A friend of mine who I play sports with recently told me that they chose our team line up using ChatGPT. I asked them if they told ChatGPT about the play style, strengths and weaknesses of each player and they said yes. Basically, they just gave AI a bunch of information about us. Although the information was probably subjective and not highly sensitive, I am still uncomfortable with AI and surveillance capitalist companies having this data about me.
I realized that many people that I know may be talking to AI about me without my knowledge. I have almost no way of knowing what AI has been told about me or by whom. I’m unsure what I can do about it, if anything.
I feel uncomfortable asking people who I’m not very close with not to mention me to AI. My close friends and family know my views on privacy, but many looser acquaintances don’t. I don’t feel comfortable saying “Hi, I’m Bob (not my name). Nice to meet you. Please don’t take pictures or videos of me, mention me on social media or talk to AI about me.” Unfortunately, data privacy is not well understood by most people and it is not a social norm.
I’m coming to the belief that interacting with people who are not privacy conscious has become a privacy risk. I also think that going to public places where there are cameras, which is most urban public places, is also a privacy risk. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to acquire and use technology that protects my privacy, but I feel like the only things that I’ve managed to keep private are things that I do online and don’t tell other people who aren’t privacy conscious about (e.g. this post). I don’t want to live like a hermit, so I’m stuck with exposing a lot of my information to surveillance capitalist companies despite being relatively tech savvy and putting a lot of effort into hiding my data.
I’ve had many conversations with other tech savvy people about privacy. I’ve convinced most of them that surveillance capitalism is a very bad thing, but almost none of them are willing to take any steps to preserve their own privacy or the privacy of those around them. I think that the reason is that it takes a large amount of knowledge and effort, some personal sacrifice to stop using many popular services, and sometimes money to buy new tech, yet even with these steps there’s still so much data out there about us. I think that what makes me different from them is that I’m stubborn and don’t want to give up on privacy without trying.
Sorry if I’m ranting. To some degree I’m just venting because I’m feeling powerless. Still, I welcome any comments, feedback and suggestions.
Yes. You can limit this to a certain degree. One of the main ways is not to pose for any pictures in groups. It causes some issues with people who are happy to give this sort of data away (“stop being boring” sort of thing, but they’ll appreciate why in the future).
Also, if you wanted to go a step further, use alias names IRL instead of your official government-owned name (yes, government-owned…!). Some people do this with middle names, which is limited, but if you’re a “Bob” or a “Robert” be a “Jim” or a “James”? This is particularly useful if you have a less common surname.
I haven’t used my real name for many years. In fact, some of my closest friends don’t actually know my real name . If you call your dog, Rex, by the name “Fido” so many times, it’ll come running to you when you call it “Fido”.
I have a phone number for friends and family and a phone number for anything else official or business related.
This is difficult. Largely unavoidable but yes some tech does exist. Special glasses etc. you could also wear a disguise. This isn’t within my threat model so I can’t say the extreme lengths interest me - but there are options!
Essentially, depending on your threat model, there’s lots of things you can do. The most immediate one for me is the images and names. You can’t control what third parties do with your personal information. They’ll feed AI with your personal information and your images. So change that practice…!
This risk existed at the time social media and smartphones became normal. Social norms have degraded rapidly such that people now feel completely guiltless and entitled to photograph/record people and share their information publicly and to corporations without their knowledge or consent, and many of them will try to stigmatize those who disagree.
Still there are things you can do, and I hope you won’t feel so powerless you give up. This forum proves you are not alone in your beliefs and practices. The more data you deny disrespectful people, governments and corporations from obtaining the better. You are doing or know about some of the below points already, but here are some things you can consider/try.
Refuse to be photographed and recorded.
Tell people not to share information about you on social media or publicly.
Refuse to do activities in surveilled spaces.
Wear a face mask, sunglasses and hat (or their alternatives) as your society, climate, groups, activities and body allow.
Use psueudonyms instead of your government name, ideally entire profiles not just names, and compartmentalize them by group/activity.
Use E2EE and FOSS apps for communication and organizing.
Be selective about who you give your contact details to and which of those details to give.
Refuse to hand over personal information your peers ask of you, or question them about why they want such information.
Cut ties with people/groups who refuse to cooperate with the above points.
Educate your friends about privacy, especially its benefits and consequences of its violation, in ways they can relate.
. If you call your dog, Rex, by the name “Fido” so many times, it’ll come running to you when you call it “Fido”.