[obelix_]

The fix is not complicated. I have no issue with my search data/post viewing history providing me better results or better ads.

The real damaging data to people and society at large is a different set of data. It's the publicly visible counts next to every thought and utterance reinforcing misguided beliefs and behaviour up and down the food chain constantly. Any experienced shrink, psycologist or educator, marketing/PR expert knows applying the right amount of feedback at the right time is critical to how people process info.

Remove/delay/reduce the visibility of like counts/view counts/upvotes/retweet counts that are displayed and the world will be a different place overnight.

[frgtpsswrdlame]

>I have no issue with my search data/post viewing history providing me better results or better ads. The real damaging data to people and society at large is a different set of data.

Hmm, I disagree. It seems to me that both sources of data are dangerous. Yes, showing "You have 10 likes" is bad for users as social media companies iterate their way towards addiction but your search data is a toxic asset beyond just showing ads. Let's say google leaked everyone's search history tomorrow. How many marriages are going to be ruined? How many politicians are going to resign? How many future politicians will decide to never run? How many firings and never-hirings will there be based on that history?

People should be able to live normal lives without being surveilled - by governments or corporations.

[komali2]

What if the opposite happened? What if we all suddenly had undeniable confirmation that shitloads of people watch mannequin porn, and so fuck it, why be embarrassed by it?

[frgtpsswrdlame]

It doesn't seem to work that way. When Ashley Madison leaked did people stand up and go "whoa millions of men are trying to cheat on their spouses, maybe we shouldn't be embarrassed about this"? No, they said "whoa there are millions of fucked up men."

What about when all those celebrity nudies leaked? Did people stand up and say "maybe taking and sending nude photos isn't something we should be embarrassed about"? No, they said "look at this crazy photo of <Celebrity>!"

[rexpop]

No, we said, "whoa, there are millions more fucked up men."

[majewsky]

You have a very optimistic model of people.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Not necessarily. If literally everybody is open to the same level of scrutiny of their lives, how quick will they be to judge others, lest they in turn be judged?

[breatheoften]

I think its more likely that the judgement will spread in a highly non-uniform manner that reflected existing social biases with some people being vastly more negatively affected by having their secrets exposed than others.

Given equal access to the sources of shame of all three, would we really expect society to apply equal judgement standards to a mother, a billionaire asshole white guy, and a black guy from the inner city?

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

How is that kind of bias mitigated by privacy though?

[rabidrat]

Very quick, it turns out. Judging others is a deflective tactic against being judged yourself. "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" is great spiritual wisdom but most people don't abide by it.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

That's sorta my point. If no one had any privacy, then any time you judge others you open yourself to being judged. It's like punching someone in the face, you could do it but they'll probably punch you back.

So yeah, maybe you could make a big deal about congressman so-and-so having a diaper fetish or whatever, but then people will probably want to look into your porn browsing history.

[blattimwind]

Broadly speaking, prejudice can be and often is (much) stronger than family ties, even if the perceived misdeed does not impact the family.

How well do you expect things to go if you move these sorts of situations into a context without any kind of strong, positive emotional bond?

A liberal society works not because things are allowed, but because people don't know. (And are taught to not stick their noise into other people's business).

[antpls]

> How many marriages are going to be ruined?

Not many, considering marriages are less popular among young people nowadays.

> How many politicians are going to resign?

Not many, considering older politicians maybe don't spent their time on internet, and younger politicians are aware of the state of privacy on internet

> How many future politicians will decide to never run?

Maybe we will discover than many more people are "cleaner" than we thought, and will become influencers

> How many firings and never-hirings will there be based on that history?

That's a good point. However, the mega-corporation isn't 100% of the employment. Small enterprises and freelancer just want the work to be done and get pay, without wondering about who did what in their lives.

As another comment said, maybe watching porn and being interested in more than one partner isn't that bad after all. It only shows the dumbness of the artificial rules older authorities (such as religion, army, states, etc) imposed on crowd to keep control on them.

Edit : anyway, I support the idea of a private internet space for everyone, where people can express their ideas and experience with new concepts without fearing retribution. Words don't kill people.

[snarf21]

I think that this is the solution. Remove the count and who of the likes. You can still show the fact that someone liked it for some stickiness but you remove race to post only to generate likes but rather to share a point of view.