I have come to believe that businesses should not be legally allowed to store any consumer data unless it's obvious to the consumer that it's absolutely required for the primary function of the service, and they should only be allowed to store data for that one function, with an exception if the consumer explicitly and voluntarily opts-in for each additional function.
Large internet companies have been collecting swathes of data with the claim that they are secretly using it to improve people's lives. But it seems to me that A/B testing has failed to improve anyone's life.
Example:
I use search engines to search for something I'm looking for.
I do not benefit from being shown 'targeted' ads, nor from the search engine identifying the most populist answers which it uses to spoon-feed me later rather than serve what I asked for, nor from the search engine identifying which particular arrangement of pixels will leave me personally more addicted.
Businesses are welcome to use my data in ways which are in my interest, but they should not get to decide which of these uses are in my interest.
1. The issue of what is "in your interest" is not so black and white. For instance, one of the reasons Google is still so popular is because it more consistently returns the results we want. On many DDG discussions (or Bing-related discussions when it was still being discussed), this has been raised as a deal-breaking issue for many people. Google's results are often more relevant and useful. This is in part because of Google's vast store of consumer data. Now, you may argue that their results are better for other reasons, but the fact is that using their consumer data is an integral part of their ranking algorithm, and people like their ranking algorithm.
2. On a more cynical note, it seems that governments and corporations are aligned in their interest to collect as much data about citizens as possible. I doubt that the U.S. government will mandate a reduction in storage of consumer data, when they themselves benefit regularly from that data thanks to widespread use of NSLs and other legal and extralegal demands.
1.
Sure. My point is that I should have the right to choose what's in my interest, rather than have a company tell me what's in my interest. At a minimum, companies should explicitly say exactly what they are doing with my data. That's part of our agreement, after all. I use DDG for this reason. Actually I'm not super-happy with DDG in this respect: I believe there is some shady blurring of their promotional message vs the small print. But I would rather support DDG than Google, for now.
I don't think DDG needs to or should be catering for the people who find a lack of super-personalised results deal-breaking:
a) the world certainly doesn't need DDG to ape Google. There needs to be more competition in this space, and DDG's position distinguishes it. I hope and believe there is a market for a variety of search engines (as there are around the world).
b) in blind-testing, I'm not aware there is any evidence that Google does better.
2.
I hold out hope that the EU data protection principles will one day be properly upheld within the EU. I have no such hope for the US government.
I have come to believe that businesses should not be legally allowed to store any consumer data unless it's obvious to the consumer that it's absolutely required for the primary function of the service, and they should only be allowed to store data for that one function, with an exception if the consumer explicitly and voluntarily opts-in for each additional function.
Large internet companies have been collecting swathes of data with the claim that they are secretly using it to improve people's lives. But it seems to me that A/B testing has failed to improve anyone's life.
Example: I use search engines to search for something I'm looking for.
I do not benefit from being shown 'targeted' ads, nor from the search engine identifying the most populist answers which it uses to spoon-feed me later rather than serve what I asked for, nor from the search engine identifying which particular arrangement of pixels will leave me personally more addicted.
Businesses are welcome to use my data in ways which are in my interest, but they should not get to decide which of these uses are in my interest.