Pew study: 74% of Facebook users did not know Facebook was maintaining a list of their interests/traits, 51% were uncomfortable with it, and 27% felt the list was inaccurate
I don't mind targeted advertising as such. I do mind a lack of transparency and bait and switch tactics. I don't mean (just?) Facebook here, just generally. No one disputes advertising is...
I don't mind targeted advertising as such. I do mind a lack of transparency and bait and switch tactics. I don't mean (just?) Facebook here, just generally. No one disputes advertising is necessary for free services
It's interesting. My observation is that whenever these companies are transparent about it, people seem to become more upset. Google shows a lot of information about what they know about you....
It's interesting. My observation is that whenever these companies are transparent about it, people seem to become more upset.
Google shows a lot of information about what they know about you. Their dashboard and My Activity pages show tons of information about that their services collect. You can review search history, youtube watch history, audio samplings from voice assistant, and more.
It's odd because even when folks already know they are being tracked, they don't seem to really internalize it until actually seeing that data laid out. I hear a lot of surprise and comments of "creepiness" when reviewing that info. Which certainly indicates people didn't realize the extent of collection, even if they understood the business model.
Google has been doing a better job with their annual security checkups of making that information visible though. Hopefully it will become better understood and less of a surprise in the future. And for those that it does bother, the privacy controls are quite good and you're able to delete ranges of history (or all history) if you'd like.
I'm curious to what extent Facebook does the same. I haven't had an account in five or six years, but I wonder how much they make available to users. If they hide that information, I wonder if they've learned that transparency can paradoxically reduce user trust?
Most people just really don't even think about it. It's not even a consideration to them that companies like Facebook might be keeping records of everything they do and analyzing it. They don't...
Most people just really don't even think about it. It's not even a consideration to them that companies like Facebook might be keeping records of everything they do and analyzing it. They don't think about the technology from a perspective where it's even a possibility.
I've found that it's effective to ask people what they would do if someone knocked on their door and offered them $10 for them to unlock their phone and allow it to be looked through for an hour. Almost everyone immediately rejects this as a huge violation of privacy that they'd never allow, but it's basically what's already being done to them—except they don't need to be asked, and it's only the other person getting paid for doing it.
That's not a very good comparison imo. There is a huge difference between some random guy showing up at my door, and Google. The latter has an established reputation, policies and procedures for...
I've found that it's effective to ask people what they would do if someone knocked on their door and offered them $10 for them to unlock their phone and allow it to be looked through for an hour. Almost everyone immediately rejects this as a huge violation of privacy that they'd never allow, but it's basically what's already being done to them—except they don't need to be asked, and it's only the other person getting paid for doing it.
That's not a very good comparison imo. There is a huge difference between some random guy showing up at my door, and Google. The latter has an established reputation, policies and procedures for how my data is handled, and at least some form of accountability if it is mishandled. Random guy showing up at my door has none of those.
It's not really intended to be an accurate comparison. The intention is just to get people to think about how comfortable they are with all of that data being accessible to someone, because like I...
It's not really intended to be an accurate comparison. The intention is just to get people to think about how comfortable they are with all of that data being accessible to someone, because like I said, they generally don't even consider the possibility that it's all being collected and analyzed.
The example that popped into my mind was when the My Activity page gets shared on Hacker News. These users definitely know Google's business model, and shouldn't be surprised at the data...
The example that popped into my mind was when the My Activity page gets shared on Hacker News. These users definitely know Google's business model, and shouldn't be surprised at the data collected. But the word "creepy" still comes up a lot.
I think your example above is interesting. Though I wonder if the results would change if you asked a different question: "Would you allow us to poke around in your phone for an hour if we offered you unlimited free internet searches, music videos, and map results in return?".
OK, now I'm off to request a GDPR data dump of whatsapp, to see if they have EXIF information stripped out from all the photos I have sent and recieved.
OK, now I'm off to request a GDPR data dump of whatsapp, to see if they have EXIF information stripped out from all the photos I have sent and recieved.
right? i think what a lot of companies are missing is like - i want you to advertise to me! i want you to show me things that i'm actually interested in and want to spend my money on. hell, i'm an...
right?
i think what a lot of companies are missing is like - i want you to advertise to me! i want you to show me things that i'm actually interested in and want to spend my money on. hell, i'm an easy sell at that!
what i don't like is companies clandestinely selling my information between each other and trying to build shadow-profiles on me, my browsing habits, what they assume my interests are, etc.
hell, i might even have less of a problem with it if the information was just less blatantly inaccurate most of the time!
it's almost been 5 full years since i've intentionally bought and consumed any form of meat, dairy, etc. and still to this day i'm getting ads for whatever new shit McDonald's or IHOP are up to. like let me fill out some survey and tell these people exactly what i like, and they can market to be based off that
I don't mind targeted advertising as such. I do mind a lack of transparency and bait and switch tactics. I don't mean (just?) Facebook here, just generally. No one disputes advertising is necessary for free services
It's interesting. My observation is that whenever these companies are transparent about it, people seem to become more upset.
Google shows a lot of information about what they know about you. Their dashboard and My Activity pages show tons of information about that their services collect. You can review search history, youtube watch history, audio samplings from voice assistant, and more.
It's odd because even when folks already know they are being tracked, they don't seem to really internalize it until actually seeing that data laid out. I hear a lot of surprise and comments of "creepiness" when reviewing that info. Which certainly indicates people didn't realize the extent of collection, even if they understood the business model.
Google has been doing a better job with their annual security checkups of making that information visible though. Hopefully it will become better understood and less of a surprise in the future. And for those that it does bother, the privacy controls are quite good and you're able to delete ranges of history (or all history) if you'd like.
I'm curious to what extent Facebook does the same. I haven't had an account in five or six years, but I wonder how much they make available to users. If they hide that information, I wonder if they've learned that transparency can paradoxically reduce user trust?
edit: Whoops, had my links backwards.
Most people just really don't even think about it. It's not even a consideration to them that companies like Facebook might be keeping records of everything they do and analyzing it. They don't think about the technology from a perspective where it's even a possibility.
I've found that it's effective to ask people what they would do if someone knocked on their door and offered them $10 for them to unlock their phone and allow it to be looked through for an hour. Almost everyone immediately rejects this as a huge violation of privacy that they'd never allow, but it's basically what's already being done to them—except they don't need to be asked, and it's only the other person getting paid for doing it.
That's not a very good comparison imo. There is a huge difference between some random guy showing up at my door, and Google. The latter has an established reputation, policies and procedures for how my data is handled, and at least some form of accountability if it is mishandled. Random guy showing up at my door has none of those.
It's not really intended to be an accurate comparison. The intention is just to get people to think about how comfortable they are with all of that data being accessible to someone, because like I said, they generally don't even consider the possibility that it's all being collected and analyzed.
The example that popped into my mind was when the My Activity page gets shared on Hacker News. These users definitely know Google's business model, and shouldn't be surprised at the data collected. But the word "creepy" still comes up a lot.
https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=myactivity.google.com
I think your example above is interesting. Though I wonder if the results would change if you asked a different question: "Would you allow us to poke around in your phone for an hour if we offered you unlimited free internet searches, music videos, and map results in return?".
OK, now I'm off to request a GDPR data dump of whatsapp, to see if they have EXIF information stripped out from all the photos I have sent and recieved.
Things like https://www.wired.com/story/why-zuckerberg-15-year-apology-tour-hasnt-fixed-facebook/ make me wonder sometimes
right?
i think what a lot of companies are missing is like - i want you to advertise to me! i want you to show me things that i'm actually interested in and want to spend my money on. hell, i'm an easy sell at that!
what i don't like is companies clandestinely selling my information between each other and trying to build shadow-profiles on me, my browsing habits, what they assume my interests are, etc.
hell, i might even have less of a problem with it if the information was just less blatantly inaccurate most of the time!
it's almost been 5 full years since i've intentionally bought and consumed any form of meat, dairy, etc. and still to this day i'm getting ads for whatever new shit McDonald's or IHOP are up to. like let me fill out some survey and tell these people exactly what i like, and they can market to be based off that