Everyone is suddenly worried about my data.

In the US- they are more worried that they get consent from you for monitoring of your data. AOL's new TOS makes it clear that they are monitoring your EMail. My question to them - are they monitoring Email received and transmitted. How do they protect an EU citizen that sends me an EMail. Does everyone sending me an EMail also need to agree to their TOS?

My wife's business just set a Block in place on AOL Email. I'm looking at other EMail providers. I might switch from Verizon, as they are at the root of this new policy. I suspect they've been doing this for a while- but all the scandals drove them to making sure everyone consents to being monitored.
 
The response from Verizon/OATH-

"
Hi there,


I understand that you have concerns about the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policythat you've been prompted to agree to. You can review the FAQ for more info about the changes. To learn more about the choices we offer and to exercise control over your information, please visit our Privacy Controls page. If you'd rather not agree to the new changes, you may choose to cancel your account and stop using our service.

Regards,

Oath Privacy Team"

They are advising us to stop using Verizon. I expected better.
 
They wont change their policies, they are too invested in getting your data. Dumped facebook, dumped Whatsapp as soon as facebook bought it, prefer iPhone to Android so Mr Google cant have info on *everything* I do, but I am still on Instagram. Sighhh. There's no escape.
Dumped FB, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest. Always been on iPhone. Now closing down Gmail and Yahoo. Ditched Google Maps, Google (replaced with Duck Duck Go). Ditched Chrome. Not perfect but getting there...
 
Dumped FB, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest. Always been on iPhone. Now closing down Gmail and Yahoo. Ditched Google Maps, Google (replaced with Duck Duck Go). Ditched Chrome. Not perfect but getting there...

Almost there. Hacevnt used Chrome in years, dont use google maps and I use duckduckgo (but if you use something that blocks google analytics, you cant use duckduckgo and lots of other sites... so... maybe the best but not as good as we'd like) will close yahoo as soon as I can change my flickr login to something else. Have dropped all but one gmail address and as I find things I need to unsub from will deal with that too. However... I have zoho and I think theres a connection there. Tumblr, Twitter and PInterest went a year ago.
 
I have said it before. If you are not paying for the product, you are the product. Apple is no paragon of virtue; if anything they are the worst of the lot. I escaped from the walled garden nearly a decade ago and I don't regret it for a nanosecond.
 
We will most likely start using a pay-for-services Email. Verizon used to include Email in their service, which we use for ISP, Phone, and TV. Once they picked up AOL, they dropped their own Email service and switched everyone to AOL. AOL "claims" the service is free, paid for by advertisers. In the TOS- they state the information is sent to Verizon.

I plan on waiting for the next "XFinity" switch-to-us enticement, let that bonus ($200 or so) pay for the Email service. I forwarded the OATH Email to Verizon with the notice that OATH advised us to drop Verizon.
 
I think GDPR is overall good. Specifically, I think people have a right to know exactly what is being done with their data, and sites should be accountable for protecting that data.

On a strictly personal note (speaking only for myself), I am willing to exchange my privacy for web content and services. I'm happy to let sites like Google, Facebook, and Apple track me, share my interests with their partners, and all that other stuff. In return, I enjoy using their sites without having to pay them. I love Gmail, my Facebook group, etc.

That's illegal. At least in Europe.
Yes, forced consent

That's the one place where I think GDPR has gone too far. I will comply, but I don't think the regulation is fair. They are impeding the rights of publishers in order to maximize the rights of visitors.

I can invite people to a private event such as a music concert where a stipulation for attendance is to be searched via metal detector for weapons. People can choose to give up their privacy (allow the search) or not attend the event.

Why can't a website do the same thing? Why shouldn't a publisher have the freedom to say "If you use our site, we we will use cookies to track you and your interests and sell this information to X, Y, and Z. If you don't agree to this, please do not enter the site" ? In my opinion, that is perfectly fair, transparent, and not an all an abuse of the visitor's rights.

What gives a visitor the right to visit a private site when they are unwilling to pay for services in the format which that private site has chosen?
 
I sort of agree. I think GDPR is a step in the right direction but it is a blunt instrument.

When I worked for IBM a few years ago I devised a virtual avatar called "Gno-Me" . The idea was that you could shape and present a persona to the world that could be legitimately tracked. You decided what activities and behaviours were fair game to be tracked, but the default was that only very basic tracking was allowed.

The goal was to both improve privacy AND the accuracy of targeted advertising. For example if I search for a new mobile phone then buy one now, I am bombarded with adverts for new phones for months after my purchase. If I choose to volunteer the information that I have successfully bought a phone it makes sense that the adverts I see are then for phone cases, screen protectors, chargers, insurance, Bluetooth devices, etc.

The technology to do this exists, and is straightforward. It would pay for itself many times over by improving the accuracy - and hence the conversion rate of targeted adverts. Sadly as a GTM proposition it didn't get funded at the time because the Big Blue powers that be didn't understand it. I wonder what they would say in this post-GDPR world...
 
I think GDPR is overall good. Specifically, I think people have a right to know exactly what is being done with their data, and sites should be accountable for protecting that data.

On a strictly personal note (speaking only for myself), I am willing to exchange my privacy for web content and services. I'm happy to let sites like Google, Facebook, and Apple track me, share my interests with their partners, and all that other stuff. In return, I enjoy using their sites without having to pay them. I love Gmail, my Facebook group, etc.




That's the one place where I think GDPR has gone too far. I will comply, but I don't think the regulation is fair. They are impeding the rights of publishers in order to maximize the rights of visitors.

I can invite people to a private event such as a music concert where a stipulation for attendance is to be searched via metal detector for weapons. People can choose to give up their privacy (allow the search) or not attend the event.

Why can't a website do the same thing? Why shouldn't a publisher have the freedom to say "If you use our site, we we will use cookies to track you and your interests and sell this information to X, Y, and Z. If you don't agree to this, please do not enter the site" ? In my opinion, that is perfectly fair, transparent, and not an all an abuse of the visitor's rights.

What gives a visitor the right to visit a private site when they are unwilling to pay for services in the format which that private site has chosen?

My understanding is that if the service absolutely requires the tracking then it is fine. It would not qualify as forced consent.
It is when privacy tracking is not necessary to the service that it is more regulated by the GDPR.
So in your example the safety and security would not be impacted, but forcing your guests to give you their bank account details, their wife’s maiden name, the school they went to, the gps logs of their car, their medical history, their insurance provider details would be illegal.
 
Where would you like me to start? Apple presents itself as whiter than white but it uses and trades your data just like every other large corporation. Google "Face ID" for the latest of many examples. Their biggest crime is that they milk their customers in their walled garden - deliberate slowdown, anyone? Screen repair by third parties? No SD card slots, no headphone sockets... Vastly expensive proprietary accessories... I could go on.

I will, however, give you this. They are not the worst, I forgot that a special circle in hypocrisy hell is reserved for Facebook on that count.
 
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