Comment by cronix | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cronix | Hacker News Reader

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Which country do you live in and specifically which "right to privacy" do you mean? Is there a law you're referring to?

For instance, in the US, the only right to privacy we truly have is in our own homes, with the blinds closed. If you are in your home standing in front of a window naked, I can legally take your pic as long as I'm on public property (street/sidewalk) and I'm not trespassing. There are other places where people have a "reasonable expectation of privacy," such as a restroom or changing room, etc.

> Corporations should have my permission in order to store, process and sell information about me.

Are you sure you haven't already given it to them? Most people don't read that fine print of the contracts, or terms of service, or privacy statements that they are signing or otherwise agreeing to, but it's generally in there how they will use your info.

If you use FB, have you read all of this? You agreed to it: [1] https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation [2] https://www.facebook.com/policies

> Are you sure you haven't already given it to them? Most people don't read that fine print of the contracts, or terms of service, or privacy statements that they are signing or otherwise agreeing to, but it's generally in there how they will use your info.

> If you use FB, have you read all of this? You agreed to it

There's something messed up about the idea that you shouldn't expect privacy unless you wade through the fine print perfectly, every time. The deck is stacked against the privacy-seeking individual, and it's practically impossible to guard one's privacy as an individual.

Businesses have gotten used to getting a free ride when it comes to managing consent for personal data use. Those costs need to be shifted to be more equitably shared between those businesses and individual consumers. We reforms that put GDPR-type requirements around the use of personal data.

I wholeheartedly agree. I just don't see the US doing this though. Without laws to back them up and have a level playing field, there are no rights. I find it incredibly sad that other countries are now protected to a greater extend than the US, but we lack the political and social will to do actually anything meaningful about it. I think it's also generally easier to pass something like this (GDPR) in the EU where they don't have corporations nearly as large as FAANG (MS too). If a large part of their economy was based on companies that were using data the way FAANGM is, I'm not sure it would be been possible for them to pass. That's just a gut feeling based on no real data.

>> Which country do you live in and specifically which "right to privacy" do you mean?

All European countries. If you live in Europe you own your data.

>> Are you sure you haven't already given it to them?

"And then you're sitting at home at your desk and have the option to only say yes. This is not what any reasonable person would consider a fair deal." -- from 60 Minutes.

You clearly didn't watch 60 Minutes last Sunday. But you can still read the transcript here, where every point you raise has been addressed: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gdpr-the-law-that-lets-europe-t...

Thank you for clarifying. Indeed, Europe has more privacy rights/laws than most, but that's still only about 512M/7.7B people (~1/15th).

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