It blows me away the sacrifices people make for "convenience". Everyone uses Facebook, therefore its a convenient means to stay in contact, but at what cost? All my likes, all my views, all my life is being commodified and sold to the highest bidder for their financial gains.
Now this. Smart homes will collect data you dont want shared. Smart homes will be hackable just like any computer, and what might hackers hear in your home?
Dont people value privacy anymore? Or are we just such sheep that we blindly believe the powers that operate these data collection centers (Facebook, Youtube, Google, etc) are benevolent and well meaning?
And forget about their intentions for a moment, even if they are well meaning what about the risk that comes from their centrality? Equifax hack is one major example.
Relying on "trusted" third parties to store your info is inherently risky. Privacy and security will be the first casualties of this modern convenience... Does anyone even care?
Really what do these devices even do? We are all pretending we are ironman - but really what? Change the channel? Play some Hootie and the Blowfish?
Why should I value privacy?
@austinhopper
I posted a long response but deleted it. Suffice it to say, you should value privacy because your privacy has a literal value.
What you search online leads to a search history. That info can be sold to ad companies. It is sold today by Google or youtube or facebook. Your data. My data. This is my digital life they are measuring and selling.
If we were more private we would have the freedom to decide what, if anything, we wanted to sell. Maybe your google history could be sold for your own financial gain, not googles. Maybe you would not sell your youtube data, cause whatever reason. You would be free to make that choice.
This is part of why privacy is integral to freedom, and why privacy matters.
I know that it has value. But I did zero work to cultivate that value. I didn't build chrome, or gmail or facebook. Developers spend billions of dollars and hours building products that are very good and give them away for free. They need to recoup their investment. For most people, loss of privacy is an acceptable cost for the benefits of using these products. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Just because the data is about you doesn't mean you deserve to profit from it.
I dont disagree.
If a person makes an informed decision that they are willing to share their personal information in exchange for a service like Google, Facebook, etc, that is fine in my books.
One point I would push back on is this, the argument that devs built the site and therefore the company deserves all revenue that comes out of the site is wrong in my books. If you and I were no on those sites, then the site is worse off, not because we are unique but because without individuals contributing to the site the site is less attractive. We are the content they are selling. Come see all your friends in one place. But if we stop using it, then Facebook would turn into MySpace. See what I mean?
You're right, we are the product they are selling and the sites do need us. As long as FB offers compelling products, people will continue to use it, even if it means giving away personal data. This has been a very successful business model that has come out on top in the free market. I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with it. To me, privacy doesn't have any tangible value and is not the same as security. For example, there is nothing private on Steemit - you can even look at how much I have in my wallet. However, Steemit is very secure and you would have to come to my house to find my private key and steal my money. Security trumps privacy, and companies like FB and Google has very strong incentives to keep things secure.
Hmmm, perhaps best answered by a study of what tends to happen without it.
Smarthomes and devices would be awesome if the owners knew how to program them and owned the data outright. It'd also be cool if we had free energy, or at least sustainable energy, to run them. But this trajectory reads of a technocratic totalitarianism that pains me to even contemplate ...
@infidel1258 Excellently stated!
It's the great shame of it all isn't it @infidel1258. The lack of desire for privacy. I get looked at strangely when I mention security or privacy in social circles now.... like I have something to hide. The "I have nothing to hide" argument is moronic to the highest degree.
I know! This is the argument the corps have formulated to justify their collection and monetization of our data. "If you dont have something to hide it should be fine if we monitor your cell phone calls, web searches and posts on ____." And we accept that erroneous logic; Such a shame.
Privacy is an integral part of true freedom.
The monitoring of my life, by government or big business, may be to some extent necessary but it is simealtaneously a sacrifice of my personal freedom. We accept this sacrifice in the name of security that comes for instance from our govt having this capability. I accept that sacrifice to an extent, because I do value security, but we need to value our privacy also or authorities (govt or business) will take advantage and monetize us in new and ever more pervasive ways.
We need to understand this give and take between privacy and freedom as it pertains to security, or we cant value our freedoms accurately.