So conflicted on whether to get in to tik tok. Everyone is sharing stuff from there these days, but it is in a head-to-head battle with FaceBook for which is less trustworthy with respect for data privacy

@worldsendless

I'm not a TikTok person, but my wife enjoys it. She says there's a system to getting the content you want to see, but she sure does find a lot of very conservative content on there. So, I know it exists.

The problem comes with having the app on your phone. The privacy you lose is the fact that app is reporting back to its owners about everything you do OUTSIDE OF WATCHING TIKTOK, which is pretty much true of most apps on your phone.

By the same token, I've looked at the profile that companies like Microsoft and Twitter try to build on you based on your usage. For me, they are always wildly inaccurate. Maybe I'm an aberration, or maybe these analytics aren't as sophisticated as people claim.

@insurgentem It's only a matter of time before they catch up on the profiling, though.

So, tik tok might be good in a controlled desktop browser? Or is it like instagram, phone only?

@worldsendless I just watch the video she sends me a link to, so I don't know if you can easily browse it on a desktop. It's just not my thing.

I don't know about "catching up on profiling". I mean, I totally buy that someone with access to your meta data can construct a very accurate and frightening profile of your movements and your associations, but is that happening in real time all the time for every user?

I seriously doubt it. The problem of a panopticon is that you need a massive army of human beings to keep constant watch over others in real-time. Software isn't going to do that for you.
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@insurgentem Massive army of humans -- like, say, China? I wonder if crowdsourcing in general might be a thing there

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