Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by villish 8 days ago
and yet you use american sites and services like this one, where you freely give even more personal data than fingerprints like your interests, thoughts, and more!

I see comments like this all over hackernews but the truth is you actually don't care. You have a choice to not use HN/Reddit/YouTube/whatever but here you are.
3 comments
shiandow 8 days ago
The value was always in the connection not any individual datum.

Besides, I choose what information I link to this identity do I not? You're welcome to my views and their connection to each other. Doesn't mean I want you to know everything else.

link
villish 8 days ago
What is more personal than the contents of your mind? Each interaction and comment is a piece of information which when combined is much more revealing about you than fingerprints.

It's not as personal as your diary, but it is the closest thing to it.

link
shiandow 7 days ago
You're free to know me, but not where I live. It's not hard to see the difference in types of personal information.
link
villish 7 days ago
I see what you're saying but I just disagree that those things are more personal. I don't think it would be difficult for any western government to find where you live from your name. Especially when combined with information you share online.

Don't get me wrong I would absolutely prefer a world where everyone is guaranteed privacy and governments would need a courts permission to even look up your phone number. It just will never exist and the only thing truly private is our thoughts.

link
ThePowerOfFuet 6 days ago
>and yet you use american sites and services like this one, where you freely give even more personal data than fingerprints like your interests, thoughts, and more!

There is no PII attached to my account. Even the email won't help.

Go on, find another account of mine anywhere.

link
villish 6 days ago
Your ip, browser fingerprint, if using Windows the unique id attached to your pc, and more would be used to identify you across the internet.

You're anonymous to me. That doesn't mean you're anonymous to motivated government agencies.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-mass-unmask-...

link
bigyabai 8 days ago
This is a bad-faith conflation of personal data with openly-shared information. It's not contradictory at all to use HN if you're disgusted by the analytics of Reddit or X.
link