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Comment by HWR_14 | Hacker News Reader

Funny, I assume the exact opposite. I'm guessing many people oppose government data collection but because they are buying data on the open market from people who "opt in", they're okay with it.

I wish there was the ability to make a poll:

* This is fine, privacy is dead.

* This is okay because of private companies collecting and selling the data, even to the government

* This is okay because the government is using this data to enforce laws I believe in, even though it rewards private data merchants.

* Everyone involved is evil, the contracts should be voided and the companies dissolved.

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There's also

* The data collection is fine, but the government shouldn't be allowed to circumvent checks and balances by buying this data

* The government using such data without warrant is fine, but it shouldn't be sold on the open market

We all committed privacy suicide when we bought smartphones. The data that we thought should be out of government hands, we put into the hands of many businesses. I agree it seems unsettling, but why can’t the government purchase information on the open market?

> … why can’t the government purchase information on the open market?

The most obvious answer would be that they're spending our money in a way which is contrary to our interests. If it were their own funds, and they had no powers beyond those of any other private citizen or organization, that would be one thing. But they're supposed to be acting on our behalf, in our interests rather than their own, and to many people this does not qualify.

Personally I would focus less on the fact that they've obtained this information and more on (a) the fact that this information is available on the market and (b) how they (and others) intend to use it.

That was the point I was inadequately trying to draw attention to also. Yes.

* It’s much more urgent to address how private companies use the data, since we at least have some visibility into what the government is doing with it.

https://strawpoll.com/a584xf5re

Can we...can we have at least one "not okay" option that doesn't brand everyone involved as evil?

If it's not okay, then everyone involved made a choice to be complicit in something that is "not okay". Willingly participating in harmful activities isn't evil?

The action is evil, but I don’t think that makes the person evil.

People are much more complex than a single choice.

Second, while I might think the action is “not okay”, they might be reasoning from different principles, or different evidence than I am. Maybe, instead of being complicit in something I view as “not okay”, they have valid reasons to think it’s “okay”.

I’m just not so willing to condemn every person with such a broad brush just because I disagree on this conclusion.

Only if you do it while twirling a mustache.

this is bad because people who opt in think either that their data is not being sold to third parties or that the third party buying data is another company, nobody when opting in assumes that their data will be used in an investigation that can then lead to criminal charges.

Whether I think it's fine or not, privacy is dead.

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