zlacker

>>pbrw+(OP)
Ok, my contrarian hot take (for HN at least). The real entities we need to be afraid of in regards to privacy are governments & politicians, not companies & entrepreneurs.

The worst thing a company can do is try to sell you more soap. The government on the other hand can literally ruin your life (or even end it in some countries).

The EU is doing a fantastic job of keeping everyone distracted by pointing the finger at the "evil American tech companies" while simultaneously doing the opposite when it comes to privacy from government...which is the real threat.

I could point to many instances of this but the easiest one is the EU commission currently pushing a ban on encryption.

>>pembro+eb
Corporations can ruin your life just fine.

>>gpdere+sb
As long as they manage to somehow manipulate the government to help them do it.

>>anfogo+dg
Being a gatekeeper to something important is sufficient. If Apple and Google both consider you a persona non grata, you will have a tough time getting by when the businesses you use daily (let alone government agencies) start insisting on interacting only via an app. Meta does that, and businesses that use only Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram all suddenly can't see you.

Similar effects with money, though at least PayPal is no longer really a gatekeeper.

>>ben_w+Hi
I don't know about you but ruin your life brings to mind something like what almost happened to Steven Donziger. No corporation is able to do that to you without the help of governments.

Not being able to interact with a business on Facebook or on any of the other equally insignificant platforms simply does not rate.

And if a governmental agency requires you to use Facebook to interact with them, without any stipulations to bind Meta to serve you, well it's alarming that anyone would have time to say a single thing about Meta instead of address the real issue of the agency having the power to in effect force you to interact with facebook.com.