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Originally shared by George Kozi So I sat at my desk with a cup of coffee in my hand, and th...


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Originally shared by George Kozi

 

So... I sat at my desk with a cup of coffee in my hand, and thought let's light a small figurative fire under these geeks :D So here comes:

 

Is it alright for a company to gather data over your routine activities on the internet, and sell it to someone else? What if that data is about what your kid does on the Internet?

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I agree that I'd prefer an opt-in, but by choosing to do business with a company, I'm agreeing to abide by the rules of that company. The company has the right to do what they want - even if it means selling your location and personal information to whoever will pay. If I don't like it, I'm free to cut ties or don't use them to begin with.

 

The problem comes when that company is a government-supported monopoly in your area, such as an ISP. In that case the people should make sure the government enforces what's right for the people.

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Ben Reese Yep, the lack of choice, in practice, is where bad behavior becomes a real problem.

 

It's not a choice if your other option is dialup, or to pay more money, or to have a connection so slow it's unusable, or many other reasons.

 

Can you choose which peer your ISP uses that might collect data and sell it? What about their peers? What about your cell company peers as you go between areas of the country? What about their partners for international access? Is it even a problem if the data is "this IP we transport is always on VPN?"

 

Sadly, there are many reasons why it starts to make sense for a third party to step in and enforce things ordinary people might not even know they need. :(

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Shane Conder I disagree on one point: cost. If the company is subsidizing the service by selling data, I don't see why another company couldn't charge more for the same service and not sell the data.

 

If we're talking about ISPs selling data, then I see no problem with using a VPN to mask the data they're trying to sell. That's not feasible for everyone, but not everyone cares.

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Ben Reese What if they're selling the data that you're using a VPN? And what if you do that from a country, or to a country, where a VPN is illegal now, or in the future? What if all current and past VPN users are rounded up, because maybe they have something to hide?

 

Sounds stupid, of course, but if an ISP is selling any usage data, there are clear privacy concerns. Many are unavoidable, of course.

 

On the cost: I agree with what you're saying. An ISP not selling data should be charging more. Makes sense.

 

It depends on the value selling can get, I guess. I don't know what such data is worth, but what if it's the difference between a $20 ISP and an $80 ISP? The more expensive one being smaller, and so their own costs are higher. To many, that $60 difference removes the choice. For others, they still have to use the library for access and are tracked by who knows how many entities.

 

A while ago, I would have thought $60 for that sort of data was enormous. It probably is. But some services seem to get a lot of value out of simple data. I mean, Facebook is willing to pay $20 a month for network data on phones. Lol

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