Privacy - this is getting ridiculous (4 Viewers)

[Max Power]

It might be incorrect on my part, but I rather believe that position is politically driven and a big mistake, but there could be some other explanation. We can't discuss that here without getting timeouts.

I think it was Max Power who came close. If that is the case, then his position might be driven by the ends that motivate his political reasoning, but I'm not sure of that and I also consider Max a special case due in part to his unique political outlook, but due more to his service in the military and (what I think is) his employment as a government contractor for the DoD. He's got pretty unique ID tags, belief markers, and formative experiences. His indicia are no bellwether.

Like I said, I can't imagine anything other than the issue of illegal immigration that would move the needle to even 5-10% of people who want to turn more data over to government than they would to businesses. Maybe I'm massively misjudging the U.S.A. I have consistently done so the past decade, so why stop?

it's difficult to take politics entirely out of how situations are viewed. I think they will always have a finger on the scale. I don't subscribe to the thinking that everything one administration does is bad while the other can do no wrong. People who think that way are tough to have fruitful conversations with. Which is why Im often critical of the main stream media and the spin they put on every story.

I read your other post and while I didn't agree with everything, i agreed with most. It was a good perspective. Im currently in a slow dynasty/devy draft this weekend, so my primary attention is elsewhere at the moment and didn't reply.

And yes, historically concerns over the government collecting data has been met with the "you're overreacting" response. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking "maybe they are right". Maybe the shoe just is on the other foot now.

We're seeing advances in AI and data management with ways to make the government more efficient. Consolidating data has been a big win at the lower levels, so I see the benefit. Reducing beaurocracy, highlighting redundancy, and I think it would expose flaws or fraud in the system. This should in theory be a good thing.

I also totally agree with the concerns that the government is horrible safeguarding data. This has been exposed countless times already. It is a very real concern and the best example of a reason to be against the idea.

Im less concerned with the data being used internally to target Americans or for political gain. This data is already available and entities who would use it maliciously already know how to and do.

 

[fatness]

I have no concerns over the existence of a centralized database. I have great concerns over the data that might be included. For example, my browsing history has no business being in government hands. Ditto my cell tower logs, IP addresses from my ISPs, etc.

Data that's planned to be included:

Jason Bassler, co-founder of the government accountability-focused outlet The Free Thought Project, posted to X, formerly Twitter: "No, this Palantir database isn't like the others. It will combine: Tax filings, Student debt, Social Security, Bank accounts, Medical claims, Immigration status. No previous database system has ever centralized this much personal info across various federal agencies."

Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Wired in April: "The ultimate concern is a panopticon of a single federal database with everything that the government knows about every single person in this country. What we are seeing is likely the first step in creating that centralized dossier on everyone in this country."

 

[Joe Schmo]

I have no concerns over the existence of a centralized database. I have great concerns over the data that might be included. For example, my browsing history has no business being in government hands. Ditto my cell tower logs, IP addresses from my ISPs, etc.

Data that's planned to be included:

Jason Bassler, co-founder of the government accountability-focused outlet The Free Thought Project, posted to X, formerly Twitter: "No, this Palantir database isn't like the others. It will combine: Tax filings, Student debt, Social Security, Bank accounts, Medical claims, Immigration status. No previous database system has ever centralized this much personal info across various federal agencies."

Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Wired in April: "The ultimate concern is a panopticon of a single federal database with everything that the government knows about every single person in this country. What we are seeing is likely the first step in creating that centralized dossier on everyone in this country."

panopticon= A panopticon is a circular prison design, or a metaphor for a system of social control, where individuals can be constantly observed without knowing if they are being watched. It's designed to create a feeling of perpetual visibility, which, in turn, is intended to lead to self-discipline and conformity.

I learned my something new today.

 

[fatness]

Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers

Abuse allows Meta and Yandex to attach persistent identifiers to detailed browsing histories.

arstechnica.com

Tracking code that Meta and Russia-based Yandex embed into millions of websites is de-anonymizing visitors by abusing legitimate Internet protocols, causing Chrome and other browsers to surreptitiously send unique identifiers to native apps installed on a device, researchers have discovered. Google says it's investigating the abuse, which allows Meta and Yandex to convert ephemeral web identifiers into persistent mobile app user identities.

What this attack vector allows is to break the sandbox that exists between the mobile context and the web context. The channel that exists allowed the Android system to communicate what happens in the browser with the identity running in the mobile app.” The bypass—which Yandex began in 2017 and Meta started last September—allows the companies to pass cookies or other identifiers from Firefox and Chromium-based browsers to native Android apps for Facebook, Instagram, and various Yandex apps. The companies can then tie that vast browsing history to the account holder logged into the app.

 

[Sand]

And over in this corner Houston has an 88,000 camera surveillance system that they use with no safeguards at all.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2025/houston-flock-surveillance-explained/

 

[fatness]

Airlines have gotten together to form their own data broker, which then turns around and sells the information to the government.

Airlines Don't Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS - Slashdot

An anonymous reader shares a report: A data broker owned by the country's major airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, and United, collected U.S. travellers' domestic flight records, sold access to them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and then as part of the contract told CBP to...

news.slashdot.org

A data broker owned by the country's major airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, and United, collected U.S. travellers' domestic flight records, sold access to them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and then as part of the contract told CBP to not reveal where the data came from, according to internal CBP documents obtained by 404 Media. The data includes passenger names, their full flight itineraries, and financial details.

CBP, a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says it needs this data to support state and local police to track people of interest's air travel across the country, in a purchase that has alarmed civil liberties experts. The documents reveal for the first time in detail why at least one part of DHS purchased such information, and comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detailed its own purchase of the data. The documents also show for the first time that the data broker, called the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), tells government agencies not to mention where it sourced the flight data from.

"The big airlines -- through a shady data broker that they own called ARC -- are selling the government bulk access to Americans' sensitive information, revealing where they fly and the credit card they used," Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement. ARC is owned and operated by at least eight major U.S. airlines, other publicly released documents show. The company's board of directors include representatives from Delta, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and European airlines Lufthansa and Air France, and Canada's Air Canada. More than 240 airlines depend on ARC for ticket settlement services.

The government is hungry for data for its expanding databases right now. And businesses are hungry to make money selling your private data to the government.

Neither entity (government or business) is keeping the other in check. They're working together, and screw your privacy.

 

[Harry Frogfish]

I worry about the future, but not so much my own.

When I'm feeling down about that or aging and stuff, I just think how incredibly lucky we are to have lived in this particular window of time. And where. That's hitting a lottery right there.

 

[beer 30]

The government is hungry for data for its expanding databases right now. And businesses are hungry to make money selling your private data to the government.

Neither entity (government or business) is keeping the other in check. They're working together, and screw your privacy.

The whole Palantir thing scares me. Rogan had one of the Palantir dudes on recently and there is nothing they won't get into if they can. And he didn't impress me as a guy who had limits like, "yes we can do it but should we", type limits.

Couple that with a quantum computer and it would make China look like child's play.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

The government is hungry for data for its expanding databases right now. And businesses are hungry to make money selling your private data to the government.

Neither entity (government or business) is keeping the other in check. They're working together, and screw your privacy.

The whole Palantir thing scares me. Rogan had one of the Palantir dudes on recently and there is nothing they won't get into if they can. And he didn't impress me as a guy who had limits like, "yes we can do it but should we", type limits.

Couple that with a quantum computer and it would make China look like child's play.

Maybe it shouldn't bother me more than any other company tracking and compiling our data, but Peter Thiel led Palantir as said company scares me also.

 

[fatness]

Apparently the Meta AI app makes all your prompts public, unless you take steps to make them private. And apparently a lot of people don't know this.

PSA: Get Your Parents Off the Meta AI App Right Now

This is bad, folks. Very bad.

gizmodo.com

users are throwing all sorts of prompts into Meta AI without knowing that they’re being displayed publicly, including sensitive medical and tax documents, addresses, and deeply personal information—including, but not limited to—confessions of affairs, crimes, and court cases. The list, unfortunately, goes on. I took a short stroll through the Meta AI app for myself just to verify that this was seemingly still happening as of writing this post, and I regret to inform you all that the pain train seems to be rolling onward. In my exploration of the app, I found seemingly confidential prompts addressing doubts/issues with significant others, including one woman questioning whether her male partner is truly a feminist. I also uncovered a self-identified 66-year-old man asking where he can find women who are interested in “older men,” and just a few hours later, inquiring about transgender women in Thailand.

 

[Sand]

Apparently the Meta AI app makes all your prompts public, unless you take steps to make them private. And apparently a lot of people don't know this.

PSA: Get Your Parents Off the Meta AI App Right Now

This is bad, folks. Very bad.

gizmodo.com

users are throwing all sorts of prompts into Meta AI without knowing that they’re being displayed publicly, including sensitive medical and tax documents, addresses, and deeply personal information—including, but not limited to—confessions of affairs, crimes, and court cases. The list, unfortunately, goes on. I took a short stroll through the Meta AI app for myself just to verify that this was seemingly still happening as of writing this post, and I regret to inform you all that the pain train seems to be rolling onward. In my exploration of the app, I found seemingly confidential prompts addressing doubts/issues with significant others, including one woman questioning whether her male partner is truly a feminist. I also uncovered a self-identified 66-year-old man asking where he can find women who are interested in “older men,” and just a few hours later, inquiring about transgender women in Thailand.

There are distinct advantages to being an AI luddite.

 

[BeTheMatch]

Surveillance pricing