• badgermurphy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    Currently, they’ve been content to get more money out of you without asking you, so you’re right so far, but only if you consider your advertising details and personal information to be valueless.

    They’re expanding data collection and showing more ads as a matter of course for years now. When they can no longer get money from other companies because of you, they’ll switch to nickel and diming you.

    I find that it helps to think of transactions in a more reductive way, like bartering + money. I am trading X amount of money, Y amount if privacy, and Z amount of hassle for whatever service or product. Even though Y and Z are hard to quantify, they are real things with real value, so not considering them at all is surely worse for me, and what they’re counting on.

    I have found that nearly every mainstream online service I might be interested in presents a negative value proposition when calculated like I described, but everyone values their privacy and time differently, so your mileage will, of course, vary.

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      55 minutes ago

      Yeah, that’s really overthinking things. I host my movies and shows, I watch them from wherever. I feel like I’m not going to spend more time analyzing it, because my usage of the app is literally finding my movie and watching it, or putting it on for my kids. If my junk email gets more junk emails, so be it. I personally lost the privacy battle a million years ago, although I guess I do my best by not having Facebook or Instagram or anything of that ilk. I do exist, and so I’m fucked anyway, but I’m not going to spend energy that somehow doesn’t get me a meaningful return on that energy spent.

      • badgermurphy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        40 minutes ago

        It may be applying more thought to it than you are willing to do, or be regarding things you don’t consider important or valuable, but very many people value those things and find them worthy of consideration.

        To “overthink” something is to expend more time and energy making a decision than can be objectively gained from making the “best” decision vs. the others. Your decision to not consider the non-monetary costs is your own and your prerogative, but it has no bearing on the objective value of your personal privacy.

        You’ve decided not to participate in the privacy battle and so have lost much of it without a fight, which is understandable. Its a hard, thankless battle without end against powerful foes, requiring vigilance and continually gaining knowledge. I think it is fair not to fault people for giving up, but passively encouraging others to give up, too, is working for they enemy you’ve surrendered to.

        Its OK to let people choose their own priorities and pick their own battles, especially if it isn’t hurting anyone and entirely within their own lives like this issue is. People fighting for causes that you aren’t fighting for, but still benefit from, is a public good. Someone defending their own privacy is done for their own good, but helps you, too. See “do not track”, adblockers, the EFF, and countless other consumer protections as examples.