Google data collection in your back yard

[Ferris]

It's all just... pain in the arse.

Did you see the letter some crypto bigwig sent to Toronto's movers and shakers? Laid out the case against Sidewalk Labs pretty well. If you haven't I'll see if I can dig it up.

Where are you thinking of moving to?

Very true, and it's a choice I would make if I could, but unfortunately my livelihood and that of my family depends on me being connected.

This really made me laugh.

I'm going to have a look for that crypto letter now, but if you have a copy handy I'd take the link to avoid me having to do any work.

We're planning on moving somewhere cheaper with 2 bedrooms but still in the downtown core. So either we find an apartment down the back of the sofa, or go back in time to the '90s. Failing that, upper beaches or danforth. Trying to last in our place as long as possible...

[QDRPHNC]

Here's a link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/roger-mcnamee-calls-for-end-to-sidewalk-labs-1.5163936

You can still find a bargain on east Danforth - well, as much of a bargain as you can have in Toronto real estate. Right on the subway line, but gentrification is moving east slowly.

[Ferris]

Still enough shootings and hookah bars up there to keep the yuppies away. For now, at least.

[Zetetic]

GDPR means you have to consent to having your data used in an "appropriate" manner.

No, it doesn't. GDPR is a positive step forward in many ways; it certainly doesn't rely on 'consent' as the only basis for lawfully processing data.

For example, information related to assessing your credit score is mostly shared and processed on a 'legitimate interest' basis - nothing to do with consent.

[QDRPHNC]

Still enough shootings and hookah bars up there to keep the yuppies away. For now, at least.

They've all been welcomed to greektown by the time, etc.

[QDRPHNC]

As somewhat of an antidote against all this worry, I just logged into Facebook to be presented with a video they produced for me, with inspirational messages, footage of innocent children playing and sincere, diverse young people tilling the good earth, all against a backdrop of pictures of the TV I sold on there last year.

Big data my arse.

[Zetetic]

No, it doesn't. GDPR is a positive step forward in many ways...

Besides which, of course, neither Toronto and wherever Twed has come to rest are in the EU.

[chveik]

Besides which, of course, neither Toronto and wherever Twed has come to rest are in the EU.

just you wait

[Zetetic]

Yeah, that too.

[BlodwynPig]

There is an interesting point there, that as data collection becomes ever more prevalent, we will be required to avoid physical spaces as well as digital ones.

Fuck that. Im wearing strong magnets

[imitationleather]

EDIT: WRONG THREAD

[QDRPHNC]

Fuck that. Im wearing strong magnets

Fine, but don't expect me to jump in when you become attached to a passing ambulance.

[Ferris]

just you wait

First deployment of that EU army I've heard all about?

Fine, but don't expect me to jump in when you become attached to a passing ambulance.

Ambulance? It's all Uber X these days, granddad.

[TrenterPercenter]

No, it doesn't. GDPR is a positive step forward in many ways; it certainly doesn't rely on 'consent' as the only basis for lawfully processing data.

For example, information related to assessing your credit score is mostly shared and processed on a 'legitimate interest' basis - nothing to do with consent.

Yes but "legitimate interest" only allows limited personal data and data pertaining to limited categories. 

[QDRPHNC]

So I admit I might have had something of a laissez-faire attitude to Google building a neighbourhood in Toronto's waterfront area, but I was probably just a bit drunk at the time, and a new report about the plan has come out which highlights some seriously creepy shit.

- Google will privately own and regulate roads in the area.
- Charter schools.
- The power to levy and spend property taxes without democratic oversight.
- A Google-owned corporate criminal justice system.
- Continuous surveillance.

Creepiest bit: residents who decide not to share their data with Google and remain private, will face limited services.

- May not be able to use automated taxis.
- Cannot buy from merchants who aren't willing to accept cash.

Actually no, this is a creepiest bit. Google wants to implement a "new currency for community co-operation" so that Google may reward good social behaviour. It is, quote, "an accountability system based on personal identity".

I've been really in the mood lately to really go fucking mental on something, this may be it.

Posted from my Pixel^TM!

[mrpupkin]

Wait til you hear what AltaVista are doing.

[Paul Calf]

Just wait until it is a factor in

• Your credit score
• How much you have to pay to remain healthy ("oh I see you've been getting a lot of pizzas delivered, that puts you into the NHS Plus+ Deferred Payment Conditional Access Plan)
• Providing evidence for legal proceedings you might be involved in
• A system where you employer can monitor your whereabouts in case you're skiving
• Inflated-prices adjusted to reflect what merchants think you, personally, can pay

These aren't even the headline scenarios, they're just things I'm rattling off. Invasive data protection will make your life worse and worse, especially if you let things just slide.

This is absolutely on the money. Cambridge Analytica and their friends are just the beginning; economic and social manipulation (which is happening and will intensify) aside, we're a ball-hair away from a genuinely totalitarian regime getting their claws on all this surveillance estate - by orders of magnitude, the biggest and most comprehensive in history.

That I'm so enmeshed in it really does sometimes keep me awake at night, but so do debt and poverty and I have more control over this particular stress.

The alternative, the only way to completely untangle from it all, is to opt out of the modern world entirely.

[touchingcloth]

Yes but "legitimate interest" only allows limited personal data and data pertaining to limited categories.

The ICO have explicitly said that LI can be a lawful basis for processing and sharing data related to credit scores. PDF link - https://ico.org.uk/media/about-the-ico/consultations/2013551/draft-gdpr-consent-guidance-for-consultation-201703.pdf:

When is consent inappropriate?
...
If you would still process the personal data on a different lawful basis even if consent were refused or withdrawn, then seeking consent from the individual is misleading and inherently unfair. It presents the individual with a false choice and only the illusion of control. You should identify the most appropriate lawful basis from the start.

Example

A company that provides credit cards asks its customers to give consent for their personal data to be sent to credit reference agencies for credit scoring.

However, if a customer refuses or withdraws their consent, the credit card company will still send the data to the credit reference agencies on the basis of 'legitimate interests'. So asking for consent is misleading and inappropriate – there is no real choice. The company should have relied on 'legitimate interests' from the start. To ensure fairness and transparency, the company should still tell customers this will happen, but this is very different from giving them a choice.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Actually no, this is a creepiest bit. Google wants to implement a "new currency for community co-operation" so that Google may reward good social behaviour. It is, quote, "an accountability system based on personal identity".

Like they do in the technocratic dictatorship of China.

[Paul Calf]

Is China a technocracy? I always thought they derived their principles of government from old episodes of The Waltons.

[Ferris]

So I admit I might have had something of a laissez-faire attitude to Google building a neighbourhood in Toronto's waterfront area, but I was probably just a bit drunk at the time, and a new report about the plan has come out which highlights some seriously creepy shit.

- Google will privately own and regulate roads in the area.
- Charter schools.
- The power to levy and spend property taxes without democratic oversight.
- A Google-owned corporate criminal justice system.
- Continuous surveillance.

Creepiest bit: residents who decide not to share their data with Google and remain private, will face limited services.

- May not be able to use automated taxis.
- Cannot buy from merchants who aren't willing to accept cash.

Actually no, this is a creepiest bit. Google wants to implement a "new currency for community co-operation" so that Google may reward good social behaviour. It is, quote, "an accountability system based on personal identity".

I've been really in the mood lately to really go fucking mental on something, this may be it.

Posted from my Pixel^TM!

And all of this is being overseen by city council. Have they verified what jurisdiction the data servers will be stored in? Have they looked at every facet in detail? Or are they bored public servants doing whatever bare minimum they need to.

It's frustrating that this real estate is being handed over for nothing. The process is so badly overseen, and it's going to start impacting me and mine, and I have no recourse.

[Sebastian Cobb]

If it proves unprofitable, or legislation stops them harvesting data, you know it'll end up looking like a sad abandoned expo site.

[Ferris]

If it proves unprofitable, or legislation stops them harvesting data, you know it'll end up looking like a sad abandoned expo site.

The most valuable real estate in Canada? I very much doubt it

[Sebastian Cobb]

The most valuable real estate in Canada? I very much doubt it

[Ferris]

If only we got a new monorail out of it

[Ferris]

Nothing to see here, let's absolutely give them whatever they want

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/12/google-medical-data-project-nightingale-secret-transfer-us-health-information