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by applfanboysbgon 42 days ago
> Why would I expect that the website would not try to figure out who I am?

For the same reason I expect my neighbor not to kill me or steal my shit. We live in a society, with societal expectations around behaviour. I, personally, would prefer not to live in an uncivilized jungle where the only rule is "do whatever you can get away with".
1 comments
cortesoft 42 days ago
“Kill me and steal my shit” is a lot different.

This is more like, I am not offended if my neighbor notices that I leave my house around the same time everyday and come home around the same time. I don’t expect my neighbor to look away when I step outside. If I put something in my yard visible from their house, I won’t get offended if they look at it.

Killing and stealing are completely different things than “paying attention to what I do when I am doing things they can see”

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tardedmeme 42 days ago
Are you offended if your neighbor publishes a register of what time everyone around him goes to work, and charges $50 for any burglar to get a copy?
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cortesoft 41 days ago
What are the 'burglars' in this metaphor? Are you saying ad companies are burglars? Or hackers? Or who?
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applfanboysbgon 41 days ago
If we want to make the metaphor a little more faithful: the neighbor tracking what time everyone is home is selling it to door-to-door salesmen who use that information to harass you. Meanwhile, both the guy tracking it and the door-to-door salesmen are leaving copies of the information in the open. They aren't directly selling it to burglars[1], but they are making it extremely accessible to burglars, who then use that information to rob you. There is a data breach every other day, with companies and people routinely getting extorted and in some cases victims have killed themselves. This is a direct result of the unethical behaviour of hoovering up a permanent record of everyone's every last little action, far beyond what is necessary to provide any service.

[1] Although some data brokers do sell it directly to burglars too. All the burglar has to do is say "I'm a door-to-door salesman, will you sell me the information?". Your neighbor can't be bothered to do any kind of real verification of whether they're a salesman or a burglar.

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