[PLUG] Big Data Surplus (Surveillance Capitalism)

[Paul Heinlein]

On Wed, 8 Jan 2020, Rich Shepard wrote:

> 'Convenience' is the amber in which the surveillence capitalists try 
> to entomb us.

While true (and catchy!), this makes the decision to use Big Tech 
Services an either/or. I think it's more of a risk assessment, with 
shades of gray. Sometimes the convenience is worth the risks -- my 
data being mined, risk of data loss or leakage, etc -- and sometimes 
it's not.

I think the best way to head into this coversation is to make risk 
assessment the starting point. I don't use Google for e-mail (don't 
care to have all my messages scanned, however benignly, by people I 
don't know) but I do use Google calendar (I can obfuscate or even omit 
events I wouldn't want others to know about). Other people's data and 
personal circumstances present different risks and they perhaps will 
reach different conclusions.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W