[vorpalhex]

I normally am a big fan of stratechery but I couldn't disagree more, especially in the reality of how data is collected and SOLD.

Analytics packages do tie things to individual consumers and while that may not be useful to the company compiling the data, it does get sold that way. And yes, I can tell you there are companies that crawl through individual level data and use it for everything from very targeted marketing to basically scams and illegal uses.

Also the issue comes that many companies have garbage security. Even if they don't intend to abuse or sell the data, it will almost certainly walk off and become public. All the good intent of stopping child exploitation won't fix your world open S3 bucket. Oh and once it's leaked? Yeah, it'll get packaged and resold.

The idea that we need to invade privacy to stop crime is hilarious. We stopped crime before the internet and we will continue to stop it. One thing the article gets wrong is that it's automated scanning that stops child pornography - while that does limit reuploads, most pedophile rings producing and selling content are busted by.. detective work and flipping insiders. Yeah it's great to stop reuploads but that doesn't stop the original crime - arresting the people creating and selling content does.

Data once collected can't be uncollected. The genie doesn't go back into the bottle. Already we're seeing the EU try to crack down on freedom of speech - and right now that might be against undesirables like Nazis and anti-semites, but it will be turned against others like it always has before. Already we've seen people protesting against police be targeted through this kind of data targeting, and there was that whole Belarus/Telegram incident.