Category Archives: personal data

Three thoughts about NFTs

There’s a thread in a list I’m on titled “NFTs are a Scam.” I know too little about NFTs to do more than dump here three thoughts I shared on the list in response to a post that suggested that owning … Continue reading

Posted in Digital Life, NFTs, personal data | 2 Comments

Just in case you feel safe with Twitter

Just got a press release by email from David Rosen (@firstpersonpol) of the Public Citizen press office. The headline says “Historic Grindr Fine Shows Need for FTC Enforcement Action.” The same release is also a post in the news section of the Public Citizen website. … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Business, data, marketing, personal data, privacy, problems, publishing, Technology | Leave a comment

So far, privacy isn’t a debate

Remember the dot com boom? Doesn’t matter if you don’t. What does matter is that it ended. All business manias do. That’s why we can expect the “platform economy” and “surveillance capitalism” to end. Sure, it’s hard to imagine that … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Journalism, Law, marketing, personal data, problems, publishing, Technology, VRM | Leave a comment

Will our digital lives leave a fossil record?

In the library of Earth’s history, there are missing books, and within books there are missing chapters, written in rock that is now gone. John Wesley Powell recorded the greatest example of gone rock in 1869, on his expedition by boat … Continue reading

Posted in Geology, history, Nature, personal data, problems, Technology | Leave a comment

Do you really need all this personal information, @RollingStone?

Here’s the popover that greets visitors on arrival at Rolling Stone‘s website: Our Privacy Policy has been revised as of January 1, 2020. This policy outlines how we use your information. By using our site and products, you are agreeing to the … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Business, history, Internet, Journalism, Law, marketing, Personal, personal data, publishing, Technology, VRM | Leave a comment

The Great Trivializer

Last night I watched The Great Hack a second time. It’s a fine documentary, maybe even a classic. (A classic in literature, I learned on this Radio Open Source podcast, is a work that “can only be re-read.” If that’s … Continue reading

Posted in Internet, movies, News, personal data, Politics, privacy | 1 Comment

Getting past broken cookie notices

Go to the Alan Turing Institute. If it’s a first time for you, a popover will appear: Among the many important things the Turing Institute is doing for us right now is highlighting with that notice exactly what’s wrong with the … Continue reading

Posted in Digital Life, Internet, personal data, publishing | 1 Comment

We can do better than selling our data

If personal data is actually a commodity, can you buy some from another person, as if that person were a fruit stand? Would you want to? Not yet. Or maybe not really. Either way, that’s the idea behind the urge … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Business, Customertech, history, Ideas, Internet, marketing, Nature, personal data, problems, publishing, Technology, VRM | 3 Comments

GDPR will pop the adtech bubble

In The Big Short, investor Michael Burry says “One hallmark of mania is the rapid rise in the incidence and complexity of fraud.” (Burry shorted the mania- and fraud-filled subprime mortgage market and made a mint in the process.) One … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Business, Cluetrain, Customertech, Journalism, personal data, problems, publishing, Research, Technology, VRM | 74 Comments

For privacy we need tech more than policy

To get real privacy in the online world, we need to get the tech horse in front of the policy cart. So far we haven’t done that. Let me explain… Nature and the Internet both came without privacy. The difference … Continue reading

Posted in adtech, advertising, Business, Customertech, Internet, Journalism, marketing, personal data, privacy, problems, Technology | Leave a comment