once bitten

words and things from Edd Dumbill 
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October 25, 2010
 

NOLA Ladies: Privacy, data and the "squirm factor"

Where the ladies at?

Now you know. This app pulls data from the Foursquare API and calculates which places have a high female-to-male ratio. credit for inspiration goes to the original "where the ladies at" apps

via nolaladies.com

The NOLA Ladies site illustrates perfectly why framing the online data debate as just about privacy is too blunt an approach.

This site shows you where the venues with more women than men are, based on Foursquare checkins. All this data was given up willingly by the participants, but for me it doesn't pass what John Fritz calls the "squirm factor".

This usage of information, though from consenting participants, leaves me very uncomfortable indeed. The question is if the squirm factor can be codified (if it should), and how to deal with the notion that squirminess is a very personal thing.

Filed under  //   data   ethics   privacy  

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October 25, 2010
 

We have no privacy. Perhaps we'll be able to move the debate on

So if politicians are using services such as RapLeaf, how exactly are we supposed to count on legislation to help us preserve any kind of privacy online?
via blogs.siliconvalley.com

GMSV nails it today. Personal details are out there, in increasing volume. It's a side effect of technological progress, which we can't really restrain. What we can possibly do is decide what's acceptable or not, and think about privacy self-defense.

More than ever I wish I had a better grasp of history, to contextualize this in the frame of civilizations over the last few thousand years. I don't know if any answers are there, but perspective might be.

Filed under  //   policy   privacy   rapleaf  

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