People Care About Data Privacy, and It's All Open Access on Steem... Uh Oh?
I was thinking about this today. Data privacy is a major concern when you look at the backlash to Facebook and the like. They have private data that is hidden from all, and they sell it to the few who are willing to pay for it.
flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
But then on Steem, all the data is open-access for anyone to have, for any advertiser to get. No one owns it, no one can sell it. There is no company that can profit off of it like Facebook. None of it is privately hidden with only a few hands having access by paying for it.
So, if people get upset about Facebook selling their data which is private, what about Steem where the data isn't even private to begin with? Does not being able to sell the data because it's not private, because its open access and anyone can use it without buying the private data, make it all better? Does that make sense?
Seems like the blockchain isn't the ideal social media method, given how people feel about access to their data.
What do you think? Is it irrelevant? Will people not care anyways, as they already don't care that Facebook sells their data?
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I have been saying this since I began understanding how crypto works. With everything transparent (regardless of chain) once you are tied to a wallet every move you have ever made with it will be there to see forever. Whether that be government or stalkers. Here, many post intimate details which when combined with the very visible wallet could lead to bad results if someone with ill intent were of a mind and used a bot to look for sizable wallets where the owner was posting information that would give location.
People should have woken up to this real scenario when Circle bought Poloniex. They, and everyone they deem a need to know (including purchasers of information, government etc) have all the wallet information to tie with bank accounts and transfers, etc. You see this a lot as well with WordPress plugins. It is started with goof intent, then they sell the plug in and they insert backdoors and malicious code into the plugin that is already installed on the sites for future exploit. As well as could be used for data mining.
Yeah, it can be pretty worrisome. I try to keep my info private by not letting it out in the first place hehe. Some people have no qualms about it though...
We make data. We can't own a lot of that data, for example if we bought a snickers bar with a credit card. That's data that inherently inures to the CC company, the store, and ourselves, at least.
However, surveillance data is proprietary. We may not even know what we did last Saturday when we blacked out drunk, but the landlords cameras captured it, and they know we howled at the moon, or whatever.
Fakebook, spooks, and the creepy industry that's built on our data is all built on proprietary data, not just our public face. This is why privacy matters. When our metadata links us to ISIS through someone we called about buying a hot tub off Craig'slist, then problems really begin, since we don't have that data, and the spooks do.
That's why surveillance data should not be kept proprietary indefinitely, and we should definitely have a right to know what is known about us. We can point out to the spooks that we were only looking for a hot tub, and I'd rather do that before they're asking me why I was talking to ISIS in my cell in Gitmo.
The blockchain is open, and this precludes many of the problems that are surfacing with data sharing.
Also, the creeps spying on us and swapping our data like bored swingers aren't sharing fairly with us. They're not sharing their data. We need to change that, and the blockchain is going to make that happen, because when we use our cameras, our payments, and so on, and their actions are revealed to be criminal, we can post it to the public chain, and there will be no hiding corruption, fraud, and other nefarious deeds that are currently impossible to rein in.
It is the corrupt that have the most to fear from surveillance, blockchain, and data sharing, and this is why they're trying to keep it to themselves. The blockchain fixes that problem.
Thanks!
That's indeed one thing I look forward to for public blockchain use: open records to track whats there and verify ourselves, not just trust the "authorities". Anyone in public office should be mandated to put their data for all to see, if they want to claim the authorities have a right to spy on everyone else.
While the blockchain is open, so people should be aware of what they put on it...it's not the same. Facebook forces you to use your real name, or risk being banned...though they don't necessarily ban many people, unless they feel like it and wanna use that as an excuse. They also put their cookies and javascript EVERYWHERE on the web. You pretty much have to use a browser extension to block just Facebook's tracking. They also buy and sell data.
This all means that the amount of data Facebook has on you is potentially far more than you thought you were sharing.
Plus there's AI to examine everything you do on there. Though that is likely possible on here too.
So, facebook knows that you have a secret underwear fetish, what colors you have bought, and that you're closeted. Well, potentially anyway. In truth, they might just sell your data, or expose it through horrible app security, and actually not give a fuck about the fact that you wear women's shoes.
Yeah, the data tracking is greater. But anyone can grab the data here by accessing the chain. It's available for all to get, not just dependent on one company putting it out there.
Most of it's pretty much the same as any publicly available website. Facebook is a walled garden, part of the "deep web" that's not indexed by search engines, for a large part anyway, but that's actually not incredibly common. Many sites are completely open with their posts and activity. Some eventually get some form of "friends only" feature though.
You just have to scrape a site with a bot. Millions of blogs are like this.
The problem with Facebook is that they pretend like you can set your data to friends only, then expose it all to apps. At least with here, if you look into it, you know that you're putting everything on the chain and exposing it to the world.
This is why I really hate the movement on here pressuring people to expose themselves with their real names and faces. This isn't Facebook. This is a blockchain based blogging service. We need to be very aware of what we put on the chain...though all of us likely expose too much eventually.
There is a big difference between being able to analyse your meta data, thereby getting to know a great deal about your personal preference on STEEM, as opposed to having that information available on a platform that can target you with tailored advertisement. It may become an issue in the future, however it is not at the moment in my opinion.
The blockchain, in time, will probably provide the originator of meta data more control over what is to be made public or not. Such evolutionary change will, likely, be user driven.
Yeah, it's not targeted advertising, can any app can more easily do it, since all the data is there for any to access. There is also no click tracking on the chain, so that's a bonus ;)
The more public a blockchain is, less likely will people commit fraud, or promote vile content. Its pretty revolutionary, and perhaps will increase decency on the web, or maybe it'll prop up nasty groups... who knows. Id rather choose for myself what content I want to see.
Well, if what you do online isn't tied to who you are in real life, it doesn't matter for repercussions in real life...
We do have private messages and I think it would be possible to build private groups where only selected people can see your posts. Right now mostly good interfaces are missing and current cryptography creates some overhead data.
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Frontends can have messaging separate form the chain, but many people are crazed over "decentralization" as a must have for so much. Private groups on the chain would be done how?
The blockchain rendition of what we have might not be the most appealing social media platform currently but I think it's a great first iteration (name and profile pic notwithstanding).
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It's an interesting start indeed, with some issues that need to be corrected, but may not be due to the decentralized nature that requires ppl working together as opposed to letting a central authority manage it for everyone.
Nice topic.
When something is open to everyone people tend to care what they put out. I mean, how many mobile numbers are on steem, almost none, many accounts don't have any pictures and personal data around here. While fb spams you to put a mobile pphone number so many times, until you do, or you keep ignoring. :)
Yup, that can happen. Be careful what you put out ;) But you need a mobile to register a free account on Steemit ;)
ooooh, right - I forgot that one! (facepalm)
Another thing, regarding data on facebook - I think it is highly unlikely that someone will come and ask for krnel's info and stats. It's more likely they will use for statistical studies - and see if you fit in their target audience. However, on steemit and other frontends(at the moment) we don't have ads, so it is kind of a relief. :)
That's what I have asked myself. An open blockchain the content of which is unencrypted is not the ideal platform for communicating with friends and family about private stuff. This is more like the newsgroups of old or Reddit. There are a lot of potential workarounds to hide the identities of everyone involved and encrypt the content, somewhat contrived, though. It would take some work to implement but anything is doable.
You can send encrypted memos as messages. :)
Yes, content could be distributed using in encrypted memos while dummy posts with dummy accounts as beneficiaries could be created to tap into the reward pool completely anonymously. All kinds of shenanigans could be handled by an app on behalf of the users to tap into the reward pool anonymously. Too bad Steem has no smart contracts, because much of that trickery would have to be done off-chain. It's not easy to create a Steem app that hides all user data from the public but it is completely possible. It is possible to do multisig-transactions on Steem.
See: https://steemit.com/piston/@xeroc/piston-how-to-use-it-for-multisignature-accounts
Actually, there is side-chain for smart contracts that is being built:
https://steemit.com/steemsmartcontracts/@harpagon/steem-smart-contracts-ssc-token-block-production-rewards-proposal-system
Thank you for informing us about that!
If it was encrypted, it would limit access and the data couldn't be displayed on the various frontends...
That would be the point.
You can communicate right now via the encrypted memo field in a transfer by prefixing the memo with a hash symbol (#).
That's right. I know about that feature. I was thinking about using it in an app that behaves like any social media app that allows conversations to be private.
That sounds like a wonderful app!
Interesting question you pose. This is why I don’t share pictures or deeply intimate details here. I will comment on things and there is data in that but I limit it quite a bit compared to others.
Yeah, you can't delete what you share, post, say, etc. It's there forever for anyone to dig up and find out about you :/ No mistakes to correct...