The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
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@pheonix
And also the classical, "I see you bought a hair dryer, you probably need ten more right? I'll show you some all month"@Beldarak that last example reallllly confuses me. You bought X once, so you must need 10 more of it! Who thought of this?
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@pheonix It is a concept that I felt, but never found a way to express. You gave words to that, and for this I thank you!
@77nn that's very kind of you! Thank you
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@pheonix You'd think the shopping predictions would be great as it's how they make their money, that they'd be laser-focused on my tastes and needs with pinpoint accuracy. I just got recommended curling tongs by Amazon. I've been completely bald with the sides/back shaven for 20+ years.
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
On YouTube, for example, you can do so by not clicking on recommended content from search results. This includes sections like "For you" and "People also search for".
My extension helps with this and lots of other QOL improvements. It's open source, privacy friendly and Mozilla recommended.
Extension : Search Fixer
YouTube Search Fixer is an extension designed to fix YouTube search and de-clutter your search page to make it less distracting. It removes suggestions like For you, People also search for, Related to your search, etc from your feed. Install this to remove Shorts and much more from Search Results as well.
(phoennix.gitlab.io)

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On YouTube, for example, you can do so by not clicking on recommended content from search results. This includes sections like "For you" and "People also search for".
My extension helps with this and lots of other QOL improvements. It's open source, privacy friendly and Mozilla recommended.
Extension : Search Fixer
YouTube Search Fixer is an extension designed to fix YouTube search and de-clutter your search page to make it less distracting. It removes suggestions like For you, People also search for, Related to your search, etc from your feed. Install this to remove Shorts and much more from Search Results as well.
(phoennix.gitlab.io)

@pheonix thank you for sharing this.
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix Reminded me of this gem from Wendell Berry. Written 50 years ago, before prediction algorithms were suggesting music to anyone. https://allpoetry.com/poem/12622463-Manifesto--The-Mad-Farmer-Liberation-Front-by-Wendell-Berry
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@Beldarak that last example reallllly confuses me. You bought X once, so you must need 10 more of it! Who thought of this?
@pheonix
Yes, that is so strange… as you & others in this thread comment: “You bought X once, so you must need 10 more of it! Who thought of this?”
It's so creep- weird. Why does the algo keep trying to sell us the same thing? As if we are our past? It’s such incredibly lazy programming. Advertizers pay for this? Why? Make it make sense!!
#algorithms #marketing #advertizers #advertisers #advertising
@Beldarak -
The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
What, you don't want to buy another replacement battery for your celphone this week?
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix This is very well put and hadn't occurred to me in exactly the same way, but I feel similar about all the generative AI. It only regurgitates what it has ingested and as starts to feed on itself, nothing new and surprising can come out of it. I don't want to be trapped in a feedback loop of the same content being recycled and homogenized endlessly. Where is the spark of creativity?
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix Isn’t this in a way an even more sinister form of the 50s advertisement that the ”tradwife” aesthetic is derived from?
By pushing the same ideal of womanhood from all angles possible the goal was to currate a standardised adult female consumer unit to which it’d be easier to push additional uniformed goods and services.
Advanced #capitalism deters #authenticity as it makes high volume peddling harder, and thus the production-consumption-loop less efficient.
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
Bingo. Living in the world of a surveillance state and of AI is to live in a nightmare Groundhog Day.
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J Jürgen Hubert shared this topic
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix Yesterday I looked up the terms for the shirt worn by men when they wear a tuxedo. Today I get thousands of ads for dress shirts. Coincidence? I think not.
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The predictions are not even any good.
Spotify keep serving up songs I immediately skip every single time it plays them
Netflix says you will love these shows.
50% are shite I never would watch, the other 50% are shows I have already watched. Maybe I watch one in 10 years time, but not going to rewatch something from last week.
Also you scroll through search results and they keep shoving a bunch of the same movies in. I have already scrolled past these 12 times. Stop showing me them! Show me the rest of the results.
Or I buy a new kettle and get kettle ads for the next 6 months. Do you think I am
setting up a kettle farm? How many kettles do you think I need?@SuperMoosie @pheonix Maybe you were intending to breed kettles? I'm sure there's a way to monetise that...

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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix that’s something I hate. Watch a Korean tv show, and all they will suggest you are korean tv show. I am more layered and complex than that! I watch and wanna find out about different things!!!
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@pheonix
Yes, that is so strange… as you & others in this thread comment: “You bought X once, so you must need 10 more of it! Who thought of this?”
It's so creep- weird. Why does the algo keep trying to sell us the same thing? As if we are our past? It’s such incredibly lazy programming. Advertizers pay for this? Why? Make it make sense!!
#algorithms #marketing #advertizers #advertisers #advertising
@Beldarak -
@pheonix
Yes, that is so strange… as you & others in this thread comment: “You bought X once, so you must need 10 more of it! Who thought of this?”
It's so creep- weird. Why does the algo keep trying to sell us the same thing? As if we are our past? It’s such incredibly lazy programming. Advertizers pay for this? Why? Make it make sense!!
#algorithms #marketing #advertizers #advertisers #advertising
@Beldarak -
I watched the trailer for 'RRR' and a couple of other Indian blockbuster action movies back in 2022, and YouTube _still_ think I'm into everything Bollywood.
@skjeggtroll @pheonix
I sometimes get emails in Spanish for some reason. It's very inconvenient when a government office does it to me since i don't speak it
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The predictions are not even any good.
Spotify keep serving up songs I immediately skip every single time it plays them
Netflix says you will love these shows.
50% are shite I never would watch, the other 50% are shows I have already watched. Maybe I watch one in 10 years time, but not going to rewatch something from last week.
Also you scroll through search results and they keep shoving a bunch of the same movies in. I have already scrolled past these 12 times. Stop showing me them! Show me the rest of the results.
Or I buy a new kettle and get kettle ads for the next 6 months. Do you think I am
setting up a kettle farm? How many kettles do you think I need?@SuperMoosie @pheonix I think it’s because the company selling kettle ads gets payed for serving up kettle ads; it’s not so important whether anybody actually buys a kettle at any point. Now they have data that shows they showed x amount of people ads for kettles, and so mission accomplished!
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The most annoying thing about corporate surveillance to me is the arrogance of the prediction mechanisms.
These algorithms build a model of me based on my clicks from three years ago and then try to trap me in that loop forever. They show me music they think I'll like, and news they think I'll engage with, and videos they think will enrage me enough to keep me hooked to their platforms. They are actively trying to flatten my personality into something easy to monetize.
As most people I've seen say out loud, "Privacy as a concept is way beyond hiding secrets. A part of it also means preserving your capacity to change. To be surprised. To be inconsistent."
If I could tell every human one thing, it would be to actively refuse to be a predictable data point. Mess up their metrics. In whatever way you are capable of.
#socialmedia #algorithmicbias #privacy #dataprivacy #quotes #foss #facebook #linkedin #llm #noai #enshittification #reading #books #baking #art #philosophy #adhd #depression #cybersecurity
@pheonix IMO this is 100% complementary to also insisting that the methods they use to track us are laughably simplistic and broken. they claim to "know everything about us" but they're just sniffing the fumes and picking up the crumbs of each life as it's lived, understanding nothing. as surveilled as we are they still miss so much, and their data hoards are worth + capable of far less (eg predictively) than they claim, and we're in for a major economic disaster when that becomes undeniable.

