http://federated.computer/ Recent content on Federated Computer Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:12:46 -0700 http://federated.computer/posts/what_is_done_with_personal_data/ Mon, 14 Feb 2022 13:20:52 -0700 http://federated.computer/posts/what_is_done_with_personal_data/ “For decades, personal data has been routinely packaged and sold on the private market to all manner of companies: marketing firms, hedge funds, data analytics companies, and so forth. The conceit is that, as long as this data is anonymized, it can’t be used to identify anyone. And prior to the online age, that was the case; it wasn’t a huge threat to personal privacy that Visa was selling the shopping habits of millions of Americans. http://federated.computer/posts/main_street_against_big_tech/ Mon, 14 Feb 2022 13:20:52 -0700 http://federated.computer/posts/main_street_against_big_tech/ Here’s an organization working to break the grip of “Big Tech” on our commercial lives as small businesses and entrepreneurs. It can seem “convenient” to use the offerings of “Big Tech”. Why not just trade the ease-of-use of the Google platform for a bit of loss of privacy. The answer is: if it isn’t private, you’ve lost all control over your future. Is that too dramatic? We don’t think so. “Big Tech” will ignore you at first, but will have inconvenient requests, in time. http://federated.computer/posts/apple-breaks-privacy/ Mon, 14 Feb 2022 13:20:52 -0700 http://federated.computer/posts/apple-breaks-privacy/ We need to talk about how Apple is normalizing surveillance. Wired, October, 2021. “Apple is demonstrating that privacy can sell. About 94 per cent of American users opted out of data collection when Apple gave them the choice.” But there’s a catch… “Indeed, once one starts scratching the surface, Apple’s contribution to the development of invasive technologies and the normalisation of surveillance becomes evident. Apple created the Bluetooth beacons tracking people in shops, gyms, hotels, airports and more by connecting to their phones.