Comment by disambiguation

Comment by disambiguation 10 months ago

7 replies

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Ever stop and think it's funny that Meta, Google, etc. are worth billions because they figured out how to legally fill a database with information about you? In any other time in history some might call it spying, but well they figured out how to do it legally, and it's worth billions. Meanwhile from a technical standpoint, remotely logging your data is a trivial thing, with consent of course. It's like, we made this imaginary wall (law) and spent billions building a road around that wall, and thats equivalent to econmic prosperity. Similar idea with streaming services versus file sharing.

weixiyen 10 months ago

they are valuable b/c they built something billions of people use. I suspect the revenue loss from every one of these FTC recommendations being implemented would not have a material impact on either of the businesses you mentioned

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cscurmudgeon 10 months ago

Spying is done without consent.

Why do people keep saying social media is just a database?

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  • Llamamoe 10 months ago

    The consent you give to web services isn't much better than if an electrician said "hey, can you tap this button to give me consent to work on your house?" and then installed undetectable hidden microphones inside every surface in your apartment.

    All of the UX of online consent forms exists to misinform, trick, and get users used to agreeing to sell their digital soul.

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  • WickyNilliams 10 months ago

    Facebook will create shadow profiles of you even if you've never signed up, never created a profile. They'll take your number from other people's contacts via WhatsApp. They'll do facial scans of you on photos other people upload.

    Even if you've never visited their site.

    Where's the consent there?

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pwillia7 10 months ago

Wait --- the emperor isn't wearing any clothes?!?!?

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  • MetaWhirledPeas 10 months ago

    I wouldn't say that. If it meets our needs/wants and we are willing to pay for it, that represents value, no matter how silly it sounds. People pay money for plenty of nonsense: cosmetics, junk food, DLC. The fact that it's artificially derived (laws begetting paid workarounds) doesn't change the value proposition. For data gluttons the investment in data acquisition pays off. There are plenty of people paying money to work around laws, especially tax laws. Tax decisions have a scale from wisdom (an individual making prudent financial decisions) to deviance (a company playing shell games with businesses and bank accounts) but the line can be blurry.

    I do think the situation is dystopian though. Sharing data without explicit case-by-case consent should be disallowed.

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