7 votes

Why we should end the data economy

5 comments

  1. ImmobileVoyager
    Link
    because that's not how surveillance capitalism works, and indeed it is rather difficult to explain quickly, even if this 23 min TED Talk does a rather good job at it. "Examples of ordinary people...

    no examples of ordinary people being harmed

    because that's not how surveillance capitalism works, and indeed it is rather difficult to explain quickly, even if this 23 min TED Talk does a rather good job at it.

    "Examples of ordinary people being harmed" include the bodycount (5) of the 2021 United States Capitol attack, even if the causal link with the data economy doesn't immediately appear to be straitforward.

    7 votes
  2. skybrian
    Link
    Notice that this article is three-quarters “be afraid of what they know about you” but gives no examples of ordinary people being harmed. Contrast with stories about ransomware, identity theft,...

    Notice that this article is three-quarters “be afraid of what they know about you” but gives no examples of ordinary people being harmed.

    Contrast with stories about ransomware, identity theft, fraud, people getting fired over old tweets, people getting locked out of their accounts, and so on. There are real computer security problems happening every day that really do harm people.

    There are things people can do to protect themselves and more systematic things that companies and governments can do to improve computer security, but blurring a bunch of problems together with hypotheticals that don’t go anywhere doesn’t help us understand how to fix them. The security efforts that actually improve things target specific problems.

    4 votes
  3. [3]
    bub
    Link
    I, too, hope for some magnanimous omnipotent regulator to end the data economy. But who is this "we?"

    I, too, hope for some magnanimous omnipotent regulator to end the data economy.
    But who is this "we?"

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      ImmobileVoyager
      Link Parent
      is usually known as the law and is generally voted by democratically elected parliaments, in those countries where democracy still functions, that is, idk how it is going in yours. Sadly, it could...

      some magnanimous omnipotent regulator

      is usually known as the law and is generally voted by democratically elected parliaments, in those countries where democracy still functions, that is, idk how it is going in yours.

      Sadly, it could also be argued that even in technologically advanced democracies, the law is at least 20 years behind the World Wild Web.

      5 votes
      1. bub
        Link Parent
        The idea that lawmakers ever actually have enough spine to regulate multi-billion-dollar companies instead of just getting paid off by their lobbies is something I can only dream of. I've lived in...

        The idea that lawmakers ever actually have enough spine to regulate multi-billion-dollar companies instead of just getting paid off by their lobbies is something I can only dream of. I've lived in the U.S. for too long.

        Actual functional democracies are wonderful, but they never seem to make up enough of the market of these companies to really be able to pack a punch.

        4 votes