this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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Privacy is Power (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or what the NSA collects about Americans... like where you go when, who you meet, what you buy, what you talk about, who you're friends with, if you are pregnant or not, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's what decisions are made with that data that's the concern. A lot of "privacy advocates" believe that society can exist with the government not knowing anything about their population. I can't think how:

  • a transport service can operate without knowing where people go and when
  • consumer advocacy can work without knowing what people will buy
  • what needs to be addressed in society without knowing what the issues are
  • what to educate people on unless you find out what they don't know
  • a health service can adapt to the needs of aging populations without good fertility data

You're right, all this data can be used against someone for malicious reasons and like in the China example it's easier to locate dissonance by listening. But evil can be done without data collection, it's impossible to do good without it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You don't need personalized data to do those things. You can just count how many people use the bus instead of checking for every person where they are going when and why.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I agree that aggregate data is the best way to improve things for the most number of people, you can't help every single person, but also knowing the edge cases helps you find out things you don't know.