Then I guess you never use credit or debit cards, never use a speedpass to gas up, never apply for a loan, never use a bank, never go to school, never work, never pay taxes, never get sick, no driver's license... Congratulations, you're dead!
Comparing the internet to a flush toilet is ironic - most of the internet could be flushed and nobody would notice.
I have two sisters who have NEVER used the internet, and never will. They're doing just fine without it, but they'd sure notice if there was no toilet.
And yes, by using the Internet, you have agreed to any side effects, such as wasted time, etc., and the risk of malware. I was off the net for quite a while because I couldn't see well enough to use a computer. More than a year, and it wasn't "highly impractical" at all. You get used to it quickly.
If you can't do without it, you're addicted, and need to get a live.
ANY action counts. I used to write the code for the server for one ad-serving search engine, so I probably know the field better than you, because I've heard all the bullsh*t from marketing and sales that they were giving customers.
It's all about cost per action - whether it's a click, an order, or whatever the ad buyer is paying for, and the metrics are clear - cpa is less than half what it was a year ago because it's no longer delivering the results it used to. People have in large part become ad-blind, especially on the internet. Also, for votes you cannot tell - people lie all the time, and their actual vote is secret. If you've ever actually participated in an election or three, you'd know that.
And yet micro-targeting no longer is all that effective because it's not resulting in more user actions - they're going down, not up. So it's your claim that is demonstrably false. That's not false confidence - that's fact. YOU are the one with the false confidence of the desperate, who, like a religious person, NEEDS to believe, despite the facts. In other words..
Then again, people in the advertising industry HAVE to believe in whatever snake oil is on the menu du jour, so they can sell it to ad buyers. And both of you need each other to justify your respective jobs.
As George Carlin would say, Richelieu was FULL OF SHIT.
This is an idle boast that sounds good, but let's try it in practice... oops, it doesn't work because Richelieu was FULL OF SHIT.
Yes, people can use your secrets to blackmail you - so the best thing is to not have secrets. Don't give a damn about it because other people are the same or worse.
I don't care if I have the attention of the police. Seriously, I would LIKE to have the attention of the police. Make it a bit easier to stop the next sexual assault as it happens. But that's not going to happen.
Which is why I say that you should treat the prospect of having private details exposed as a BFD. If you don't care who knows what about you, you are pretty much inoculated against having those data sets used against you in evil ways at a future date.
"How much information?" If you have been here for years, then you would have only had to give a nickname and an email - same as I did back when I had a 5-digit uid to when I switched to this account. Sure, now they ask for a job title, but "I prefer not to say" is an option, company size has "Unspecified/Not applicable", and the second option for country is also "I prefer not to say."
So, a nickname and email address are "too much information?"
The H1Bs are taking your jobs regardless of what you do, or how much you suck up, and you know it. The progression of the robots is equally unstoppable. Also, do you really think that the reduced hours were caused by Obamacare? Companies were doing that long before Obamacare to avoid paying benefits.
Yes, an underemployed person counts as employed. What do you propose - counting them as unemployed? This too has always been the case.
Same with all your complaints - there's nothing new under the sun since Reaganomics trickle-down crap.
"You need connections to succeed in business." And the way to do that is have customers. And the way to do that is get off your ass and knock on doors, not think that someone will stumble across you on the web.
"You need connections to get the loans required to even start a business." Or you could work for someone else and gain experience while putting aside what you can, and when you need the loan, you'll be able to show both skin in the game and experience that reduces the risk of default. You know, like everyone did in the past.
Also, instead of taking out loans to get an education, why not work and get your education part-time over a longer period, so you have both no student debt and more real-world experience, so that again you aren't entering a job market with no experience and a ton of debt, instead of "taking the easy way out" and wondering what happened when you hit the wall? "Because that's what everyone else around me was doing" has never been a valid excuse - didn't your parents say "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?"
some random person wants to stay anonymous as possible on the net and you spew all over them.
... because only an idiot thinks that it's really possible to be anonymous on the internet. Please remove the rose-colored glasses and have a look at reality - and have a nice day, because forewarned is forearmed, and unlike you, I want people to be warned.
(sigh) with 175 or more comments, it's obvious that some people are interested. Just because you're all butt-hurt by the growing movement of transsexuals to tell the LGBT to kindly fuck off and don't do us any more "favors" doesn't mean you'll stop the increasing trend - or change the facts that they have caused us a lot of harm.
Too bad that, even with all my information, you can't sway me with targeted offers. I'm just too old for that stupidity. My uncle taught me a long time ago that if it's a good deal today, it will still be a good deal tomorrow. There is no rush, so I take my time thinking about something, and the answer is usually no, I don't really need that crap. And then usually there's an even better deal down the road... and usually the answer is still no.
You simply cannot make be buy something I don't want. This is the upside of a lifetime of exposure to advertising - eventually you become immune. You also get into the habit of always doing research before buying.
Take a look at how the value of a click has dropped by more than half in the last year. That says it all.
The only way that information gives someone power over you is if you let them. It's the same as any other blackmail scheme. The minute you say BFD when someone threatens to release information about you to coerce you into doing something, they have lost.
Now, if they have lost, I have gained - freedom of action, independent thought, and self esteem. But the first step, like always, is to not give a damn when someone is trying to use knowledge about you against you. And I don't give a damn. Let them track me - they're wasting their time. Political purposes? Give me a break. Police purposes? First, I'd have to break a law or three.
I'm not a slave, I have no dirty little secrets, but you certainly sound like someone who cares if YOUR secrets are known.
If you're worried about malware, blocking all trackers doesn't remove the hazard. The only surefire way to prevent it is don't use the net.
If you are letting someone else use your computer and they see embarrassing ads as a consequence, you deserve it, as well as all the malware THEY pick up, for letting someone else use your machine unsupervised.
If you think that they won't resell your information, just as newspapers used to do, and charities still do, you're incredibly naive and should stay off the internet until you understand how life works.
Because you've chosen to give up your privacy doesn't give you the right to make that decision for the rest of us.
Are you nuts? I am not that awesome that I can make the decision for anyone else, and never claimed otherwise. Also, you have incognito mode for your browser if you're that paranoid that someone's stealing your browser history.
Also, if you want to keep your interests private, DON'T USE THE INTERNET. Every http request you send to a server has to know where to send the response to. From the beginning that has shown up in the server logs. That's the way the web works. Everything else is a natural evolution of that simple fact. You already should assume that the NSA is hoovering up everything, including not just your net history but your phone calls. Since you're on the net, you've already accepted that you don't have privacy; you're just not willing to say it.
Most of the transsexuals I deal with have been outed against their will, and most of us wouldn't go back because, in general, it's not a bad experience. We get to pay it forward and serve to show others that being outed against their will is far from the end of the world, that it's more like casting off the shackles of fear of being outed.
Someone mentioned about employers finding details of your past and present. Again, BFD, because why would you want to work for a boss who's an asshole, always afraid that if they DO find out they'll fire you? Jobs are stressful enough without that crap.
I've use use my real name, so they already have it. I've also posted my address and smartphone number on the web in a few places when SJWs (especially that phony Brianna Wu) started whining about "OMG They have my address! and a picture of where I live!" crap.
The new generation is a bunch of gutless wonders. Used to be that everyone received a new book every year with everyone's name, address, and phone number and nobody freaked out.
So they're going to "build up a profile on you." BFD. What are they going to do with it? Either sell it to advertisers, or sell you stuff. Unless you're someone who goes "oh shiny - must have" it doesn't affect you, and if advertising affects you that much, you have bigger problems. REALLY bigger problems.
Slashdot Mirror
Then I guess you never use credit or debit cards, never use a speedpass to gas up, never apply for a loan, never use a bank, never go to school, never work, never pay taxes, never get sick, no driver's license ... Congratulations, you're dead!
Gadgets can be generic. "Can opener" is such a gadget. so is "light bulb" or smartphone or computer or zipper.
if anyone is tracking you on the toilet
That would be your wearables ... yet another reason not to waste money on them.
Comparing the internet to a flush toilet is ironic - most of the internet could be flushed and nobody would notice.
I have two sisters who have NEVER used the internet, and never will. They're doing just fine without it, but they'd sure notice if there was no toilet.
And yes, by using the Internet, you have agreed to any side effects, such as wasted time, etc., and the risk of malware. I was off the net for quite a while because I couldn't see well enough to use a computer. More than a year, and it wasn't "highly impractical" at all. You get used to it quickly.
If you can't do without it, you're addicted, and need to get a live.
ANY action counts. I used to write the code for the server for one ad-serving search engine, so I probably know the field better than you, because I've heard all the bullsh*t from marketing and sales that they were giving customers.
It's all about cost per action - whether it's a click, an order, or whatever the ad buyer is paying for, and the metrics are clear - cpa is less than half what it was a year ago because it's no longer delivering the results it used to. People have in large part become ad-blind, especially on the internet. Also, for votes you cannot tell - people lie all the time, and their actual vote is secret. If you've ever actually participated in an election or three, you'd know that.
And yet micro-targeting no longer is all that effective because it's not resulting in more user actions - they're going down, not up. So it's your claim that is demonstrably false. That's not false confidence - that's fact. YOU are the one with the false confidence of the desperate, who, like a religious person, NEEDS to believe, despite the facts. In other words ..
Then again, people in the advertising industry HAVE to believe in whatever snake oil is on the menu du jour, so they can sell it to ad buyers. And both of you need each other to justify your respective jobs.
As George Carlin would say, Richelieu was FULL OF SHIT.
This is an idle boast that sounds good, but let's try it in practice ... oops, it doesn't work because Richelieu was FULL OF SHIT.
Yes, people can use your secrets to blackmail you - so the best thing is to not have secrets. Don't give a damn about it because other people are the same or worse.
I don't care if I have the attention of the police. Seriously, I would LIKE to have the attention of the police. Make it a bit easier to stop the next sexual assault as it happens. But that's not going to happen.
Which is why I say that you should treat the prospect of having private details exposed as a BFD. If you don't care who knows what about you, you are pretty much inoculated against having those data sets used against you in evil ways at a future date.
Using the Internet is optional. Just ask most of the world.
"How much information?" If you have been here for years, then you would have only had to give a nickname and an email - same as I did back when I had a 5-digit uid to when I switched to this account. Sure, now they ask for a job title, but "I prefer not to say" is an option, company size has "Unspecified/Not applicable", and the second option for country is also "I prefer not to say."
So, a nickname and email address are "too much information?"
George Carlin wants to talk to you. :-)
The H1Bs are taking your jobs regardless of what you do, or how much you suck up, and you know it. The progression of the robots is equally unstoppable. Also, do you really think that the reduced hours were caused by Obamacare? Companies were doing that long before Obamacare to avoid paying benefits.
Yes, an underemployed person counts as employed. What do you propose - counting them as unemployed? This too has always been the case.
Same with all your complaints - there's nothing new under the sun since Reaganomics trickle-down crap.
"You need connections to succeed in business." And the way to do that is have customers. And the way to do that is get off your ass and knock on doors, not think that someone will stumble across you on the web.
"You need connections to get the loans required to even start a business." Or you could work for someone else and gain experience while putting aside what you can, and when you need the loan, you'll be able to show both skin in the game and experience that reduces the risk of default. You know, like everyone did in the past.
BTW - why not look at the unemployment rate under both Bushes and the current trend? Under them, unemployment rose - under Obama, unemployment has been on a more-or-less steady decline.
Also, instead of taking out loans to get an education, why not work and get your education part-time over a longer period, so you have both no student debt and more real-world experience, so that again you aren't entering a job market with no experience and a ton of debt, instead of "taking the easy way out" and wondering what happened when you hit the wall? "Because that's what everyone else around me was doing" has never been a valid excuse - didn't your parents say "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?"
some random person wants to stay anonymous as possible on the net and you spew all over them.
... because only an idiot thinks that it's really possible to be anonymous on the internet. Please remove the rose-colored glasses and have a look at reality - and have a nice day, because forewarned is forearmed, and unlike you, I want people to be warned.
So, you can kindly fuck off too :-)
Too bad that, even with all my information, you can't sway me with targeted offers. I'm just too old for that stupidity. My uncle taught me a long time ago that if it's a good deal today, it will still be a good deal tomorrow. There is no rush, so I take my time thinking about something, and the answer is usually no, I don't really need that crap. And then usually there's an even better deal down the road ... and usually the answer is still no.
You simply cannot make be buy something I don't want. This is the upside of a lifetime of exposure to advertising - eventually you become immune. You also get into the habit of always doing research before buying.
Take a look at how the value of a click has dropped by more than half in the last year. That says it all.
There's a thing called a warrant. Don't like it - don't do illegal downloads, or use TOR.
The only way that information gives someone power over you is if you let them. It's the same as any other blackmail scheme. The minute you say BFD when someone threatens to release information about you to coerce you into doing something, they have lost.
Now, if they have lost, I have gained - freedom of action, independent thought, and self esteem. But the first step, like always, is to not give a damn when someone is trying to use knowledge about you against you. And I don't give a damn. Let them track me - they're wasting their time. Political purposes? Give me a break. Police purposes? First, I'd have to break a law or three.
I'm not a slave, I have no dirty little secrets, but you certainly sound like someone who cares if YOUR secrets are known.
[citation needed]
You can track people with dynamic IP addresses from the ISP logs. No tracking cookies needed. This has been SOP for years.
There is no proof that they were found out via advertising cookies. IP addresses led right to them.
Maybe that's because you're a nobody and nobody cares who you are. When you're a person of note with a controversial opinion get back to me.
Says the Anonymous Coward.
If you're worried about malware, blocking all trackers doesn't remove the hazard. The only surefire way to prevent it is don't use the net.
If you are letting someone else use your computer and they see embarrassing ads as a consequence, you deserve it, as well as all the malware THEY pick up, for letting someone else use your machine unsupervised.
If you think that they won't resell your information, just as newspapers used to do, and charities still do, you're incredibly naive and should stay off the internet until you understand how life works.
Because you've chosen to give up your privacy doesn't give you the right to make that decision for the rest of us.
Are you nuts? I am not that awesome that I can make the decision for anyone else, and never claimed otherwise. Also, you have incognito mode for your browser if you're that paranoid that someone's stealing your browser history.
Also, if you want to keep your interests private, DON'T USE THE INTERNET. Every http request you send to a server has to know where to send the response to. From the beginning that has shown up in the server logs. That's the way the web works. Everything else is a natural evolution of that simple fact. You already should assume that the NSA is hoovering up everything, including not just your net history but your phone calls. Since you're on the net, you've already accepted that you don't have privacy; you're just not willing to say it.
Most of the transsexuals I deal with have been outed against their will, and most of us wouldn't go back because, in general, it's not a bad experience. We get to pay it forward and serve to show others that being outed against their will is far from the end of the world, that it's more like casting off the shackles of fear of being outed.
Someone mentioned about employers finding details of your past and present. Again, BFD, because why would you want to work for a boss who's an asshole, always afraid that if they DO find out they'll fire you? Jobs are stressful enough without that crap.
NO job is worth that stress and uncertainty.
I've use use my real name, so they already have it. I've also posted my address and smartphone number on the web in a few places when SJWs (especially that phony Brianna Wu) started whining about "OMG They have my address! and a picture of where I live!" crap.
The new generation is a bunch of gutless wonders. Used to be that everyone received a new book every year with everyone's name, address, and phone number and nobody freaked out.
So they're going to "build up a profile on you." BFD. What are they going to do with it? Either sell it to advertisers, or sell you stuff. Unless you're someone who goes "oh shiny - must have" it doesn't affect you, and if advertising affects you that much, you have bigger problems. REALLY bigger problems.