I've been viscerally opposed to regulating technology except the the most rare of circumstances.
That was before our new masters of the universe turned us into the subjects of black-box science experiments at accelerating speeds -- and fired the people who think about the ethics of it all.
This is unacceptable, and if the public doesn't wake up, a few mega-wealthy and powerful people could ruin everything for everyone but (temporarily) themselves.
@dangillmor Or you can just choose to opt-out of those "black-box science experiments".
If nobody used them, they'd vanish in a heartbeat.
But that requires self-control, which so few people seem to possess.
However, any time you reply to an email with someone who has a GMail address (or any other email providers that are part of the "surveillance capitalism" system), you have opted-in.
Though, it's often more subtle. As @briankrebs points out in https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/109880177018417627 , if anybody who has you in their contact list installs an app supporting that business model you have been opted-in whether you like it or not.
/eof
@mcrocker @dangillmor @briankrebs They haven't "opted you in" to anything. They've shared data you shared with them with a company, as is their right. If you don't want other people to share your data, then either don't give it to them or ask them not to share it.
That said, personal data privacy is one of the few areas where the government could stand to be a bit more involved.
@mcrocker @LouisIngenthron @dangillmor I hear people here go on all the time about how Gmail is bad because their bots scan your email to serve you ads, hence Google is part of the borg, etc. They respond to legal process just the same as every other email provider.
My email is with Gmail because they offer me more protection options for keeping my account from getting hacked than any other service out there. That's basically it.
@briankrebs @mcrocker @dangillmor I don't use them for my personal email, but I do use them for some work stuff, and I have to add that their anti-spam is top-notch as well.
Which protection options are that? (I'm not a customer there, so I wouldn't know) I thought a high-entropy password for IMAPS and additional TOTP for account service login would be the regular protection one would want to have?
https://posteo.de/en or mailbox_org@mastodon.social seem to be doing the job…? (I also found this list of alternatives, not sure about them: https://prxbx.com/email/)
@mcrocker @LouisIngenthron @dangillmor
@mcrocker @dangillmor Which tells you that the "science experiments" offer more value to those people than they take.
For example: I don't sign up for grocery store rewards programs because they're gross violations of privacy, but most people do. They just see a different value proposition than I do.
@LouisIngenthron @dangillmor I applaud and agree with your sentiment. unfortunately, it takes a concerted effort to opt out of those "black-box science experiments", which is more than most busy people have time for...
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