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Your Data Footprint Is Affecting Your Life In Ways You Can't Even Imagine (fastcoexist.com)
An anonymous reader cites the following excerpts from a FastCoExist article: Innocently clicking on a link results in ad targeting that's hard to shake and our purchases quickly reveal more information than we intend, such as the infamous example of Target knowing a woman is pregnant before she's told her family -- and before she's purchased any baby products. [...] Predictions about you are deeply shaping your life in ways of which you are probably blissfully unaware. Predictions about you (and millions of other strangers) are starting to deeply shape your life. Your career, your love life, major decisions about your health and well-being, and even if you end up in jail, are now being governed in no small part by the digital bread crumbs you've left behind -- many of which you don't even know you've dropped in the first place.
Only buy routine items online. For anything that requires a bit of discretion, buy it at a physical store with cash.
They appear where? Oh, wait, *that's* what the ABP icon in my toolbar is saying - its been there so long I'd kinda gotten used to it. I must have become ad-blocker blind, if such a convoluted concept exists.
I use plugins like Ghostery or similar to block this tracking, and of course an adblocker to block every ad that gets through anyway. On this page alone I block Doubleclick and 2 Google ad widgets.
Breadcrumbs make for lousy trail markers. That's the whole point of that story.
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
And yet....we can't seem to track down and prosecute those scumbags who try to scam old people and other tech novices on the Internet. Most scammers know there is little or no chance of them getting caught or facing some kind of consequences for lying and cheating to get money online.
Adam Smith, the "father of economics" and one of the original theorists of capitalism, believed that capitalism worked because each participant in the marketplace had an approximately equal capacity with respect to other participants to understand the value which he was exchanging with others. Some people are more clever, or have better memories, or are simply more industrious, but on the whole we are all human beings, and our ability to know more than another has an upper bound.
That's not true of machine learning. There is no upper bound. Under surveillance capitalism, there is no limit to what the large companies can know about what you know, can monitor what you do, and can predict what you want. And as long as we remain human, that upper bound on large, corporate control of human beings will only get greater.
If I need to see ads (or I have been too lazy to block them), I guess I would rather see ads for tech related stuff or other things I have searched for; than have to see a bunch of ads for things like feminine hygiene products.
Amazon keeps trying to get me to switch to a amazon business account.
Who knows might be useful but I still don't see how its would be a improvement over prime.
Paypal sends me an offer for paypal credit at least once a month. No I don't want an extra 6 months to pay.
And ebay is now sending me ad's for crap I don't want that's not even related to anything i've looked at what's this new mystery deal thing? Oh lookie it's a roomba what would I do with that?
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
It's not just ads: financial companies track your transactions, and by default, they share your information with "partners." Scroll through your credit card usage, and you can quickly imagine how your trips to Starbucks can be used to build a valuable profile. To opt out, they make you mail a paper form because they hope you will be too lazy to find a stamp. Of course, Facebook tracks everything.
I had a talk with a person a while ago about that scenario where I took the Devil's Advocate side of the discussion. Is it really such a horrible thing that Target knows before the family? The lady obviously knows, and it's her secret to tell, so what's the big deal with Target keeping the secret?
I mean, before big data and big stores, the same clerk might have seen you buy the pregnancy test and then the next day see you buy prenatal vitamins. If it was a small town, even if it wasn't the same cashier, their might be enough gossip to connect the two and then they would know before pretty much anyone else. Before that, it might be your bank processing checks, or the credit card company, or whatever. That particular example wasn't super-secret stuff that only a big computer with big data could have figured out.
The point of it was that it's likely always been this way for a number of things, and is that scenario really any different than the many that played out before big data? I get that big data can do a lot more and be scarier, but this particular example just doesn't make me cringe about the power of big data...
I've read the first article before, it's actually a great one. But it's from 2012, get a clue.
That would likely be why the summery (and the story) refer to it as infamous (def: well known for some bad quality or deed.), indicating that most people have heard of/read/or are aware of the story and view the incident in a negative light.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
But you're okay with paying for that person to be housed, fed, and receive medical services in the jail? I'm pretty sure just subsidizing the health care is cheaper than all that...
The huge difference is the global reach of the corporations and their infinite permanent memory. The old clerk may have seen you purchase a couple of items and may have put two and two together. But, they could never see what you were looking at everywhere you went in town, the next town, on vacation in Italy... They could never remember everything you bought from your babies conception to his college graduation and beyond.
The scale, the permanency, the ease of access, the inability to threaten the clerk should they not mind their own business... It's a whole new ballgame and it sucks.
Yes, but is it deeply shaping my life? That's not clear.
my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
Only buy routine items online. For anything that requires a bit of discretion, buy it at a physical store with cash.
Almost all stores have in-store security cameras, and facial recognition software has reached the point where, unless you wear a ski mask when you shop, you can almost certainly be identified. Add to that parking lot cameras that can see your license plates and you might as well give up trying to be anonymous. To make matters worse, as people buy more and more online, brick-and-mortar stores are dropping like flies. Just try to find that book you want to buy at a major bookstore near you. Wait, what major bookstore near you? It's even harder to find all but the most popular CDs, DVDs, BluRays etc., except online. In another generation it will probably be absolutely impossible to buy anything anonymously. Some countries have even gone cashless, so for them, it's already impossible.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
You are more than welcome to cite evidence supporting the idea that there is massive voter fraud going on and that advanced voter verification techniques are necessary and effective in correcting the problem. Until then, I would just assume not hand over any more tax dollars for programs which provide no benefit.
Rather, it's how it is used
The assumption that correlation implies causation is a common mistake. Real analysis, with a going in assumption the data is incomplete and inaccurate and thus any conclusions must be viewed as suspect is what's needed. Being able to keep competing hypothesis in one's mind and not blindly believing in the data is key to using it properly. Simply accepting the results because it's what the computer said is a pathetic to ruin. It's simply an extension of the cashier who says " Yes, that TV is a dollar because etaht's waht my computer disguised as a cash register says it is and tghus I cannot question it.
An anecdotal example where big data is useful is something I was involved in years ago. Some researchers were collecting data (sound of screeching tires, brake lights coming on, at intersections to predict where traffic engineers needed to focus efforts on making intersections safer before a bad crash occurred. The engineers had to use their knowledge and experience to determine how to make the intersection safer, not just put more cops writing tickets at them. They also looked at "safe" intersections to see if events bore out the analysis.
It's when you take out the human's judgement from the analysis that you run into problems.
Or in Target's case, when you fail to consider the potential ramifications of acting on the data.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Think about what they know about you for once and how much you like that. Here's an example.
Every day, I go through your trash. All of it. And I note everything down. I watch how long you shower. How much hand lotion and kleenex you're using. What your favorite shows are. Who you talked to. For how long. WHO THE FUCK IS THAT WOMAN ANYWAYS, HUH? ... ahem. Also everything you eat. How much you pooped back out. What your fetishes are. What your turn-offs are. Where your daughter goes to school. How much hand lotion and kleenex SHE'S using oh there's pictures (by the way would you like to see that phone?) Also all your credit card information. Where you were driving. How fast you were driving. How many abortions you don't know about your wife (and daughter, by the way would you like to see the pictures on that phone?) have had, in particular those while you were out of town for a few weeks that couldn't possibly have coincided with any kind of sex *you* had with wifey. How SMALL (yes, we've checked what you're actually using) your condoms are. What STD's you've had. And I will never forget any of it.
So who am I?
A lone indivdual doing this? Then I'm the main antagonist of many shitty horror movies ain't I? Gonna go to jail, hello sex offender registry, and hopefully they never let me out, right?
But I have nothing to fear, for instead, I'm SELLING AND GIVING AND EXCHANGING all of this information with *anyone else* who'd ever want to ask, for profit (and also to blackmail you, say, ever were to try to sue me or otherwise take issue with my dealings) or whatever goals or influence I wish for, and therefore, as I am a corporation, and that information won't even die with a physical body like that guy rotting in solitary, what I do is totally okay!
Isn't it? You seem to think it is.
There's less evidence to support significant voter fraud than there is to support significant election fraud and voter suppression.
I hope one of the things Donald Trump does when he's in office is to start implementing the electoral system that America deserves, not this farce
Hah! I'm sure he'd tell you he will, even though it won't be under his purview. In fact, he might even think he's telling the truth (for a change) in that case because he probably does not know the office of the president doesn't have the authority over that.
Someone had to do it.
True. That's one aspect. Privacy is always a balance between self and community. But what do you reveal, to whom, and who has the power to decide...
Your point is made by Janna Malamud Smith, Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life
That's the book PJ recommended when she stopped Groklaw, I picked it up because of that, and wasn't disappointed. Very readable, well argued, and a couple good thoughts on private vs. public
It disappoints me that I had to scroll down this far. The headline and the summary are absolutely fucking useless.
I don't lend much credibility to this - it sounds far too ominous and sensationalist. I mean, how can I take serious a claim that "They" whoever they are, can "Deeply Affect" everybody's life, when I on a daily basis see how ineptly information is beings handled by nearly all players? These people don't seem able to find their own backsides with two hands and a guide dog. Apart from that - I assume we are talking (yet again) about the overhyped "Incredible Powers of Advertising"? People are perfectly able to ignore the crap; I have spam filters that work well, I have adblockers, noscript and others, and I have a recycling bin by my front door for printed adverts, which I discard out of hand, un-opened.
I think this kind of stories are a relic of the sizties or seventies, when advertisers actually believed in their imaginings. The trend now is that they are struggling, not least because companies are losing faith in the value. Hopefully it will go completely away soon.
What about advanced electoral forensics and analysis?
This is the only part of your rant that deserves recognition. Electronic voting machines without a paper trail are not to be trusted. With the shenanigans that have gone on since at least 2000, we need to be double checking the vote tallies and results.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
A throwback to the horse-and-buggy era.
That's funny. The U.S. Constitution was written 240 years ago when the horse-and-buggy were still popular.
I hope one of the things Donald Trump does when he's in office is to start implementing the electoral system that America deserves, not this farce.
A new electoral system would have to be approved by two-thirds of Congress and two-thirds of the states. Good luck with that. The Constitution was designed to be difficult to update. The 27th amendment (congressional salaries), the last amendment approved, took over 202 years to get approval.
There have been districts with >100% voter turn out as recently as last election, but I guess the dead voting is normal to you.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
There have been districts with >100% voter turn out as recently as last election, but I guess the dead voting is normal to you.
feel free to post an example, but meanwhile: "Q: Is it true that there were more votes than voters in Wood County, Ohio, and St. Lucie County, Fla., and that Obama lost every state with photo ID laws?
A: No. A viral email that makes those claims is bogus. It fabricates Ohio and Florida results. Also, Obama won four of the 11 states with photo ID laws." http://www.factcheck.org/2013/...
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
I cannot attest for the accuracy as I didn't look into any of the sources:
http://www.redstate.com/aarong...
https://www.commentarymagazine...
http://lwv.org/blog/georgia-ex... (indicates it was people listed in the wrong district/going to the wrong district)
https://www.truthorfiction.com... (some claims true, most false, but the true ones are very interesting)
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
We have all this technology to do advanced tracking, consumer prediction, ad-targeting, etc. Advanced. Hyper-advanced.
Yet - watching the primary elections occurring on America - and all elections for that matter - our electoral system is a fucking farce. A complete fucking farce. A throwback to the horse-and-buggy era.
Where is the biometric voter verification? What about advanced electoral forensics and analysis?
Its this way because - because of the massive farce - because the corrupt mostly Democrat-controlled political machines across the country want it that way. They want no voter verification. They want the 20 million illegals who flooded into the country to vote. They don't care about ballot-box stuffing in the precinct centers in the 'hood where the voter turnouts would otherwise be around 10%.
Its time to call BS on America's electoral system.
We have all this advanced technology, and *this* is the voting system we have?!? AYFKM?
I hope one of the things Donald Trump does when he's in office is to start implementing the electoral system that America deserves, not this farce.
even fox news disagrees.
"Several states adopted new laws last year requiring that people show a photo ID when they come to vote even though the kind of election fraud that the laws are intended to stamp out is rare."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/24/voter-id-laws-target-rarely-occurring-voter-fraud.html
"Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.
Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html?_r=0
"Claim: List cites instances proving voter fraud in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
FALSE"
http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/2012fraud.asp
"Summary of eRumor: "This is a forwarded email that cited alleged instances of voter fraud during the 2012 presidential election in an effort to prove voter ID laws are necessary.
The Truth: This eRumor contains a mix of accurate and false data that fails to prove there was widespread voter fraud during the 2012 election."
https://www.truthorfiction.com/2012-voter-fraud/
"Like many of you, our eyebrows raised when we first read this headline out of Georgia: “Fulton election results show more than 100% turnout in 4 precincts.” The culprit causing strange turnout during this primary election? Confusion at the polls over newly redistricted precincts. Because Fulton County failed to revise their voter rolls in time, many voters were erroneously listed in the wrong districts and thus showed up at the wrong place to vote."
http://lwv.org/blog/georgia-exceeds-100-voter-turnout
"A new nationwide analysis of 2,068 alleged election-fraud cases since 2000 shows that while fraud has occurred, the rate is infinitesimal, and in-person voter impersonation on Election Day, which prompted 37 state legislatures to enact or consider tough voter ID laws, is virtually non-existent."
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/11/13236464-new-database-of-us-voter-fraud-finds-no-evidence-that-photo-id-laws-are-needed
"Debunking The Conservative Media's 2014 Voter Fraud Horror Stories" http://mediamatters.org/resear...
"7 papers, 4 government inquiries, 2 news investigations and 1 court ruling proving voter fraud is mostly a myth"
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.