• davidalso@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I know it’s for advertising but there’s a paranoid little corner of my mind that imagines insurance companies paying for some of these, uh, “user insights.”

    • Betty White In HD@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      That’s not just you being paranoid, this data is 100% meant to be sold to data aggregates and one of the reasons why people made a very brief stink about Cambridge Analytica years ago.

      This is why data privacy is so important, this shit gets out to bad actors, even if it is “properly” used only for advertising.

      • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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        2 years ago

        No it isnt, Cambridge Analytica was a data leak through a Facebook exploit, advertising companies don’t sell data because it’s more profitable for them to be the only ones with it.

        • Betty White In HD@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          I don’t think so it was not really a leak through an exploit. Data was collected by one party through Facebook was bought by CA and then used mainly for targeted political advertisement.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook–Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal

          advertising companies don’t sell data because it’s more profitable for them to be the only ones with it.

          Like hell they don’t. How do you think they monetize your data in the first place?

          • dan@upvote.au
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            2 years ago

            It wasn’t an exploit, but it was data scraping via the API. That’s why the API is so locked down now - for example, you can’t create a third-party FB app any more.

            How do you think they monetize your data in the first place?

            It’s all ads. No data is sold. It’s not the data that’s monetized; it’s your attention.

          • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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            2 years ago

            I don’t think so it was not really a leak through an exploit. Data was collected by one party through Facebook was bought by CA and then used mainly for targeted political advertisement.

            Yeah, so an exploit

            How do you think they monetize your data in the first place?

            Advertising. Did you not read my comment? Have you never looked at their earnings?

    • VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      Ho no it’s not just for advertising anymore. Insurance companies and more have started buying your info from data brokers.

      • Rufio@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        Hopefully that means they’ll start giving me better rates!

        • Boz (he/him)@lemmy.one
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          2 years ago

          No, they’ll start raising rates for people with weight loss apps on their phone, or refusing coverage for people who made too many phone calls to an oncologist, or got a lot of texts from their pharmacy saying “X prescription is ready.” Companies collecting medical data is very, very scary for a lot of people.

    • Tangent5280@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Even worse in the third world without many of the data protection that first world citizens enjoy. Nobody gives a shit who gets their own data - Data Privacy advocates get hassled by the very people they are advocating for.