California Privacy Law Passed

[Rianne]

Last night, after avoiding the documentary "Citizen Four" decided to watch it. Part of me thinks Ed Snowden wanted to show the world how brilliant he is, masterful watchdog exposing the evil government.
On the other hand he did expose how the government spies on our private information. Yet so do all the big tech companies and every business we do business with. I guess it didn't bother me so much, since I really have nothing to hide. If I were doing something illegal, hiding $$ in the Cayman's or planning a heist, ok I'd be super offended.

Finally, California passed a law that online users can opt out of information sharing in spite of the heavy handed lobbying the big tech companies did to stop the law. At least, Californians have the choice if they want their shopping information shared. I use adblock, so the ads don't bother me. But my buying searches mysteriously end up in my e-mail, which is annoying. I just delete them. NBD.

Do you think this will become a federal law?
Monitors: not a political statement

[Chuckanut]

Does this mean a Californian can now order her foie gras from an importer in Wisconsin without getting ratted out to PETA?

Seriously, many 'free' services on the Internet are paid for by advertising, and that requires the site to know stuff about us. Are we willing to pay for these sites (such as this one) if we opt out of letting them store some information about us? How much would we be willing to pay each year for this ER site? For our email provider? For the travel app, that organizes your information in one easy to follow listing available online? Etc. etc. etc......

[CRLLS]

Spying by the US government and info sharing among businesses are completely different things IMO. If the California law does become a federal law, I think it will be another ineffective law, similar to the Do-Not-Call list where the many violators are seldom charged, fined, or convicted.

I wonder why the CA law would require one to actively opt out of info sharing. IMO, the prohibition on sharing personal info should be automatic for everybody. I guess it would be OK to have an opt-in capability for those who want to have their info shared with strangers.

[Rianne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS Spying by the US government and info sharing among businesses are completely different things IMO. If the California law does become a federal law, I think it will be another ineffective law, similar to the Do-Not-Call list where the many violators are seldom charged, fined, or convicted. I wonder why the CA law would require one to actively opt out of info sharing. IMO, the prohibition on sharing personal info should be automatic for everybody. I guess it would be OK to have an opt-in capability for those who want to have their info shared with strangers.

I guess my post intended to raise the "privacy" issue. Shopping online includes buying pharmaceuticals from China and searching online includes how to build a bomb. Both raise the question, how private should our searching/buying be? The government might search words like "explosives" or "suicide" in a search or conversation. It's a murky, gray world on the net and other communication devices. Just as posts on FB brag about the shooting that's about to take place. I'd say those posts should be monitored. And if one is buying oxy from China...that should raise a red flag.

[COcheesehead]

Here's a question. With all that is already known about us by governments and businesses, what actual harm has it caused in your life? As another poster said, it probably is a net benefit because of all the "free" stuff I get like search, maps, podcasts, discount offers, etc.

[CRLLS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rianne I guess my post intended to raise the "privacy" issue. Shopping online includes buying pharmaceuticals from China and searching online includes how to build a bomb. Both raise the question, how private should our searching/buying be? The government might search words like "explosives" or "suicide" in a search or conversation. It's a murky, gray world on the net and other communication devices. Just as posts on FB brag about the shooting that's about to take place. I'd say those posts should be monitored. And if one is buying oxy from China...that should raise a red flag.

Well, those posts, and every other post/email etc. is being screened/monitored for certain keywords by the US government. If not, I at least act as though they are. I communicate with several people in China. I know that those are being monitored over there. I'm pretty sure that they don't abide to any CA or US privacy laws.

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead Here's a question. With all that is already known about us by governments and businesses, what actual harm has it caused in your life? As another poster said, it probably is a net benefit because of all the "free" stuff I get like search, maps, podcasts, discount offers, etc.

I can't say that I have been "harmed". I have had unauthorized CC use that required cancellation and re-issue several times over the years. I don't know if that was due to unscrupulous info sharing. It might have been. It never created at a dollar-cost to me directly. It did create inconveniences to me, extra efforts on my part, and took my time to correct.

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS Well, those posts, and every other post/email etc. is being screened/monitored for certain keywords by the US government. If not, I at least act as though they are. I communicate with several people in China. I know that those are being monitored over there. I'm pretty sure that they don't abide to any CA or US privacy laws. I can't say that I have been "harmed". I have had unauthorized CC use that required cancellation and re-issue several times over the years. I don't know if that was due to unscrupulous info sharing. It might have been. It never created at a dollar-cost to me directly. It did create inconveniences to me, extra efforts on my part, and took my time to correct.

My credit card number was lifted long before the internet even existed in its present form, so I would put that as an outlier.