this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
1401 points (97.3% liked)

Microblog Memes

5863 readers
4017 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

Rules:

  1. Please put at least one word relevant to the post in the post title.
  2. Be nice.
  3. No advertising, brand promotion or guerilla marketing.
  4. Posters are encouraged to link to the toot or tweet etc in the description of posts.

Related communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

post textPicture this:

  1. You type on Google "laptop won't turn on"
  2. Google now knows you have a broken laptop and can estimate how desperate you are to fix it.
  3. Because it knows how desperate you are, it can increase shop prices proportionally.

You are going to pay the maximum they get you to pay.

That's algorithmic pricing.

The more companies know about you, the more they can predict and sell how desperate you are to other stores out there.

An internet-connected car knows much more about you than you realize. A smart TV also knows what you like. Your Alexa knows if there is a problem in the home.

Privacy is much more than just sensitive data.

It's about not giving leverage away.

Because algorithms will use it against you.

Be safe out there.

Nostr.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was surprised by a recent, popular comment here on lemmy where someone advised against using cash because of missing out on rewards. A majority of people don't appreciate the tradeoffs here. By default, banks and private companies have more info on us than we have on ourselves. To think that they're going to do anything that benefits us more than them is naive. While not everything is zero sum, we are talking about extractive, profit seeking industries.

Cash seems like the best defense on this front. I recent switched back to cash, and continue to track my own finances; Bank sees $500 withdrawal; I see $34.45 at grocery store, $19.20 at hardware store, etc.

Pro tip: try random but memorable phone numbers at checkout. Now you can enjoy the savings, and salt/contaminate the data extraction of others. The more randomness (where and when you shop, what you buy, which numbers you use) the better.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

That's a great tip to use someone else's phone number! I use my mother-in-law's phone number. I will never convince her not to use these reward programs, so may as well pile them on.