trader_4
Mon, 10
Apr 2017 15:50:08 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

[big snip]

I fully realize the vast majority of users are ignorant as hell
concerning how the technology works. Downright ****ing stupid,
in some cases. Ignorance is a curable condition.. stupidity, ehh,
no cure for that.

You think just maybe instead it's that the vast majority of users
realize that google and similar will know we just googled for
"pizza near me" and don't care that the fact that we're looking
for pizza and our location has been sent to google?

Yes, I do. That's why I wrote the stupidity comment above. That don't
care attitude is what makes blackhat work possible, in many cases.

There is also anonymity in numbers. I doubt google has employees
sitting there, monitoring me, interested in the fact that I
googled for pizza, where I'm located and then trying to use that
for some nefarious purposes. In other words, like 99.9% of the
world, I don't need a burner phone.

That's the thing with computers these days though. You don't need an
employee to 'monitor' you or your habits. You can have a program
analyze the data much faster and much more accurately, if you wanted
to. If 99.9% (I really don't know where you get those figures) didn't
need/want a burner phone, the market wouldn't be able to support
their creation.

There's no real anonymity (in this sense) when you have software that
doesn't need to take a break or sleep, analyzing piles of data. If
you're hunting for details on a specific person and trying to connect
the dots, it doesn't matter how large your data sample set is, the
program will have no trouble looking through it and building a very
accurate profile of you, the target.

Google reps once commented they could accurately predict the stock
market to the point of interfering with it. They weren't BSing about
that. They can do this because of the data they've collected and the
software resources they have that could process it. And, I seriously
doubt they are the only ones able to do this, if they really wanted
to get into that game.

Computers today are in fact like toasters, because they are
widespread consumer items, easily used by the masses, without
needing to be computer experts or in the case of toasters,
electricians or electrical engineers.

Well, no, actually, computers are nothing like toasters. Granted,
they've been 'dumbed down' for the masses, but, that comes at a great
cost.



--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.