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Comment by winningcontinue | Hacker News Reader

Privacy invasion and feeling creepy at the airline level is alright. I registered for the flight and paid for it through my ticket checkout. In addition, I'm usually part of their loyalty program when I fly. What I don't appreciate is what happened to me at a high end mall while on vacation in Spain. Walked into the store, the sales person smiled and me and called me by my name. I never met her before and that type of interaction was quite jarring. I was left wondering where have I seen this person for a bit, striking up a friendly conversation to jog my memory. Then she explained that a camera had captured and recognized me through my face on her screen. Creepy.

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People will get used to it. There was a time when American Express phone agents knew what customer was calling, but wouldn't mention their name until the customer did. The agent calling the customer by name was considered creepy. Now it's normal.

Unlikely, in the EU, because who the hell is going to consent to that in line with GDPR?

I think it’d be a lot of (evil) fun to form a crowdfunded entity with the sole purpose of suing companies that egregiously violate privacy norms. Given the level of support for the GDPR in many quarters, I think funding goals can be easily reached. Some lawyers might also want to jump on the bandwagon and make themselves a name (and profit).

In European Union legal systems does not have extensive compensation for damages like in US. Instead of class action lawsuits the government (consumer agencies) represents non-corporate interest.

So what means exist for consumers to seek redressal in the event of wrong doing by a corporation? Or should they just write to the relevant agency and hope that it picks it up?

I know that the EU competition commission does some solid work, but judging by some of the laws passed (I mean the recent internet copyright law, and the past anti-piracy laws), it’d seem the news and media companies have got the agencies deep in their pockets.

> I think it’d be a lot of (evil) fun to form a crowdfunded entity with the sole purpose of suing companies that egregiously violate privacy norms.

Enforcement is one dedicated organization per country. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... for the possible sanctions such an organization could apply. It can be pretty minor.

There's a proposed EU law which is pretty much terrible. GPDR is great (IMO).

How does it work - can people actually report violations to this enforcement agency? How hard/likely is it for a company to simply buy their way into these agencies?

> How does it work - can people actually report violations to this enforcement agency? How hard/likely is it for a company to simply buy their way into these agencies?

I can't speak for all of Europe, but in Northern Europe this would be very unlikely to happen. The governments and agencies aren't flawless here either, but at least they are quite honest and uncorrupted.

Pretty much everybody who just clicks "I accept" by reflex.

So... pretty much everybody.

As a sidenote, I aboslutely hate it when they make you dial all the digits of your credit card and then when you reach a human being, you have to tell them the digits again.

Alas,the fault is with our profession. The risk is too great to assume the ACD properly routed the (effectively) out-of-band account details in lockstep with the voice traffic.

That would not sit well with me and would feel like an invasion of privacy.

But if I have an account with an airline and purchase a ticket, I'd feel pleased if they tried to make a connection in an authentic and kind way by relating to me with my name or with my beverage history. Probably not my past flight history though.

I'm sorry, I find it hard to believe. How would this even be legal? What database they were using? Sorry, it all makes no sense.

Privacy glasses maybe? Though you might have some far more serious issues with airport safety if you wear them.

http://www.reflectacles.com/

While I appreciate the intent & the technical solution, why should I be paying for anything to protect me from someone's unhealthy interest in my data?

Privacy is a human right. We should punish the offenders, not the subjects.

You could choose to live in a cave, not paying for water nor electricity, and not move more than 10km from your home in your entire life, but sadly the last people who tried at a massive scale died at age 30 and it was called "the Middle Age".

Seriously though, you could fight tooth and nail to have your privacy protected (GDPR lawsuit, whatnot) but it's time consuming, and surely you have better to do.

You could also ask why you pay for locks on your doors, when the things you buy are yours; why you have to pay for a parking spot; etc.

You may have misunderstood me. It's not about not wanting to pay for value -- it's about putting the right economic incentive to promote the behavior beneficial to the general public (and each individual).

I paid for my lock, but I did not fortify my home. That would be unreasonable, because the society I live in discourages theft, codified it in some rules and actively enforces them, to discourage the unwanted behaviors. And yes, I pay for this through my taxes. I believe I get value for money.

In a similar fashion I expect privacy intrusion to be frowned upon and policed. Surely I have better to do than filing GDPR lawsuits -- or searching for the latest privacy glasses. But I don't want to spend my time searching for such gadgets just because someone on the Internet thinks they're fine.

I don't want the privacy glasses in the very same way I don't want a fortress for a home. I hope you understand.

Any idea where the face image data came from?

Honest question, are there any groups or categories of people who would appreciate that kind of mall experience?

I think even those desperate for connection or attention might not even enjoy it.

But from the seller's perspective it's a conversation starter and gets your attention. Sales at kiosks are a numbers game and the more people you talk to the more sales you'll make.

>> Then she explained that a camera had captured and recognized me through my face on her screen.

The store had a system capable of recognising the face of any person who would walk through its door? Like, any random person on the whole planet?

What I don't appreciate is what happened to me at a high end mall while on vacation in Spain.

Would you mind sharing which mall exactly was that?

La Roca Village in Barcelona

I'd believe that fashion firms are very sensitive to bad publicity. A lot of them have shops in that mall. Maybe if a number of them made complaints that they're receiving mails from customers that felt unconfortable with that kind of intrusion, it would be removed.

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