Cost of Technology

[nigel99 641]

I was busy reading the iPhone analytics terms and conditions. it’s amazing how far data collection has come and what we consent to. 

If you consent to providing analytics to improve iPhone everything from audio, camera, gyroscope and accelerometer data is harvested. A specific example is handwashing events are monitored and fed back.

I don’t disagree with it, we have the option to opt out and as a tech person analytics are valuable.

Apple must have a wealth of incredibly interesting data. From toilet and bedroom habits to how frequently you shop and the time and route you take. 

[billvon 3,131]

24 minutes ago, nigel99 said:

Apple must have a wealth of incredibly interesting data. From toilet and bedroom habits to how frequently you shop and the time and route you take. 

Yep.  Such data is becoming more and more valuable for targeting consumers and increasing sales.

[jakee 1,606]

14 hours ago, nigel99 said:

Apple must have a wealth of incredibly interesting data. From toilet and bedroom habits to how frequently you shop and the time and route you take. 

Indeed, and as well as the deliberately sinister aspects there are also a lot of unintended consequences. 
 

As an example, advertising analytics are apparently very good at figuring out when women are pregnant. Not only can they just grab the keywords from social media announcements, but they can see when people stopped buying pregnancy tests and started buying pre-natal vitamins and searching for cribs and baby clothes. 
Problem is there are far fewer signs when someone miscarries. So vulnerable women and couples in one of the worst times of their lives will continue being bombarded by adverts for baby stuff on every website they visit every time they’re online potentially for months after they’ve lost their baby. 

And you would think that at least one of the billions upon billions of dollars that the likes of Google and Facebook make could go on a sufficiently well staffed team of people who can be contacted manually switch the algorithm off for people who are being actively harmed by it, but I don’t think that’s in the best interests of big business.

[normiss 903]

It's not a skydiving waiver you consent to, pay attention to the details and refuse as desired.

I refuse ALL of the collections, I've also had to block some on the firewall (windows and hardware device on my network)

VPN's are also a great tool for privacy.

[nigel99 641]

3 hours ago, normiss said:

It's not a skydiving waiver you consent to, pay attention to the details and refuse as desired.

I refuse ALL of the collections, I've also had to block some on the firewall (windows and hardware device on my network)

VPN's are also a great tool for privacy.

Agreed and you are technically savvy. 
My son is averse to smartphones and had a brick phone until this week (he’s 23). Ironically he was pushed into getting a smartphone because he was unable to do security clearance paperwork without one.

[nigel99 641]

6 hours ago, jakee said:

Indeed, and as well as the deliberately sinister aspects there are also a lot of unintended consequences. 
 

As an example, advertising analytics are apparently very good at figuring out when women are pregnant. Not only can they just grab the keywords from social media announcements, but they can see when people stopped buying pregnancy tests and started buying pre-natal vitamins and searching for cribs and baby clothes. 
Problem is there are far fewer signs when someone miscarries. So vulnerable women and couples in one of the worst times of their lives will continue being bombarded by adverts for baby stuff on every website they visit every time they’re online potentially for months after they’ve lost their baby. 

And you would think that at least one of the billions upon billions of dollars that the likes of Google and Facebook make could go on a sufficiently well staffed team of people who can be contacted manually switch the algorithm off for people who are being actively harmed by it, but I don’t think that’s in the best interests of big business.

Agreed. The unintended consequences are huge and people’s lives have definitely been ruined.