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Comment by timmg | Hacker News Reader

I'll probably get hate for this, but:

I've never used an ad blocker. I (generally) always "accept all cookies" from that European thing. I do use "incognito mode" sometimes -- but not often.

I've never gotten any malware or other things like that. I've never had someone show up at my door in a black coat. I personally think that most of the concerns people have about targeted ads is much ado about nothing.

I'll also say: my phone company knows everyone I've called. My credit card company knows everywhere I've traveled or eaten. And I'm pretty sure those guys *sell* my info. But people generally don't seem concerned about that(?)

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Do you also avoid getting life insurance because you've never died before? For me, like the author of the article, it's not the targeted ads that are concerning, but the amount of data one company can have and aggregate in once place. Even if that data isn't being used in a nefarious way now doesn't mean that it never will be. Also, I AM concerned about banks and telephone companies selling my data, but that wasn't the topic of this article.

> Do you also avoid getting life insurance because you've never died before?

No, I get life insurance for free from my job ;)

But if your question can be translated to, "Do you avoid every possible risk in your life?" The answer is, "No. Ain't nobody got time for that. But I do try to be pragmatic about what risks I do take."

yeah I think thats the worry, all this information is being gathered and sold to whoever will buy it and combine it and reuse it for whatever they want.

say an insurance company wants to see who they can raise the prices on without losing customers, then they can look at the data and work out peoples personalities and single out some that fit a profile of someone who wont go looking for a new insurance company just because their insurance premiums went up.

Same thing for health care, if a company wants to see how people live so they can anticipate if their children will be healthy or at higher risk depending on how their parents lived then they can know who not to cover or who will be charged more to cover in the future. it can become the new credit score but one you cant change.

whatever happens I just assume it wont be for my own good but for the profit of others so I try and be mindful of privacy when I can

ironically, phone and CC have tons of laws that prevent them from selling your data. well, outside the usa and uk.

that's why you have all those reward cards, programs and such.

I directly benefit from my credit card company keeping tabs on spending for fraud prevention. Could say a similar thing for phone companies logging calls, in the case of e.g. someone spoofing your number and doing something illegal - authorities can request that info and find the call never came from you.

I can't imagine a scenario where random websites tracking my internet browsing benefits me in any way, other than maybe advertising a product I'd actually like?

This type of concentration of power in a privately held for-profit corporate entity is bad. There isn't any reason to trust a random Google employee - dozens of whom have been fired by Google for accessing personal data. Removing the temptation from an unaccountable giant corporation is the best approach, IMO. Abuse of power doesn't affect everyone; but we still have laws against many forms of it.

https://theprivacydad.com/what-is-your-isp/ I wrote about that here. I read my ISP's entire privacy policy and asked them for a report of all the info they have about me. It is a concern, but not the topic of this article.

You are not alone.

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