also understand and automatically organize your spending...

...we’re working with trusted financial institutions to create Plex, a new mobile-first bank account integrated into Google Pay. Plex Accounts are offered by banks and credit unions, include checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balance requirements and help you save toward your goals more easily.

 

[DeepFried]

Monopolies or near monopolies are always problematic, especially with the megacap tech companies which can have such extensive information about users. But even beyond any individual corporate activity there is just the colossal danger of negligence and mismanagement of the power they wield.

One company having an extensive profile of who you are and what you believe and are interested in is problematic enough, but when they're selling that information to any advertiser for targeted, manipulative advertising - even political.... well that's just dystopian stuff.

Google controls my news feed, based primarily on feedback loops from my youtube and google search behavior, they also control many of the adverts I see. Now, yes, I can exert control, I can go to specific sites to get news, I can block ads, I have settings to control some aspects of what google tracks from youtube and google... but that takes an understanding of why this is important and what the dangers are, and it take effort to even try and protect yourself - and the reality that google and others rely on is that the vast majority of people just don't understand, don't have time, or don't care.

Companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook etc have too much power - way more than the average person realizes.

 

[FrantzM]

We can take it a notch on the potential to use the information on people who govern us. The press has some that power. It requires a lot of work and information is not almost volunteered or granted. Big Tech firms know almost everything about anyone. And we actually give them the information. Some would use "gift" in place of "give".
Some people can individually opt out. It is a step but those few people activity and personal info can be inferred from interaction with other less prudent or knowledgeable. Rather easily.
Never in human history has a group of private people known and held so much information about any and almost, all of us.
Dystopian scenarios can be easily imagined. If serious and urgent steps are not taken, these will become reality.

I shudder.

 

[richard12511]

Hope this doesn't devolve but there is a need for awareness. This opinion on Moneyweek is IME on point. We must wake-up. I share the sentiments of @Frank Dernie , expressed in this post.

Here is the Article.

This is not something we can shrug off ... in the name of convenience.

I actually really enjoy the consequences of them spying on me all the time. I've had a few spooky moments where something I merely talked about(never searched) started coming up in advertisements a few hours later . Definitely some big negatives that come with it, but for me personally, the pros outweigh the cons. I'm weird, though.

I'm all for it.

 

[richard12511]

If we're doing these kind of olympics, give me the medal right now: I have no smartphone, no TV, use Gentoo GNU/Linux with the least freedesktopware and the most suckless and UNIX/Plan 9 philosophy compliant programs possible, program lots of my own tools, use qutebrower (will switch to Nyxt soon) with Tor/no JS when appropriate. What I could do to get further: glibc → musl, recursive DNS resolver → encrypted DNS (but I prefer not having to trust the server), ISP router → ISP router in bridge mode or something else with a router under OpenWRT.

The only useful "truth" I can give on the subject is that true technological freedom can only be had by users who understands completely the systems used. Which is why I'm not too fond of the FSF's mission of spoonfeeding people instead of giving them power: you just replace their master by a benevolent one, which has always been a "solution" for the masses, but the exceptional individuals should follow a different path.

Both startpage and firefox are compromised; startpage since it was bought a few years ago. https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/browsers.html is a useful resource; the guy is retarded on other topics, so beware.

Well said. I'm of basically the opposite mindset as you, but I agree with you completely about what is actually necessary to protect your privacy these days. Avoiding Facebook, Twitter, etc. is not sufficient.