[cootsnuck]

> I don't want to plug in a cool person's info without knowing who the info is being sold to.

Have we reached peak data privacy paranoia? Harmless lil projects that harken back to the good ol' days of the internet are somehow actually devious PII honeypots?

Why do people think their data is so valuable on its own without being connected to their actual consumer related behavior? Truly, what is a name and address worth vs. anonymous user on smart TV id_8z6748dxzh watched 3 hours of Hoarders on Amazon Prime, skipped 85% of ads, but did not skip 50% of ads relating to early onset male pattern baldness, and resides in Ohio?

We somehow both overestimate and underestimate the value of our personal data. Which leads to unwarranted paranoia in inappropriate contexts and alarming indifference in the most common but mundane contexts.

[kynetic]

The privacy policy on the website specifically states that they are collecting the PII and may use it to offer products or services, either by themselves or via a "business partner".

It isn't paranoia when the threat is real.

> We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.

> To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.

[walterbell]

> Harmless lil projects

Currently: a letter choosing formal legal vocabulary (/s) to create social network metadata, endorse human activity ("you'd like the recipient to continue doing"), disclose someone else's physical address and record the interaction in the national postal system.

Future, https://continueandpersist.org/terms-of-service-privacy-poli...

  We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

  For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.

  With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.

[davidron]

The name and address is valuable because it can be matched to offline behavior through a bill you pay or rewards membership you are enrolled in to further enrich the data associated with id_8z6748dxzh and combine it with your shopping history at Macy's and Safeway, for instance. This is even more valuable when combined with your cellular bill.

I've work in ad tech,and with CDPs for nearly 20 years.

[brookst]

Why wouldn’t they just buy name and address in bulk from one of the many providers that has essentially all of our info?

[heysammy]

It's easier to target Hackernewses by advertising on their own site.

[BubbleRings]

I have to agree with cootsnuck here. If you are one of the people that found it necessary to raise red flags in these comments about this web site, here’s why I think you got your level of paranoia wrong in this case:

1. The site was never going to scale. The guys are printing physical letters and hand-inserting them in envelopes with stamps, for free!

2. So some entrepreneurial folks on the internet have gathered a hundred physical addresses, and they know a self-reported name and IP address, and maybe some persistent cookie info about a human that might be the first person’s friend. So what? Go bring up https://www.beenverified.com You can gather more info there in 15 minutes than the Continue and Persist guys will get over their whole project.

3. Learn to recognize a fun project that was done out of kindness and a spirit of adventure! Yeah maybe they should have not put up the language of “we get to sell your data if somebody offers to buy our web site”. But so what! The whole thing is just a kind adventure that brought a smile to the faces of some strangers, and will never be more than that. I appreciate it!

[krisoft]

> The guys are printing physical letters and hand-inserting them in envelopes with stamps

These things can be done at massive scales cheaply.

> for free!

That increases my level of concern, not decreases.

> Yeah maybe they should have not put up the language of “we get to sell your data if somebody offers to buy our web site”.

Maybe? What the heck do they need the data for a second after they sent the envelope?

> But so what!

So they don’t get my friends addresses. So that.

> The whole thing is just a kind adventure that brought a smile to the faces of some strangers, and will never be more than that.

You say that. But that is at contention here.

[walterbell]

> printing physical letters

After collecting data content for the physical letters with a commercial survey/marketing website.

[brookst]

100%

As insidious as data harvesting is, I am even less of a fan of the pearl clutching / performative cynicism that is so popular these days.

Why yes, when I say “good morning” to the barista who hands my my coffee, it is possible that the shop is recording me and will use my voice in an elaborate voice cloning scam to get grandma to transfer her life savings to Nigeria.

But breathlessly alerting me to this impending disaster and soberly advising me to never use my voice in public is not going to impress me.

[heysammy]

I can't think of a better example of gaslighting, wow.

[BubbleRings]

Care to elaborate?

[LoveMortuus]

There are so many apps there days that collect all your personal data with so many promises but after you've spent like half an hour signing up and giving them all of your data, they smack you in the face with a pay wall...

I find this so annoying and to a point even criminal, as it's basically a scam, but App Stores do nothing about it, even if you report the apps.

[dudeinjapan]

It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you.

[a96]

They are out to get everyone.

[handfuloflight]

This specific service will know who your friends are. And if enough people used it... they might have to reincorporate in California.

[neilv]

> Have we reached peak data privacy paranoia? Harmless lil projects that harken back to the good ol' days of the internet are somehow actually devious PII honeypots?

Safe assumptions with most any "tech" industry company or individual now are that they will behave completely like sociopaths when it comes to personal data.

It's so baked into "tech" culture now, even people who may be ethically inclined don't recognize it as a problem.

So I object to blaming the victim, or gaslighting, suggesting that people who are aware of this crisis of widespread antisocial behavior are being paranoid.

[brookst]

I’m old enough to remember the white pages, where essentially everyone’s name, phone number, and address were published and distributed.

But it’s hard to have a conversation about appropriate calibration of what is private, and what are reasonable expectations, when extremists from both pro-privacy and scorched-earth commerce are so strident.

[heysammy]

It was a lot harder to SWAT people when the White Pages existed. American society was much higher-trust then; people didn't show up to pizza parlors with assault rifles because of something they read online.

You'll have to forgive those of us who simply want to remain safe.

[neilv]

Mafia Enforcer: "It's hard to have a conversation about what's an appropriate level of protection racket, when you're always screaming about your kneecaps being smashed. I'm reaching out to you to talk, but I just can't take you seriously when you're behaving like this."

[FollowingTheDao]

It is not only the value of my personal data, but it is the fact that they are hiding their intent behind some feel good wishy washy do nothing campaign that will only lead to more pollution and CO2 being released for the sake of makeing money without actually producing anything.

What we have reached is peak neoliberalism.