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Comment by sqdbps | Hacker News Reader

The Equifax thing didn't result in regulation and that was an actual scandal with real ramification not a pile-on by a press seeking to vilify an ad financed competitor.

Funny how the Times is using silly metafilter vernacular now:

"the consumer surveillance model" -- it's the same business model that's been supporting news publication for more than a century.

As for the GDPR it's similar to the recent digital tax proposal and numerous other initiatives by the EU intended to attack US businesses, the US government doesn't share that motivation and it must condemn and push against these EU actions.

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>It's the same business model that's been supporting publication for more than a century.

I think there's an enormous difference between advertising in print, advertising on the internet, and what is currently the status quo, which is active surveillance of all information consumed and every movement that individuals make across the internet and in the real world by data linked through GPS/ cell phone location, credit card purchases, etc.

I'm aware that this is the new reality, but comparing it to print advertising (or even pop up ads of the early internet) is disingenuous at best.

Print ads were always backed by market research and data brokerage (buying lists of magazine subscribers, club memberships etc).

As for storing data that is generated by their platform that is these companies' prerogative, it's their data as much as it is yours.

> it's their data as much as it is yours.

Debatable.

The EU has decided that is in fact, yours.

> comparing it to print advertising is disingenuous at best.

Right. First, print advertising could only target the entire subscriber base. Second, they had a limited amount of data on you based on voluntary surveys and census tracts, not a list of every single thing you read, and where you are every minute of every day. Finally, print publications actually cared about reuse/misuse of their address lists. The list they sold you would include some addresses they controlled, so if you resold or reused it, they would catch you.

There are ways to deliver effective ads with a whole lot less surveillance.

Also credit card purchase records.

I think western countries are finally realizing that there are national security implications to having all this information about their citizen’s private lives available for the asking.

The kgb would have dreamed about having this much intelligence on the American public and thanks to Facebook, the fsb could get it through a stupid personality quiz.

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