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by cloudsinthesky 2668 days ago
> No one cares who you are, they are just trying to sell ad space.

That's not true at all. GP comment referenced the fact that foreign companies get the data and then manipulate public opinion by spreading lies in a targeted manner, with the direct goal of cheating elections to get far-right, fascist governments in power globally.

> What am I really losing though by allowing access?

We have a lot to lose here. We already lost our democracy. At least temporarily.

> No one cares who you are

Yeah, they do. They care because that gives them power. We know humans like power and we know it is corrupting.

Your posts are spreading dangerous lies. The ad space is not some innocent thing. It is insidious and threatens democracy, with tyrants and dictators already taking over countries with the help of 'innocent ad space' that 'nobody really cares about'.

3 comments

You've hit on the most nefarious part of all of it. People say they have nothing to hide, I don't doubt it. What they should be concerned about though is the constant, targeted stream of disinformation.

It's one thing when it's a detergent that is claiming to make your clothes whiter, it's another altogether when it's messages suggesting you might also want a whiter neighborhood.

Perhaps even that they believe that they have nothing to hide is, itself, a result of a disinformation campaign.
The asymmetry (power imbalance) bothers me.

People are profiting from my data. All that activity is unknowable to me.

How is that fair?

If I don't get any privacy, then no one else gets any privacy either.

Alternately, establish that everything knowable about me is mine and gimme my cut.

This is the entire issue: it is not "what you have to hide", it is the fact that you have to hide your identity, your location, your associations, your language and every minute bit of information about yourself to receive unbiased information.
Correct - this stuff "doesn't matter" only if what people think doesn't matter.