this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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I don't understand what's wrong with tracking me for advertising. If I have to see ads they might as well be something I might be interested in. Google can give more relevant search results. Things cost less. What are the downsides to selling my information to advertisers?
I understand how tik tok can be used for cyber warfare so I don't use that. I don't know what china can do with millions of people's personal information. Chrome doesn't collect nearly as much data as tik tok.
I could see how it could potentially leave an open door for bad things.
Google is a really big company, and they have a lot of money. How can you and I guarantee that they won't sell our private information to insurance companies? If the fines for selling that data are lower than the money they would make from selling it, there isn't much left to keep Google from selling it.
If they experience a big data breach, how can we know that that data will still be safe from bad actors? The riskier information doesn't necessarily include things like what your hobbies are, but rather those weird health searches people make at 3am. They shouldn't really have a reason to store those 3am "incognito" searches in relation to you. They shouldn't really have a reason to save things like your speed habits in relation to you specifically either.
I know it's practically everywhere, but some people still care a lot about those risks.
I use duck duck go for incognito stuff. I know google can still see what I search in incognito mode.
So googling normal stuff is fine?
In my opinion is that the issue is feeding data into a monolith that knows you better than you know yourself. The amount of data they have for everyone allows them to create profiles and find similarities that can predict proclivities that you don't know about yet.
There's nothing wrong about enjoying the conveniences of being recommended things you're interested in, but this also means that they can sugeest things you didn't even know you wanted (and probably wouldn't have ever have wanted.
Combine that with the fact that this doesn't just stop at product placement. It becomes all to easy for a malicious company to feed you news and opinion meant to make you feel a certain way or sway your opinion. It gives corporations way too much power over the thoughts and opinions you have on a day-to-day basis and makes you powerless against them.
And before you say, "I'm a smart, well-rounded person and would not be susceptible to those things," literally everyone is susceptible. There's no outsmarting them if you play their game. The only way to win is through digital privacy.
I'll admit I'm susceptible to having the internet change my opinion on something. I'll just have to make sure I'm careful where I get my news.
I think that's reasonable. As bullish as my response was, in the end, we all have our priorities and I think its's totally fair to value convenience as long as you understand what that convenience really means. Taking mitigations to get your news using platforms that don't rely on algorithms to provide what will delight or infuriate you is a step in the right direction.
But you don't have to see ads. You do know that right?
Go read about the red scare(s). Is it that hard to imagine a politician with a rabid following accusing some group of people of being “disloyal” and starting a witch hunt to destroy the reputations and careers of the people who fall under that umbrella? It is truly scary to think what McCarthy could have accomplished if he could have subpoenaed Google’s data.