Comment on Data privacy: how to counter the "I have nothing to hide" argument?
SCB@lemmy.world 1 year agoNo, my phone ID and random data snippets are not “me.” If I have another device and sign in under a different email, I get totally different content while still being me.
rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Well i think you underestimate what algorithms can piece together. And i don’t think it is necessary to know everything about someone. Even if you’re missing half of the picture… A few key facts may be enough to manipulate someone or gently push them into a direction that is more aligned to your goals as a company (for example). Information can be linked after the fact. And - we’re getting a bit philosophical here - You’re kind of the sum of your parts, your history, behaviours and different interests. No single part defines you but still they’re part of you and of what you are. If I can get access to some part of you like your literacy, what kind of media you consume to make up your mind. What kind of people you’re going to meet on social media. I’m starting to affect a part of what is ‘You’ and it also affects you as an entity.
I’m glad you value privacy. I’m not exactly sure what those algorithms do. But there are cookies and there is browser fingerprinting. And it works pretty well. If you use two accounts and use the same device, they can most likely tell by your browser fingerprint and they already know they both belong to you. And even if you’re using seperate devices. If you’re using a residential internet connection, it’s the same IP address for both devices. This is probably also evaluated, because they store that information for the advertisers, because being in close geographical proximity is important for some metrics.
SCB@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Seems weird to have a passionate stance on this, then.
rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
What do you want from me? Those algorithms are proprietary. A few select people in the world know what exactly they’re doing and which data gets stored how in the databases. We can make assumptions by their behaviour. From time to time something gets leaked and we learn some details. We used to learn how the google pagerank algorithm works in university. Now google suggests me what to read and i just swallow that. And you keep making apologies and deny you can be / are being manipulated…?!
SCB@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think it’s a pretty huge logical stretch to assume I am manipulated because I know algorithms don’t have a profile on me you can just look up. That’s not how data science works at all.