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Cory Doctorow On Privacy and Oversharing

Posted by timothy on from the open-book dept.

slash-sa writes with a link to an opinion piece from Cory Doctorow that begins: "The European Parliament is currently involved in a wrangle over the new General Data Protection Regulation. At stake are the future rules for online privacy, data mining, big data, governmental spying (by proxy), to name a few. Hundreds of amendments and proposals are on the table, including some that speak of relaxing the rules on sharing data that has been "anonymised" (had identifying information removed) or "pseudonymised" (had identifiers replaced with pseudonyms). This is, however, a very difficult business, with researchers showing how relatively simple techniques can be used to re-identify the data in large anonymised data sets, by picking out the elements of each record that make them unique."

10 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookies by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cory's site has 7 tracking services that track you every time you logon to his site, and correlate with a multitude of sites that also track everywhere you go online. I would think if you're going to promote digital privacy, the first thing you would do is remove the four google tracking systems installed on your website.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
    1. Re:Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookies by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not sure if I would classify that as "his site". He's one of many bloggers. His site, only seems to block 2 cookies (using ghostery), and they are twitter and wordpress stats. I would classify those as at least not completely terrible. That being said, My browser reported blocking 9 things from Boing Boing. That's just a little bit crazy. It's probably one of the highest number of blocks that I've seen a "legitimate" site.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookies by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Informative

      He's listed on the Masthead as a founding member. I don't know what better credentials are needed to call it "his site". Should I have said "his commercial site" and then in subtext mentioned "his personal blog"?

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    3. Re:Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookies by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah I had to say the irony is moist and delicious when the guy banging the drum for Internet privacy has the largest number of red flags from PrivDog I have ever seen at 10, hell the porn sites don't have that much damned tracking!

      Ya know as much as I hate RMS that is one thing I'll give him credit for, i went to his website and there is ZERO tracking going on, it was 100% tracker free. I found that refreshing and it was nice to see there are still some that walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    4. Re:Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookies by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I'm not sure if I would classify that as "his site". He's one of many bloggers. His site, only seems to block 2 cookies (using ghostery), and they are twitter and wordpress stats."

      He blogs there, it's his site. There is no reason to split hairs. He is famous enough, he can blog wherever he damned well pleases, and he pleases to do it on Boing Boing. So it's "his site". Or where he chooses to blog.

      Having said that, there are at least 7 javascript libraries on the site, 2 that appear on Ghostery, that are potential trackers, and some of them are definitely trackers.

      And yes, hypocrisy applies here.

  2. Re:Why? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A massive dataset for use in research, for one. Be that purely academic research, or statistical analysis for marketing usage.

  3. Re: Cory's site (boingboing) has 7 tracking cookie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    What? You mean a writer on boing boing is a hypocrite when it comes to privacy and censorship issues? Shocking.......

  4. Facebook by hoboroadie · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you overshare, then every script-kiddie on the planet will be able to hack your life.
    No law available to our Fearless Leaders can prevent abuse of the system by our National Security Industry. Forget about any sort of reigning in of the God-given Rights of our Owners.
    Vote as if it mattered. Ha-Haa!

    --
    They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
  5. European Parliament by manu0601 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is worth noting that this topic is among the "codecision" matters for which the EU parliament has a word to say. But even in that case it is still long away from being a real parliament. The European Commission proposed the initial draft, and it can strip the amendment voted by the parliament (it already happened). Moreover the parliament will have to agree with the European council, which is made of member states' government representative, and acts as a upper house in the EU framework.

  6. building a public personna by anomalous+cohort · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I remember when facebook got big enough that I finally decided to create an account there. Not because I wanted to share private details of my life with my friends. Because the FB audience was big enough that I felt compelled to have some representation there. What my timeline displays is what I call a public profile. Think of it as the linked in for hobbies and vacation travel. Don't publish anything that wouldn't hold up in a criminal investigation. I'm not saying lie. Remember Andy Warhol's now famous "15 minutes of fame" quote? Well, famous people need a PR manager. In today's "15 minutes of fame" world, everyone needs their own DIY PR manager. Think like a PR manager before you post.