Or just actually read the user agreement when you sign up for those services. Someone who cares might then have trouble clicking "I agree"- even with fake info ('cause your IP and MAC# etc. are often still collected- so it really doesn't matter what yor name is; they know your computer; your location; your linked accounts [due to cookies and other insidious identifiers they put in your computer].)

What REALLY scares me, is that so many people are so naive and trusting, that they DO give their real names and info...without even thinking about it.

Scary, but you know, it has never been erasier, in the history of the world, for even just a regular civilian, to build a dosier of someone, just from what they can collect by sitting at a computer.

I think I have seen a shift in the way people see Facebook, for one, though. A few years ago not havibg Facebook was seen as "weird" and people asked why but now I tend to find people accept that others may want privacy.
Also, I can't rememer who said it but someone pointed out in the days after some of Snowden's revelations that at one time people who thought the government were spying on everyone were thought a bit crazy -- now, perhaps, it's those who don't think they're been spied upon who should be thought of as crazy

From a legal liability standpoint, it really doesn't matter what you say people "did," or what you say they "agreed to," etcetera etcetera. All of that does not mean in your self-defense. When someone out there finally does do something absolutely-horrible by exploiting all of that data which you collected over so many years and never thought to secure (because you only thought of it in "good" ways ...), the fires of Hell Itself are going to come raining down on your head our heads as an industry. There will be no defense to be had. And I, for one, think that we must not be complacent, nor should we be naïve. Especially not "naïve."

People around the world do not have any idea just what kind of a "surveillance state" has been established ... and not merely by the State and not merely by the "few well-known players."

For example, do a search that we would know how to do: do a Monster search for the keyword "hadoop," today. You will at this moment have 782 hits. That's 782 companies (more or less) who are collecting "vast amounts of data" such that Hadoop is needed to deal with it. That's 782 vulnerabilities, just today. All maintained by companies who, right now, have no idea what the actual business risk is. But they will know, when the hits.

You do not need to collect an up-to-the-second dossier on your customers anyone and everyone who's running your app, complete with geo-location data, in order to "sell them cookies and milk!"

I don't know about other people but, when I needed a job, I refused to go for what could have been a very lucrative position with a "debt management" firm. I searched for them on the web and found they buy debts in bulk and threaten people with ruining their credit unless they repay debts they may not even owe. I couldn't be part of that and am now much lower paid but working for customers who are a lot more pleasant.
Sadly, others cannot afford to pass up opportunities and some don't care -- the latter I hope "get fleas" as the saying goes...

That is very encouraging!

Same here... I've turned down lots of opportunities over the years that could have been lucretive, because I had moral issues with them; or because they would indebt me to regulation(which often forces participation in immoral practices)/involvement with the organized crime-ring known as gov't.; etc.

Our modus-operandi used to be the norm of Western society. Today, sadly, it seems to be the exception.

Sadly, just refusing to lie to people, will preclude one from many positions... (especially that of cop!)

At the age of 16, when dropping out of high-school, my guidance counselor was trying to talk me out of dropping out. He said "You can be a anything you want to be! A nuclear physicist, if you want! You have great grades, yada, yada.."- I said "All I want is to lead a simple life and earn an honest living".

That decision, I would later realize, was probably the most liberating one I ever made. It set the path of my life on a course of freedom and fulfillment; and (as I even knew at the time) it freed me to persue the things which interested me, so that I was able to acquire a real education, instead of just a dimploma, showing that I put in the required time.

For all those people who switched to services hosted outside the US:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...overseas.shtml

Adhering to your own set of moral values may not be what others think that you should be doing; but they do not live inside of you!! I catch hell not being well off financially; but that inner peace I have is truly priceless!! I have a cousin who told me " I hope I never catch what you've got. ". I just smiled at him as he walked away on his way to commit more sin. Do not ever despair because there are lots of moral ethical people out there, even in today's wicked world!!

I think this video about an interesting piece of US strong-arm tactics may fit in here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EVF7CZt_w
I know that it's one reason I'll not be visiting the US any time soon. I find most of the people from the US I have met seem decent people but the government is one of the most totalitarian and corrupt in the world -- they make the Chinese government look like libertarians.

The biggest and most-obvious "hole" in this sort of thing is that, even if the information that you collect has been "anonymized" (sic ...), if you have enough of it (and it really doesn't take much ...) then any data-miner worth his or her salt can reduce it to "a population-size of one." In other words – "you, and only you."

Furthermore, even as these companies (and their legislative lackies) think only in terms of government-held information, they are completely ignoring the significance of the multiple petabytes of data which are being gathered and held by private corporations unrelated to these "big boys." Nor are they considering just who has ready access to that data – and, what those people might elect to do with "all that data" in, uhh, their spare time.

Somewhere in the last ten years or so, we figured out that it had become possible to collect vast amounts of extremely personal data about hundreds of millions of people, essentially without their knowledge (certainly, without their real consent), in the private sector. And so, without giving any further thought as to the potetial downside of this, we "went for it." Boned-up on Hadoop and persuaded anyone who would listen that they "had to" collect all this data and that it was just for "legitimate marketing purposes." Never mind that for the past 200 years people somehow managed to sell biscuits, and to "do marketing," without this kind of data-trove.

And so, this is what's eventually gonna happen: someone's going to "mine" the business data which they have legitimate access to, on the job and as a part of their job, but they are going to do something extremely nasty. And legislators and lawmakers (and military industrialists) around the country – and, around the world – are going to be flapping their gums pointlessly, saying, "gee, we never thought of that ..."

But then, here's what's gonna happen next! Are they, the legislators and the industrialists, going to be the ones left holding the douche-bag? No! They're gonna waltz away and get re-elected just like they always do, and they're gonna stick you with "unlimited legal liability." It will be a tsunami, and they'll walk away with their swim-trunks perfectly dry, leaving you-n-me to drown in the consequences of what is, in fact, an insanely ill-advised thing to be doing in the first place.

"Vast amounts of irrelevant personal information" should be regarded as a legal hot-potato that's hotter than the sun itself. Right now, it is not. But that's only because the has not yet hit.

And then there is the question of third-party liability.
1) I collect information about you, with or without your consent or knowledge. (I am Party A.)
2) I sell or give that information to someone else. (That person is Party B.)
3) That person then does something bad to you. (Party C)

In "Western" legal systems, Party C would probably be able to sue both Party B and Party A. The data trawling companies have not given serious, or perhaps any, thought to liability. If they gather information about a person without that person's knowledge and consent, then sell the information to others who use the information for nefarious purposes, they would be in danger of being held legally responsible for the damages to Party C. Unfortunately, as someone has posted earlier in the thread, few will think of the consequences until something horrifying happens.

Some of the bank in the town I live in are already doing this.
In fact my bank sent me documentation saying that they will share information about my banking with other third
party company's. If I have time later (I'm trying to configure wireless now)I'll look for the pamphlet my bank sent me and post what they say about it.

They will share information about you. It would be better if they asked for your permission, wouldn't it?

Yes it most certainly would:-

" Asking Permission " would be nice; but nowadays businesses and government just " enroll " you whether you like it or not!! I remember Verizon enrolling me, and everyone else, in their new " no check return " policy where they would electronically remove your monthly bill and not return your check to you. I went to my bank and closed my checking account and got a new one without any blank checks provided. Every month I send Verizon a money order from the post office. Verizon charges me a long distance " shortfall charge of $6.00 per month " because I do not ever make any long distance calls!!

I always advise friends and family to never ever send anyone a paper check anymore. Checks have your name and address printed on them as well as your bank routing number and checking account number. This is all the information anyone needs to " electronically remove " money from your checking account through the Internet.