I've noticed recently that a lot of the things I do using a website put me at risk of being datafarmed, for information that is not required for the thing I'm trying to do, and which the organisation running the site has no right to. Not supplying the extraneous personal data often prevents me from getting the thing done.
@thomasbeagle
> There already is, arguably. Well at least the first bit.
In that case, it needs to be properly enforced. But most likely it needs to be completely rewritten to get rid of all the freight train sized loopholes. The EU GPDR and the CCPA/CPRA in the US offer some pointers on how to get this done, and how not to.
"How does Facebook’s bigness hurt you and me? ...Facebook takes a toll on your privacy – but perhaps not in the way you expect. It isn’t just the Facebook app that’s gobbling up your information. Facebook is so big, it has convinced millions of other businesses, apps and websites to also snoop on its behalf. Even when you’re not actively using Facebook. Even when you’re not online."
I have to grudgingly admire the cunning of DataFarms like FarceBook, Goggle, and TripAdVisor getting small businesses all around the world to advertise them for free, while getting businesses to pay the DataFarms to advertise themselves.
Can someone please create a browser extension that pops up a big scary warning when you try to open a link infected by DataFarmers? Like the one we get when we try to open a link using HTTP instead of HTTPS.
I'm in 2 minds about the way dating apps work these days.
On the one hand, being constantly nagged to unlock other ways of accessing other people on the apps makes online dating feel kind of stalky. Like you're paying someone to find out where someone is going to be so you can hit on them 🤔
OTOH having premium features people can pay for means they have a revenue model other than ads. Although that doesn't guarantee they're not datafarming us anyway.
"And then of course the harvesting of our personal data - quite apart from the privacy issues - has been used to orchestrate campaigns specifically to undermine democratic process. Both in the Brexit campaign, and in the US presidential election. I haven't got time to talk about Cambridge Analytica today, but Google them.
...I don't think they're all-powerful, but a 1% nudge in a tight election could make quite a big difference."
It's striking that no consideration is given in these recommendations to changing the network or ownership structures. Like moving to an inter-connected network of independent social media communities.
True, these comments were made in 2019 - 4 years ago - when even fewer people had heard of the fediverse, or Mastodon. But that year, while living in China, I was at the #Netizen21 conference: https://www.caa-ins.org/archives/5895/2
... using a Mastodon account to live blog the event:
@strypey 15 years ago, add a couple months, a nontechie warned me of having google interface to all things web. the fact most attribute web search to google show how obstinate we all are in adjusting and diversifying our tools.
#DataFarming platforms are like tumours; they have to keep growing in order to stay alive. They can cope with a temporary drop in usage. But if a significant number of early adopters go sour on them and start searching for a replacement, the writing is on the wall. Full Bebo is just a matter of time.
Like Xitter, Spezzit is a zombie platform. It's already dead, it just hasn't stopped moving yet, and trying to eat the brains of anyone who goes near it:
"You cannot complain about Facebook collecting your life’s history, while at the same time complaining that diaspora* cannot find your former classmates. You cannot complain about WhatsApp collecting your address book, while at the same time stating you do not use eMail because exchanging addresses is too cumbersome. You either get a system that knows who you are or a system that does not."
@maegul
> I'm kinda here for some fediverse critique
I'll all for critique that's constructive and useful. That gives credit where credit is due, and at least sketches out potential approaches to solutions, rather than only banging on about problems. I've never yet seen Dennis do either of these things in his posts about AP.
Well, I’ve always thought far too few tech type people are familiar with some of the applications of cryptography, PKI and all of that.
If more knew about it we’d have widespread use of pgp, web of trust, and many other techniques with very practical benefit.
And of course I’m referring to technical people knowing about the crypto stuff. Much of it is legitimately technical, so I wouldn’t fault common users for not knowing about all of this magic inside their applications :)
But yeah, someone who’s not familiar with it could be excused for seeing those dichotomies/binaries. Without such solutions, the problems are real.