Google+ and unrelated PayPal slash
Mar. 1st, 2012 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rheasilviaIn case anyone is still using Google+: I deleted my account there. I wasn't using it anyway, and Google hasn't been putting me in a trusting mood lately (or ever, really).
Many people don't think much of letting big corporations have their data - they don't notice it, after all, and it's such a non-material thing that it's hard to imagine concrete consequences. It's easy not to worry. What use can anyone make of that useless data anyway, right? It's nothing secret, nothing to hide or be ashamed of!
But take it from someone who's seen several companies do astounding things with seemingly innocuous data: What you think of as harmless, insignificant information can be cross-referenced, fed into analytic programs, enriched in dozens of ways, and interpreted by intricate algorithms based on statistical findings... and suddenly there is good, solid data there for the corporation in question to sell. And it will sell. Every company that can get its hands on data uses it and sells it on; it's the goldmine of the information age.
And then, the fact that you have cut back on spending the last month or so (sending up a flag that there is a good statistical chance you have lost your job and will soon be unable to pay your bills, even though you are still doing so now) leads to a store refusing to extend credit, or your cellphone provider not renewing your contract with the same favorable conditions, or any of a dozen other things. Chances are you will never make the connection. But it's there.
Right! End of rant. :-)
In other news, I am seriously thinking of writing a kinky non-con Ebay/PayPal slash story (with bonus voyeur!Google lurking creepily in the bushes). It'd be my gnat-like kick to the gigantic corporate shin of PayPal, whose ongoing censorship drive is getting more and more out of hand.
Many people don't think much of letting big corporations have their data - they don't notice it, after all, and it's such a non-material thing that it's hard to imagine concrete consequences. It's easy not to worry. What use can anyone make of that useless data anyway, right? It's nothing secret, nothing to hide or be ashamed of!
But take it from someone who's seen several companies do astounding things with seemingly innocuous data: What you think of as harmless, insignificant information can be cross-referenced, fed into analytic programs, enriched in dozens of ways, and interpreted by intricate algorithms based on statistical findings... and suddenly there is good, solid data there for the corporation in question to sell. And it will sell. Every company that can get its hands on data uses it and sells it on; it's the goldmine of the information age.
And then, the fact that you have cut back on spending the last month or so (sending up a flag that there is a good statistical chance you have lost your job and will soon be unable to pay your bills, even though you are still doing so now) leads to a store refusing to extend credit, or your cellphone provider not renewing your contract with the same favorable conditions, or any of a dozen other things. Chances are you will never make the connection. But it's there.
Right! End of rant. :-)
In other news, I am seriously thinking of writing a kinky non-con Ebay/PayPal slash story (with bonus voyeur!Google lurking creepily in the bushes). It'd be my gnat-like kick to the gigantic corporate shin of PayPal, whose ongoing censorship drive is getting more and more out of hand.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-02 10:32 pm (UTC)