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Google offers to take food pictures for me

by Denis Churilov, September 20, 2017

You know you’re boring when even the NSA doesn’t bother collecting data on you.
I feel sorry for the large IT-corporations, though.  Unlike government agencies, I give them my personal information voluntarily just by using their services, so they HAVE TO store and analyse it all (regardless of whether they want to) to find patterns for target advertisements (not that there is much variety in the data about my life… just saying).
Whenever I go to a local restaurant, Google Search app notices it through GPS-tracking and offers me to take pictures and write a review.  So thoughtful of it.  It always knows what I’m up to and what I’m about to have (pfff, as if I’m impressed by it; the staff in all local fast-food stores know me by my name and what I’m going to order at any given day of the week too).  I’m wondering when will my phone start sending me notifications saying something like “What?  Nado’s?  This place again?  Really?  Denis, have you ever thought of trying something different?  Also, how many times have you eaten today already?”.  I bet the only reason why it still doesn’t do that is because it also secretly listens to what my friends say to me, so it doesn’t want to parrot them.
Scary to imagine what Google and Apple know about me.
Like, for instance, Google knows that I visited my parents’ last week. Their Google Photos algorithms even analysed the geo-data from all the 356 new cat pictures on my iPhone and kindly (but indifferently) offered me to move them all into the same album. Just imagine what kinds of patterns Google algorithms would have uncovered if I were using a full Android handset!  The information overdose would be so high the Google bot would develop self-consciousness and quit his job due to severe existential crisis caused by chronic boredom.
Facebook is another beauty.  Just to think how much it knows.  All your photos, whom you were with, where, and at what time – it has seen it all, it knows it all (even if you don’t tag yourself).  The big data tells them everything.  Facebook even analyses the content of your status updates.  It can pick up your personality traits (according to the Five Factor Model) with high accuracy, tell your movie preferences, identify your interests and hobbies (assuming you have them).  Facebook probably knows more about you than you do.  Creepy.
Some things should remain personal at all costs, though. Politics is a taboo. I try not to post much about politics or make comments on current news on Facebook, or elsewhere on the Internet. Don’t want the big corporations to figure out my opinions and political views (I’m Liberal-Stalinist).
The Big Brother is always watching. So, watch what you post, what you like, and what you share!
 
 

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Filed under: latest, The web they want
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Alan
Alan
Sep 22, 2017 2:17 PM

The article’s primary focus appears to be style as opposed to content.
“…Scary to imagine what Google and Apple know about me..”
Really?

Eric Blair
Eric Blair
Sep 21, 2017 8:47 PM

If you use the internet, and not just social media like Facebook, you are being tracked by revenue generating companies and government agencies alike. Probably the best way to protect yourself, if that is a concern, is using a VPN from a reliable provider. There is no way to evade the marketers and spooks 100% but there are steps people can take to minimize the trail they leave behind.
Mass data collection is part of the shadow police state Western governments have been setting up since 2001.09.11. If and when martial law is imposed and resistance and protest criminalized, they can trawl through your internet history and use it against you. Even the most boring and obedient person will at some point have visited a “dodgy” website and said something that can be taken out of context and used as a pretext to limit their freedom.

nomad
nomad
Sep 20, 2017 1:55 PM

“The Big Brother is always watching. So, watch what you post, what you like, and what you share!”
That train has left the station.

Peter
Peter
Sep 21, 2017 12:28 PM
Reply to  nomad

You don’t even have to post anything online – if They’re interested in you They can just follow the websites you visit, like this one. And follow you around through your cellphone. You don’t even have to make or receive calls, They can know where you are if They want to.
We’ve become like sheep or fish – the only protection from the predators is the sheer weight of numbers. They can’t keep up with everyone, and most people are pretty harmless anyway, like sheep and fish, in fact.
Nevertheless, there are undoubtedly good prospects in the electronic surveillance (i.e., spying) sector for all those unemployed young people – They need a bigger workforce, or probably feel They do. All businesses like to expand, including surveillance (i.e., spying) agencies, doing such stirling work protecting us from Terrorists, Muslims (much the same thing), the Russians and of course Ourselves. The Threat may change a bit (not too much, of course, or the sheep get confused), but Threat there has to be.
But the good thing about the spy business expanding is that the more surveillance people (i.e., spies) there are, the more likely it is that there will be misfits, whistleblowers and renegades and rebels. Humanity is so imperfect. Who guards the guards, etc.? Maybe robots with AI would be the answer, and it will be interesting to see how that works out.
My own (tiny) contribution to the Resistance is not to have a cellphone, Facebook account or use any other ‘social’ network, like LinkedIn. Posting comments on OffG is about the only exception, but I suppose They’ve got that covered. I’m really a bit annoyed that I’m not important or dangerous enough for anyone to bother spying on me, of course, and I’d be flattered if They did.
Last point – it’s turning out that 1984 (the book) really was prophetic. Orwell couldn’t anticipate the details of the technology, but he got the broad outline spot on, including the use of fear and officially designated enemies (with Hate Week, currently Putin and ‘Islamic Terrorism’), MiniTrue (the MSM), prolefeed (reality shows, ‘celebrities’, sport, pornography), the three big blocs (with the UK’s subservience to Oceania) and the mass surveillance where the telescreen turns out to be internet.

nomad
nomad
Sep 21, 2017 12:50 PM
Reply to  Peter

chuckle. my favorite thing to say to the sheep is “how many fingers am i holding up?” (knowing full well that only They, the surveillance agents, can tell I’m not holding up any).

nomad
nomad
Sep 20, 2017 1:52 PM

Your trusted servers have left you unprotected…They know the road by which you came. They know your mother’s maiden name. And what you had for breakfast. And what you’ve hidden in the mattress. Insect politics! Indifferent universe! Bang your head against the wall! But apathy is worse. =Don Henley

joekano76
joekano76
Sep 20, 2017 1:27 PM

Reblogged this on Floating-voter.

rehmat1
rehmat1
Sep 20, 2017 1:11 PM

I pity the fools who join social media such as Google, Facebook or even trust Wikipedia, Yahoo!, My Space and e-Bay which are all created by Zionist Jews and share most of their customers data with Mossad and CIA. On January 14, 2008, UK’s Guardian acknowledged the above fact.
In October 2013, US-based Christian radio talk-show, “The Ugly Truth”, set-up a very informative Facebook page for Ahmadinejad’s fans to wish him 57th Birthday.

Vaska
Vaska
Sep 21, 2017 12:06 AM
Reply to  rehmat1

The NSA spies on everyone, everywhere, so staying away from the social media does nothing to protect your privacy.

StAug
StAug
Sep 20, 2017 1:01 PM

“Don’t want the big corporations to figure out my opinions and political views (I’m Liberal-Stalinist).”
To the extent that the info collected on your tastes and opinions is the closest thing to a representational democracy you’ll ever get, perhaps you need to rethink this policy.

rtj1211
rtj1211
Sep 20, 2017 11:33 AM

The real question is whether hots can tell what you really believe when you are deliberately inconsistent online? Also sarcasm by saying the exact opposite to what you mean may screw up algorithms.
What you should worry about is employers getting the data. I have been effectively tagged by employers, all of whose Directors emerged from the self-righteous working class types who need to inspire fear as they cannot motivate.
It is about time they were tagged in their own homes, in their cars and in their beds as what management consultants call ‘360 degree feedback’.
Problem with 360 is that if you call a boss out for their failings, they sack you. The workplace saying Directors are parents and employees are children. Makes the whole process farcical.
Not really appropriate in firms where professionals have two or more degrees….

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Sep 21, 2017 5:44 AM
Reply to  rtj1211

Oh yes, the 360 degrees feed back. Or the swivel-eyed management method!