I know data privacy is important and I know that big corporations like Meta became powerful enough to even manipulate elections using our data.
But, when I talk to people in general, most seem to not worry because they “have nothing to hide”, and most are only worried about their passwords, banking apps and not much else.
So, why should people worry about data privacy even if they have “nothing to hide”?
It isn’t used to make anything of me at all. You don’t seem to understand how this data is collected, aggregated and sold.
Literally no one has a profile on me specifically. Relevant bits of data are captured and filtered and packaged and sold without any human interaction.
There is no database entry for you as a person.
I’m not being manipulated because I am neither 12 nor a Republican.
How do you think TikTok recommends videos you like? How do you think YouTube shows you videos about astronomy or diy-stuff or whatever you like and omit the videos about kajaking? How do you think amazon recommends you similar items or shows you what you bought in the last 6 months?
They all have a specific profile for you as a person. It doesn’t really matter if they don’t file it with your real name as a key. It may be called a number or just contain your email address. Nonetheless it get’s loaded and used when you open your browser, when you log in to those services. And don’t tell me you have 20 google accounts, clear your cookies and have all the browser extensions installed to evade all of that.
TikTok recommends me stand-up comedy and thicc goth girls because that’s what I’ve swiped on. Every now and then MTG card reviews pop up because I think that dude is funny.
I’m not a child, so I’m capable of curating shit I watch
I’m a huge fan of TikTok and YouTube’s algos because they show me shit I am interested in. Same with my targeted ads, except for the shitty mobile game ones.
Regardless, this is not a specific profile for me as a person. It’s a profile for that service, on this phone, taking some info from common internet connection points.
So they must have a database entry specifically for you and be able to recognize you. Otherwise they couldn’t recommend you anything after you closed the app.
No, 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.
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.
Seems weird to have a passionate stance on this, then.
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…?! or harm you ‘reliably’?
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.
A good sign you’re in conspiracy theory territory is that your entire model breaks down if the algorithm designers aren’t specifically supervillains.