FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies
(ftc.gov)522 points by nabla9 10 months ago
522 points by nabla9 10 months ago
I have been stalked and harassed by an Apple employee using data they were able to glean from their access at Apple.
The impossible part is proving the abuse. All of these companies keep their database, access controls, and everything they possible can about these data lakes secret. The simple fact of the matter is that you will never have any evidence someone looked you up in a database.
It is really easy to walk the line, but be obvious enough to intimidate.
They absolutely do, in fact they even tried to encrypt user data to not be as invasive as other companies but the FBI sued them and said no you can't do that, you need to keep that data so we can subpoena you.
They mentioned practices that corporations do. I think any corporation that collects data on you counts here. I don't think its worth it to only talk about the examples provided in the article.
Not only is there evidence of harms, there are is a whole industry focused on fixing the problem for those wealthy enough or incentivized enough to care.
Do a bit of googling, but ADINT and RTB tracking will get you there for search terms.
Or, continue being confidently dismissive of something serious people are taking very seriously. I am sorry if this FTC report targeted the source of your RSUs or otherwise motivated set of incentives, but there’s no free lunch. The consequences are finally landing of your viewpoint, done collectively, over the last decade.
> targeted the source of your RSUs or otherwise motivated
I don't currently have any financial interest in any of these companies
> but ADINT and RTB tracking will get you there for search terms.
These are good things, do you have any examples of harm that has been caused by ADINT or RTB? Prosecuting criminals doesn't count for me
Your comment is really coming across as "well, nothing bad has happened yet so who cares?" If that's not the case, please let me know how you meant it. If it is the case, surely you can imagine a world in which dragnet surveillance of people who have an expectation of privacy can be abused by corporations, institutions, or private individuals. It really doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture this world.
It's been ubiquitous for around 20 years now (Google started doing mass surveillance for display ads in the early 2000s) and nothing bad has happened, so yes that's my point.
If nothing bad happens for decades, and that is inconsistent with your model of danger, then the model is probably wrong
Your argument boils down to "yes, someone has had a gun pointed at my head for quite some time now, but they haven't pulled the trigger yet so I don't see the problem."
If you don't think anything bad happens from personal data being accessed without one's consent, please reply to this comment and share:
1. Your full name
2. Your home address
3. Your social security number (if you're American)
4. Your mother's maiden name
If you're right, then you have nothing to worry about.
> nothing bad has happened
ummm, WTF?
10x increase in teen suicide doesn't qualify as "bad"?
or repeated DOJ lawsuits against Facebook because their advertising practices result in highly effective racial discrimination?
Targeted advertising is a good thing. It lets people who make stuff more efficiently connect with people who want that stuff.
The FTC chair is complaining that companies "monetize that data to the tune of billions of dollars a year," but all this means is that this service is tremendously valuable.
The Internet's targeted advertising system is a major achievement of modern information technology and data science, and we dismantle it at our peril.
I am saying that we should not destroy a major source of prosperity. Targeted advertising is far more effective than untargeted because it lets you show ads to people who might have any interest in what you're selling.
> Profound Threats to Users Can Occur When Targeting Occurs Based on Sensitive Categories
> Targeted ads based on knowledge about protected categories can be especially distressing. One example is when someone has not disclosed their sexual orientation publicly, but an ad assumes their sexual orientation. Another example is when a retailer identifies someone as pregnant and targets ads for baby products before others, including family, even know about the pregnancy. These types of assumptions and inferences upon which targeted advertising is based can in some instances result in emotional distress, lead to individuals being misidentified or misclassified, and cause other harms.
If this is one of the biggest harms the FTC can come up with, then honestly as a consumer I don't really care. Having free youtube is worth getting a few mistargeted ads, or I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF. Advertising isn't someone harassing you, its an ad that I can close or just report as not being accurate. I'd really be interested to hear from someone who thinks getting a mistargeted ad is in top 10 most stressful things in their life.
What I would really be interested in is the raw responses from the companies, not this report.
> I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF
The only reason you have the option to do this is because of groups pushing back against advertising companies. Ad companies have no incentive to offer the option to disable targeting.
If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.
> If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.
I can like other positions and actions the FTC has done, like requiring the ability to turn off targeted ads, and not like others, like this one. This is among the biggest problems in politics right now. Supporting a political party doesn't mean you need to 100% back all their opinions and policies, thats how change is effected in successful democratic systems.
> I can like other positions and actions the FTC has done, like requiring the ability to turn off targeted ads, and not like others, like this one
They weren't saying that was the case I think you're misunderstanding them here. But they are 100% correct, you are benefiting from other people fighting against this mass surveillance and yet speaking against it. I think you should do some research on why privacy is important and challenge yourself and your potentially entrenched beliefs.
Read my first comment. I definitely agree privacy is important. All I'm saying is that this is not one of the harms we should be worrying about when saying targeted advertising is a problem, and I don't understand why this is an important issue that we should care about when targeted advertising can be turned off:
"Profound Threats to Users Can Occur When Targeting Occurs Based on Sensitive Categories"
"these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identify theft to stalking."
Is there any evidence that any of these things have ever happened as a result of this sort of data collection? I'm not talking about data posted to social media, I'm talking about the specific data collection described in this FTC press release.