this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
421 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
37573 readers
630 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Honestly, number 3 is the only thing that would have marginal impact. Consumers don't have the time and energy to research every product to the depth required foe the first two.
And the vast majority of consumers don't even understand what's going on, and don't care. Look at how many people happily download and use the TikTok app, despite evidence that it's harvesting your biometric data and sending it to a government overseas. They don't fucking care.
You don't need to go on a research project to see the personal info fields in a sign-up form.
For more complicated stuff, a labeling program would help.
On some products, these steps occur after you've purchased and opened the product and are setting it up.
1a. Exercise your right to return things that have invasive hidden requirements.
(And this is another area where a labeling program would help.)
That's not the only way companies get data about you though. Some collect it through their app - the sites that try and force you to use the app instead of the site are usually the worst offenders. Others just buy data from data brokers like Acxiom, Experian, LiveRamp, etc. and correlate it with the details they have on you (phone number, email address, ad targeting ID, etc).
Where possible, use sites instead of apps, since it limits the types of data that can be collected (as sites are highly sandboxed compared to apps). Good sites let you install them as PWAs for a more app-like feel.
Nobody said it was.
I was mostly replying to the top level comment about choosing companies/products that respect your privacy. It's pretty much impossible to tell if a company cares about or respects your privacy just from the sign up form.
It read as though you thought picking out one particular case that I didn't address somehow refuted what I wrote. (Which it doesn't, of course, because I wasn't making an exhaustive list.)
I see. That was confusing, since the top-level comment wasn't mine, yet you replied to me. Thanks for clarifying.