During the past few years I was avoiding the increasing number of products or services that required biometric verification, specially face recognition (FR). But the things are getting harder are harder in my country:
- The largest e-commerce platform in latin america and the most used in my country requires FR to use it. It was possible to use cash if you buy from its website but since a couple of weeks it’s requesting me to identify using it’s app.
- The telecoms demands FR from now on if you want a new SIM card in case you lost your phone or it’s been stolen.
- The bank is now pressing me to use their app with FR as a 2fa when using homebanking from its website, something that wasn’t necessary up to some weeks ago.
- The government is in the same direction as it’s moving to digitalizing many burocratic procedures and also requires FR.
and the list is increasing quickly.
I’ve never used any private social networks and I’ve degoogled many years ago, the only non free software that I use is Whatsapp because in some countries in latin america is almost imposible not to use it, you need it even to call to the car towing service.
Anybody that is well informed knows the dangers of allowing such an amount of private information now tied to our face be available for hackers now equiped with AI, but frankly it seems a lost cause to fight against something that 99.9% of people dont worry about and give consent to do so to corporations (that sell all your data to whoever wants it) and governments (who use it as a tool of control).
I don’t know, may be I’m also worring to much and it’s not that serious, after all if tens of millions of people do the same the chances of being targeted by hackers is not different of being robbed in the street (at least in latin america) and with the obiquitous surveillance cameras plus the almost unavoidable need of a phone, the government probably know exactly where you are and how you look, so the information may be already available. Perhaps it’s time to give up and adapt to the world we now live in.
No daily anxiety at all, just being aware of the dangers. When I drive and see a red light I just stop, there is no anxiety involved, I’m just aware of the dangers of crossing. If you are not aware of the dangers of the excessive digital exposure and surveillance you should subscribe to this community and read what’s going on in China and in an increasing number of western countries in relation to this.
- The largest e-commerce platform in latin america and the most used in my country requires FR to use it.
I minimize my use of the largest eCommerce platform in my country. It’s a pain, but it can be done, and I feel good about my money going to organizations that better match my values.
- The bank is now pressing me to use their app with FR as a 2fa when using homebanking from its website, something that wasn’t necessary up to some weeks ago.
Sounds like a great opportunity to check into joining a credit union. All banks are predatory. There’s lots of other great reasons to minimize your exposure to banks.
- The telecoms demands FR from now on if you want a new SIM card in case you lost your phone or it’s been stolen.
- The government is in the same direction as it’s moving to digitalizing many burocratic procedures and also requires FR.
I imagine you may be stuck with these. Sometimes we can’t win them all.
I wouldn’t take that as a reason to give up. Having your face on file in fewer places is very lively to save you future headaches.
Ideally this will be less of a concern in the future, when the vast majority of organizations no longer have utter shit for Cybersecurity.
But that day is not today.
Ideally this will be less of a concern in the future, when the vast majority of organizations no longer have utter shit for Cybersecurity.
Oh you optimistic madlad, never change.
So. Individual pricacy measures are a lot like eating a vegan diet. There’s only so much any one individual can do. You are making things better in some small way by doing it, but once you’ve taken things as far as you, its time to switch from an individual journey to one of collectivization. Advocate to your friends and family about why you browse the internet weird and what we all stand to gain by banding together and doing it as a group. Not all of them will listen, but that’s okay. Evangelism isn’t about reaching everyone, its about reaching a few people. Movements are built by people trying to make them world better and you can do this.
Importantly, too, accepting that there’s only so much you can do will help you confront your anxiety. Anxiety is the emotion we feel when we wish we felt a different feeling from what we’re feeling. Its a uniquely insidious emotion in how when you feel anxious, you want to feel another way, and then you feed the anxiety by doing that. Breaking free of these loops are important if you want to make them world a better place because you need to be able to function and not be broken by your desire to improve things.
And hey. I believe in you. You can do this
Well, it seems that my bad english made it seem that I am suffering of anxiety or something. I just don’t like the abussive behavior of corporations and the government that exposes us unnecessarly to the risks of being hacked or scammed.
Oh, I think for me it was just that when I have thought patterns like “…is it time to give up?” My emotional color is anxiety. I have to pick myself back up by focusing on the value of focusing not only on protecting myself, but also protecting others. Just saw more of myself in you than I saw you for you I guess
If I should talk about an emotional color concerning to this I’d say it’s defeat. They will get what they want.
Yes, you are worrying too much I’d say. Your concerns are valid and real but you are overestimating the likelihood of something happening to you if you make a mistake or compromise and that is causing you unnecessary anxiety. You don’t have to choose between perfect privacy or caving in completely. Everything you do will help, but not necessarily to the degree required to justify sacrifices to your personal life or mental health. If you have a very specific concern about your government targeting you based on something you are doing, maybe it is worth it, but vague reasoning like “hackers with AI” is not worth this level of paranoia.
I don’t see the reasoning “hackers with AI” is a vague, it’s already happening. Scammers use deepfakes to steal $25.6 million from a multinational firm The software to do this is already available in github for anyone to use it. There’s a billion market around phone scams, it’s just a matter of time of widespread adoption of this technology by scammers. Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year That’s why I talked about being well informed and seeing the dangers. May be I’m paranoid but it doesn’t mean its not happening.
I never said it’s not happening and I’m not sure why you’re suggesting otherwise. All I said is that it is a vague reason to have this level of paranoia about your privacy. It’s like having a super strict diet because you’ve read that certain foods contain carcinogens and will increase your risk of cancer. Technically it’s true, but the only people who should actually be concerned about this are people with pre-existing risk factors or whose excessive/unusual lifestyle places them at extreme risk. Nothing you have said in this thread suggests you are any different from any other regular person in the world, so I don’t feel you should be as concerned as you seem to be.
While I see your concern, most hackers go for low hanging fruit. They don’t need to bother going after someone who makes it difficult to get their data, because your neighbor is probably much more accessible. Keep doing your part and restricting access to your data, but keep a clear head about it. Getting excessively worried is just going to make it more likely to slip up, a calm and collected approach will do you well
Keep doing your thing, it will reduce the probability of being owned. Maybe you can’t avoid to give your data to the government, but you can change to a bank that doesn’t require it. You certainly can buy things without giving up your biometric data. You can absolutely ditch social networks that want to have it. Of course, if you have a store and want to sell in this specific marketplace, then you can’t avoid anything of this, except maybe the bank, but you still should try a different bank if there is an option.
It’s not pointless to deny your data to, say, Elon Musk or Google, if you already gave it to get your passport.
