Apps like Temu or TokTok. Or those cheap electronic devices where you have to download a questionable app and register an account. What exactly is being stolen and what is being done with it? Who is doing it? Why?
The biggest problem i have with my data being collected, analyzed and used is in the fact that it will almost certainly be used to teach a ML model about how to better manipulate with people like me - the people that are privacy conscious and are trying as much as possible to reduce their fingerprint.
That data is invaluable, and if there does exist a way how to target even people like that, which there probably does since we’re only humans after all, the ML model will eventually figure it out. And they have literally billions of people to experiment and learn on.
Now, we already know from a few leaked studies made by Facebook that they cab already pretty well manipulate people into mostly whatever they choose. Take a hypothetical situation where you get a crazy out-of-touch billionaire, who decides to buy a large social network company, and then decides “Hey, I really want this candidate to win. Tune up the algorithms!”.
And the ML models will get a clear goal, that has been already proven to just work pretty well at influencing user behavior. And any data you give them, it helps the model to fine tune into influencing people like you . Which would also be really hard to prove, because ML models are by definition black boxes that are really hard to reverse engineer, and proving that it was trained to do this is AFAIK almost impossible.
I don’t want no part in that. Thankfully, all the large social networks have CEOs that are reasonable and would never try something like that, right?
And one more thing - you may not think that data about your behavior are of interest to anyone right now. But look at China and their Social Credit. And imagine how would have I.e holocaust turned out, if the government had access to all the data, opinions and profiles of people that are being collected now.
Oh, you mentioned you sympathize with the Jews three years ago in a private message? Well, let’s hope the country you live in never ends up in a situation where that could be a huge problem for you or your family.
So, every time any site is offering a “personalized, curated list” for you (I.e the google search result, or YouTube recommended videos), assume you are potentionally being manipulated, and avoid the site altogether- because there’s no other way how to prevent it. The ML model knows that you know, and is already trying to figure out how to manipulate people that are taking care not to be. And if there is a way, it will figure it out with some success.
The potential future authoritarian government has been my primary concern when it comes to data collection and profiling by corporations like Google and Meta for years. The governments don’t even have to build their information gathering networks, although they still will, but so much of the surveillance has been done for them, goes back years (literally an entire lifetime for many people now), and is just a request away. I can’t judge how the climate will be in two years, let alone a decade or two from now, but that information isn’t going anywhere.
When most people talk about companies ‘stealing’ their data, it’s just companies doing what they explicitly stated in the terms and conditions and these people agreed to.
The whole Google incognito mode drama right now is a great example of this. It literally always said ‘incognito will not prevent employers, websites you visit, or your ISP from collecting data’ when opening a incognito tab. So yeah, obviously Google also knows what you are looking up and they never implied otherwise at all.
Edit: A lot of down votes, but no one ever clarified how and when exactly it was that Google was misleading. And if there actually is anyone who was legit surprised by this whole thing, can you please explain to me what you thought incognito mode did exactly?.. And if there isn’t anyone who was surprised, as seems the case so far…that’s sort of my point.
they explicitly stated in the terms and conditions and these people agreed to
Unwieldy TOS’ have already been found to not be enough because no reasonable person reads all of it. It also doesn’t answer OPs questions
The whole Google incognito mode drama right now is a great example of this. It literally always said ‘incognito will not prevent employers, websites you visit, or your ISP from collecting data’ when opening a incognito tab. So yeah, obviously Google also knows what you are looking up and they never implied otherwise at all.
That’s not what the lawsuit is about, and even if that was the point, which one of “employers, websites you visit, or your ISP” is Google/the browser?
And yet I somehow knew Google was collecting my personal info because it was obvious. That’s the entire point of the company lol.
When someone searches ‘big donkey dicks’ in the url bar … where exactly did they think the browser was pulling those results from? Could it be a website… called Google?
It did exactly what it was described as doing it, which is basically no cookies and no user history (for the user or other users of their computer to see). The TV commercials about buying presents for loved ones never implied anything more.
