Something needs to happen to clue in the average person about why this is such a problem. I don’t know what that something is though. Continued breaches of privacy? The government and police continuing to make obvious use of the data they can easily buy from any of these companies? What is it going to take for people to care and for laws to be made to prevent more of this going forward?
I was talking to my insurance company the other day and they warned me that if I make any changes to my policy they’ll drastically jack up my rate because of the changes in the economy. But I can bring it down a bit if I install their tracking software on my phone that can interface with my vehicle and send all of my driving data to them. It would tell them everywhere I ever go whenever I drive, my exact speed at any moment, braking habits, etc. Does anyone ever say yes to this? Do people realize that they could sift through everything you’ve ever done effortlessly with AI to find that one time in your life you came to a rolling stop at a deserted stop sign and claim you’re a dangerous driver who doesn’t follow the rules of the road in order to deny your claim?
Is there a chance in hell that one day this won’t be a requirement just to have vehicle insurance? Why isn’t everyone up in arms about their data being harvested and sold to the highest bidder? Why are there not laws being made against this kind of undemocratic, authoritarian control over people? I am so disappointed in my fellow man, both the ones guilty of the harvesting and everyone who couldn’t be bothered to complain and put a stop to this.
I wonder if it’d be worth spoofing packets with some automation? Get that sweet discount and still maintain your privacy?
If insurance companies mandate tracking I could see new efforts to do this like piracy and adblocking came about.
Imagine getting caught and having your claim denied or being sued for insurance fraud. I’m happy to use ublock origin, but what you’re describing is playing with fire. We need to make sure it never gets to this point in the first place by making it illegal for insurance companies to do this.
I was talking to my insurance company the other day and they warned me that if I make any changes to my policy they’ll drastically jack up my rate because of the changes in the economy.
This is when you sternly warn the agent/sales rep that this behavior will result in you seeking a new insurance company AND agent for all of your needs
I did. He assured me in more professional terms that they don’t give a shit. I do a lot of business with them and have been a client in good standing since I became an adult. They apparently have nothing set up to retain customers who leave over this, which would indicate that hasn’t been an issue for them. Or they might be banking on me not following through, but that just means they don’t know me very well. When it comes time for me to make those changes to my policy, I’m gone.
Yeah they’re probably banking on people not leaving. Depending on if that agent is good to you and if he/she is local; you should consider just asking them to help you shop around because you need “Change XYZ in your ABC policy” and you need a provider who isn’t going to shaft you for making that change.
If they are not a local agent with access to multiple insurance providers…I guess find one locally.
Oh crap I was about to try changes to my auto policy on the lizard’s online portal to see if I could get it any cheaper while still having enough liability, uninsured, property damage, collision and comprehensive for my litigious state. Glad I saw your warning not to consider modifications in this screwy market. Thank you!
I still may shop it to a different company before my end-August 45% rate hike. Not considering the phone spyware discount though, for the reasons you mentioned.
God dammit! Im going to build my own hardware from scratch!
Common boys! Pack the shovels we need silicon!
You could just uncheck one option
There are reasons for data collection. But having it be opt out instead of opt in is the more evil of the two choices.
Fedora, from what I last heard, is doing the same thing for new installs. You gonna go send your pitchfork over that way too?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/pG0yq2ATWbc
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
2023 Might actually be the year I become a ludite at this rate. Did every tech company just decide this would be the year to make everything shitty?
The luddites were against technology being used to abuse and subjugate workers and drive down wages, so yes I’m absolutely a Luddite.
So, unnecessary, stressing, repetitive, and dangerous work should still be done manually with worse results?
I’m not totally against all telemetry… but can they at least be transparent about when they use it, and exactly what they’re collecting? It really could be as simple as just defaulting to asking the user.
Debian approaches this sort of information gathering in the most respectful way I’ve seen so far. During the installation process there’s a screen where you are presented the option to participate in sharing package popularity statistics. It’s opt-in, just like it should be. Doing this sort of thing with the possibility to opt-out is super shady, but unfortunately very common these days.
