Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How Is It Even Legal For Websites To Gather And Sell Users' Data?
Long-time Slashdot reader dryriver sees it like this:
Lets say that I follow a person named John D. around for days without permission, make note of what John D. does and where he buys with timestamps accurate to the second without John D. knowing it is happening, analyze what kind of personality traits John D. has, enter that data into an electronic database where it is stored forever, and also make the data purchaseable to any third party who is interested.
Would I be breaking the law if John D. has not given me explicit permission to do this? Very likely. If this is the case for "meatspace data gathering", how can websites justify gathering information about visitors, and selling that information to third parties?
How would you answer this question? Attempt your own best explantions in the comments. How is your country balancing the need for online privacy with actual laws governing what can and can't be collected?
How is it even legal for web sites to gather and sell users' data?
Would I be breaking the law if John D. has not given me explicit permission to do this? Very likely. If this is the case for "meatspace data gathering", how can websites justify gathering information about visitors, and selling that information to third parties?
How would you answer this question? Attempt your own best explantions in the comments. How is your country balancing the need for online privacy with actual laws governing what can and can't be collected?
How is it even legal for web sites to gather and sell users' data?
Lets say that I follow a person named John D. around for days without permission, make note of what John D. does and where he buys with timestamps accurate to the second without John D. knowing it is happening, analyze what kind of personality traits John D. has, enter that data into an electronic database where it is stored forever, and also make the data purchaseable to any third party who is interested.
That sounds a bit like a private detective, with the exception that they typically work for a specific client.
Also, if you stop to think about it, going to a website it like going to some person's private establishment. I'm visiting their server, so it's their rules. Stores no doubt track my purchases, and some even have cameras on presence that record my every action. If I have a problem with it, I can take my business elsewhere.
Sure, terms of service could be more explicit, but most people wouldn't bother to read them or would just click through like they did when they signed up for a Facebook account or half of the other shit they use online.
What makes you think any of what you described in 'meatspace' is illegal? It's not, in the US, anyway. PERHAPS could be considered under harassment or stalking laws if it was very blatent, but if you are in public, you are subject to anyone recording/photographing you and what you are doing, pretty much.
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow...
Imagine you phonecall a company and say:
Send me a travelling Salesperson, please. Or a delivery service and say, please deliver a newspaper to my office.
They answer: "sure, but there are some conditions for that convenience, please, for the next 8 minutes listen carefully to them."
You do not listen, instead, put the phone on the table, set your watch to 7 minutes, and go brew a tea.
You return, and when the operator asks: "Do you agree to our terms?" You say "yes"
It turns out that the terms include the salesperson or deliveryperson staying in your office long after the transaction is concluded (you place your order or get your newspaper), taking notes of many of the things you do, correlating those notes with those of other delivery companies/salespeople/third parties and a long and creepy et cetera.
But hey, you neglected to hear the terms of their service, because those terms were boring, and instead you went for tea.
Having corrected the analogy used by dryriver, the correct question to ask slashdot is:
Are the terms of service used by most websites even legal?
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
The submitter seems to have some misunderstanding about how law works. "Very likely illegal"? What law would be violated? The submitter doesn't seem to quite understand that laws are written down, and given numbers for easy reference. For example, web sites must comply with US Code 2257. Unless the submitter can point to USC [number], they have a *feeling*, not a law.
I used to work as a private investigator and I did follow people. I had to be very diligent about documenting what I saw, because a PI is not supposed to tell the client or court what they *think*, only exactly what they *saw*. As a PI, I couldn't say "he's boning his secretary". I had to say "at 6:35 PM the subject entered hotel room #123 with a blonde woman of medium height. Both parties left the hotel room at 7:40". I can't speculate about what they did in the hotel room (could be discussing his campaign for governor of Arkansas), so I have to be specific about what I saw to allow others to decide how to interpret the facts.