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Principled? A massive red flag? Simply idiotic?

Deleted User

Two questions;

  1. Do you adopt any of the same choices around digital data, that I do (as lettered below)?
  2. Do you think there is any 'value' in sticking with 'a principle' even when you can see that it is broadly meaningless in effect?

 Choices;

  1. a) I don’t do social media.
  2. b) I avoid data collection wherever possible.
  3. c) I don’t store in the cloud.
  4. d) I avoid apps, despite knowing that they are invariably “cheaper and/or easier and/or quicker” than other means of doing 'a thing.'
  5. e) I don’t volunteer any accurate personal data, ever, unless it is officially required.
  6. f) I don’t “sign in” nor "sign-up" if that is at all possible.
  7. g) I hate visiting shops but I prefer it to online purchasing.

 These choices make things lonelier, more expensive and more inconvenient for anyone who adopts them.

My reason for these (arguably pointless and daft) choices is that I don’t want to contribute towards a centralised and automated system that chooses how to ‘target’ or ‘feed’ information and services to individual humans, because I think that it allows very effective (but subtle) control over “what happens next.” Voter manipulation and Clearview AI are two exemplars of my concerns.

I'm interested in any feedback on these questions.

Parents

  • Great post, and I agree with a lot of your choices.

    Firstly, I think principles are incredibly important. If you implement a rule, and the rule leads you to something bad, then you have chosen that rule poorly. However, if it leads to an inconvience and you decide to bear it because you want to stick to your principles, I will think much more highly of you.

    I do a little bit of social media, but I keep it limited. I keep in contact with a few close friends, and I use LinkedIn as a way to open doors within my career. I try my utmost to avoid just aimlessly scrolling, as I believe it is terrible for your mental health and attention span.

    I also avoid data collection as much as possible, but I'm not super anal about it. A lot of people just don't care and say "they know everything anyway" or "so what if XYZ know that I enjoy this or that?"... This complete carelessness about your own privacy terrifies me frankly - I know it is so easy to give up your data nowadays, but I do believe you will pay the price for it by being subjected to propaganda and moulded in a certain way without even being aware of it.

    It's the same with cloud storage. Could Google do a better job than me at securing my data? Certainly, but they're also a much bigger target, and those huge organisations are just as capable of accidentally publishing all sorts of private info belonging to their customers. Just check your email address on https://haveibeenpwned.com/ - yes, these are typically security leaks rather than accidental publishes, but the effect is the same. And again, it means you have to trust these people to manage your data in a way that doesn't violate your privacy. Nothing is stopping them from selling your information to other vendors, or peeking at your documents, or changing the T&Cs and hiking their prices up. One man was flagged to the police because he took a photo of his infant son naked to send to the doctor, and Google Photos incorrectly flagged it as child porn, and got the police involved. Sure, you can talk about how great the safety is and how it's better to have a few false alarms than miss something, but why is Google looking through your photos in the first place? Are you really okay having your privacy breached?

    The rest of your points I'm pretty similar on, perhaps except for online shopping, but I feel I've typed enough to get my point across.

Reply

  • Great post, and I agree with a lot of your choices.

    Firstly, I think principles are incredibly important. If you implement a rule, and the rule leads you to something bad, then you have chosen that rule poorly. However, if it leads to an inconvience and you decide to bear it because you want to stick to your principles, I will think much more highly of you.

    I do a little bit of social media, but I keep it limited. I keep in contact with a few close friends, and I use LinkedIn as a way to open doors within my career. I try my utmost to avoid just aimlessly scrolling, as I believe it is terrible for your mental health and attention span.

    I also avoid data collection as much as possible, but I'm not super anal about it. A lot of people just don't care and say "they know everything anyway" or "so what if XYZ know that I enjoy this or that?"... This complete carelessness about your own privacy terrifies me frankly - I know it is so easy to give up your data nowadays, but I do believe you will pay the price for it by being subjected to propaganda and moulded in a certain way without even being aware of it.

    It's the same with cloud storage. Could Google do a better job than me at securing my data? Certainly, but they're also a much bigger target, and those huge organisations are just as capable of accidentally publishing all sorts of private info belonging to their customers. Just check your email address on https://haveibeenpwned.com/ - yes, these are typically security leaks rather than accidental publishes, but the effect is the same. And again, it means you have to trust these people to manage your data in a way that doesn't violate your privacy. Nothing is stopping them from selling your information to other vendors, or peeking at your documents, or changing the T&Cs and hiking their prices up. One man was flagged to the police because he took a photo of his infant son naked to send to the doctor, and Google Photos incorrectly flagged it as child porn, and got the police involved. Sure, you can talk about how great the safety is and how it's better to have a few false alarms than miss something, but why is Google looking through your photos in the first place? Are you really okay having your privacy breached?

    The rest of your points I'm pretty similar on, perhaps except for online shopping, but I feel I've typed enough to get my point across.

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