https://www.fastcodesign.com/9017401...you-should-too
Full article on link.You’re probably sick of hearing about data and privacy by now–especially because, if you live in the United States, you might feel like there’s very little you can do to protect yourself from giant corporations feeding off your time, interests, and personal information.
So how do you walk the line between taking advantage of the internet’s many benefits while protecting yourself from the corporate interests that aim to use your data for gain? This is the push-and-pull I’ve had with myself over the past year, as I’ve grappled with the revelations that Cambridge Analytica has the personal data of more than 50 million Americans, courtesy of Facebook, and used it to manipulate people in the 2016 elections. I’ve watched companies shut down their European branches because Europe’s data privacy regulations invalidate their business models. And given the number of data breaches that have occurred over the past decade, there’s a good chance that malicious hackers have my info–and if they don’t, it’s only a matter of time.
[Screenshot: Mozilla]
While the amount of data about me may not have caused harm in my life yet–as far as I know–I don’t want to be the victim of monopolistic internet oligarchs as they continue to cash in on surveillance-based business models. What’s a concerned citizen of the internet to do? Here’s one no-brainer: Stop using Chrome and switch to Firefox.
Google already runs a lot of my online life–it’s my email, my calendar, my go-to map, and all my documents. I use Duck Duck Go as my primary search engine because I’m aware of how much information about myself I voluntarily give to Google in so many other ways. I can’t even remember why I decided to use Chrome in the first place. The browser has become such a default for American internet users that I never even questioned it. Chrome has about 60% of the browser market, and Firefox has only 10%. But why should I continue to use the company’s browser, which acts as literally the window through which I experience much of the internet, when its incentives–to learn a lot about me so it can sell advertisements–don’t align with mine?
Firefox launched in 2004. It’s not a new option among internet privacy wonks. But I only remembered it existed recently while reporting on data privacy. Unlike Chrome, Firefox is run by Mozilla, a nonprofit organization that advocates for a “healthy” internet. Its mission is to help build an internet in an open-source manner that’s accessible to everyone–and where privacy and security are built in. Contrast that to Chrome’s privacy policy, which states that it stores your browsing data locally unless you are signed in to your Google account, which enables the browser to send that information back to Google. The policy also states that Chrome allows third-party websites to access your IP address and any information that site has tracked using cookies. If you care about privacy at all, you should ditch the browser that supports a company using data to sell advertisements and enabling other companies to track your online movements for one that does not use your data at all.
Though Mozilla itself is a nonprofit, Firefox is developed within a corporation owned by the nonprofit. This enables the Mozilla Corporation to collect revenue to support its development of Firefox and other internet services. Ironically, Mozilla supports its developers using revenue from Google, which pays the nonprofit to have Google Search as Firefox’s default search engine. That’s not its sole revenue: Mozilla also has other agreements with search engines around the world, like Baidu in China, to be the default search engine in particular locations. But because it relies on these agreements rather than gathering user data so it can sell advertisements, the Mozilla Corporation has a fundamentally different business model than Google. Internet service providers pay Mozilla, rather than Mozilla having to create revenue out of its user base. It’s more of a subscription model than a surveillance model, and users always have the choice to change their search engine to whichever they prefer.
I spoke to Madhava Enros, the senior director of Firefox UX, and Peter Dolanjski, a product manager for Firefox, to learn more about how Mozilla’s browser builds privacy into its architecture. Core to their philosophy? Privacy and convenience don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Instead, Firefox’s designers and developers try to make the best decision on behalf of the user, while always leaning toward privacy first. “We put the user first in terms of privacy,” Dolanjski says. “We do not collect personally identifiable data, not what you do or what websites you go to.”
That’s not just lip service, like it often is when companies like Facebook claim that users are in control of their data. For instance, Firefox protects you from being tracked by advertising networks across websites, which has the lovely side effect of making sites load faster. “As you move from website to website, advertising networks essentially follow you so they can see what you’re doing so they can serve you targeted advertisements,” Dolanjski says. “Firefox is the only [major] browser out of the box that prevents that from happening.” The browser’s Tracking Protection feature automatically blocks a list of common trackers in private browsing mode and can be enabled to run all the time, something you need a specific, third-party browser extension to do on Chrome.
The “out of the box” element of Firefox’s privacy protection is crucial. Chrome does give you many privacy controls, but the default for most of them is to allow Google to collect the greatest amount of information about you as possible. For instance, Google Chrome gives users the option to tell every website you go to not to track you, but it’s not automatically turned on. Firefox offers the same function to add a “Do Not Track” tag to every site you visit–but when I downloaded the browser, the default was set to “always.”
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Why is privacy important, especially digital privacy? Several reasons, and I explain these repeatedly. First, the difference between Right and Wrong is subjective. Because of that, anything you do can be interpreted as wrong. Next, companies that have access to look at everything you do now have a financial incentive to find something in what you do as "wrong" so they can charge you more for a product or service.
The consequences of the constant invasion of your privacy is like Death By A Thousand Papercuts. The effects may be small, but they are cumulative. Take for example the "ordinary" things you do in everyday life that could be interpreted as wrong. Eating habits, how long you brush your teeth for, how you drive, where you drive, when you drive, what types of websites you look at, what type of music you listen to, your skin color, where you live, how you move your mouse or tap on your phone. All these things can be interpreted in ways that show myriads of Wrong for which you may be charged more. For example, how you move your mouse or tap your phone could cost you a job if they subjectively interpret the data on how you move your mouse cursor as indicating you have Adult ADD. Brushing habits could indicate OCD behavior. Music habits could indicate Passive Aggressive Behavior. Eating habits indicate Healthy or Unhealthy Lifestyle. Skin color is an obvious precursor toward Racism, if you are white. If you are non white, look at the history of Redlining, which is still going on today.
With financial credit, you have a Credit Score (in the US) which is supposed to be "protected" by Fair Credit Reporting Acts. What recourse do you have when your Digital Data is not protected the same way? How much false information is there about you? Have you ever tried getting in inaccurate blemish on your credit history redacted, updated, or corrected? They want all this recording and tracking of everything you do, but will not take any responsibility for making sure that information is even accurate. And all companies care about is collecting that data and selling it. The inaccuracies are only a small part of the bigger problem of using your data against you, just to make more money.
Corporations are only one of many threats of where data can be used against you. There are some generalized categories that can be looked at. Govt, Employers, Advertisers, Insurance, Data Collectors & Evaluators, Religion, Education, Your Business (that you own), Sponsors, Public, and most importantly, SELF. Self is critical in the list because information about you is used to control how you see yourself. Non privacy related, but as an example, how do you get an Addict, say an alcoholic to admit to themselves that they have a drinking problem? You show them a version of themselves where they are constantly drunk or drinking. It is intended to cause an alteration to their behavior. The control of SELF has always been a goal, as far as the goals for each general category. You are not allowed to define God for yourself, you must accept the group definition of God. You will not complain about your pay or your current Employer will not give you raises. You will not claim to be good enough for a job if a perspective employer does not like what they see about your eating habits. Your friends on Fedbook can be spoonfed your posts that paint you in a negative light. Post something someone else will agree with wont show up on their wall, or whatever, but in order to isolate you, if you post something they will disagree with, make sure that information shows up on their wall.
Group Think Psychology is one of the most powerful methods of influencing a persons view of self. Inclusion into a group is encouraged where the "Self" accepts ALL points of view and allows their own identity to be displaced. Exclusion from groups is used as a form of negative reinforcement. Don't let Bob on your bowling team because he watches racist and offensive TV shows and you might not be the same skin color. Although you would probably already know about the difference of skin color, what you dont know is they watch TV shows or movies that show them as feeling very strongly toward the superiority of their own race. Dont employ that person because they dont support giving more power to corporations.
The idea of simply giving up and letting someone else tell you who you are is tempting but just as much of a trap intended to reduce your influence on the behavior of others. If you drink soft drinks, and you drink Coca Cola, then you have just given Pepsi an excuse to exclude you from their group. If you drink Pepsi, then you pissed off Coca Cola. Its an Illusion of Choice. If youre a Democrat, then you are an opponent to Republicans. Likewise if you are a Republican, then you oppose anything Democratic. Many of the Illusions of Choice affect the way others see you, which is where your most powerful external influences come from. The way Govt would mold you into a Compliant Citizen is to make sure your Friends and Family exert their influences in a way that benefits Govt. The differences between Republican and Democrat are just as much of an Illusion as both call for bigger Govt. Govt does not want you to show any opposition to their plans, and only want you involved if you support the Illusions of Choice. But to achieve this, they dont manipulate you directly, they show your friends that your behavior needs to be "corrected" if you have opposing points of view on any subject. Take vaccines for example. That Difference of Opinion is used to create conflict until the person is either excluded from their group of friends, or the self abandons their own ideas and accepts "all vaccines are good for all people".
Data Collection by web browsing traffic provides a detailed psychological profile by which an artificial identity is installed into the mind of the subject with surgical precision. This is nothing short of Advanced Brainwashing, where specific parts of a persons choices are constantly scrutinized and replaced as opposed to older forms of Brainwashing, where the entire identity is replaced all at once. Older versions of Brainwashing left an individual with a simpler identity, an "Obedient Worker" who had a compromised version of self and was blindly obedient. Trouble with that version is that they would not provide the complex thought processes required of individuals today. Today, Brainwashing is surgical but systematic, where every unique idea of a person is challenged from multiple sources in the list of categories until they have nothing in their minds left but the external arguments either in favor or opposition of ideas. While those ideas conflict in the minds of the Brainwashed subjects, the really important stuff happens behind the curtains and the brainwashed subject is trapped in a behavioral loop while important decisions are made. Those external thoughts are used as a distraction while the owners of this country make plans for the next country they are going to invade.
Without Privacy, there is NO Self Defined Individuality.
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
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