George Orwell just rolled over in his grave and hacked up a dust ball.

You got that right Bill! What if I don't WANT personalized services?
How much exercise I'm getting? Great! Now my insurance company and jack up my health insurance premiums further. If they do this, there better be a method to opt out. (who am I kidding?)

Let's not kid ourselves, just because we don't have the information available to us doesn't mean the information isn't gathered.

Google knows exactly what we search for. They know what recipes we searched for, they know what restaurants we looked at, they probably even know where we shop, where we took a vacation, what car we bought, etc.

Since the information is already there, I don't see anything wrong with people being able to actually have access to the information being kept about us.

Absolutely! Google, what do you know about me and where did you learn it?

Wait, he wants the information to be revealed by Google in order to further do what I didn't authorize already, never mind. Close... it was ALMOST a good thing, ah well.

Let's not kid ourselves, just because we don't have the information available to us doesn't mean the information isn't gathered.

Google knows exactly what we search for. They know what recipes we searched for, they know what restaurants we looked at, they probably even know where we shop, where we took a vacation, what car we bought, etc.

Since the information is already there, I don't see anything wrong with people being able to actually have access to the information being kept about us.

+1

Since the information is already there, I don't see anything wrong with people being able to actually have access to the information being kept about us.

i agree, although i always thought that in the UK (and probably europe) companies were obliged to reveal all information they store about anybody to that person on request. although as i'm not a lawyer i might have misunderstood this.

In the UK a Freedom of Information request should bring you the information you require. The problem is that FB and Google, etc., may get around that by the fact that they are not headquartered in the UK, and the data may not be in the UK. I know, that's not fair from the standpoint of a UK citizen.

It'd need a test case.

Bummer.

Since the information is already there, I don't see anything wrong with people being able to actually have access to the information being kept about us.

As long as that information is used for good. But I think history has proven that this type of information will quickly be abused and used to control the populous in ways I don't even want to imagine.

How can me being given access to the information a company has about me lead to abusive control of the population?

In order to make sense of all the data about you from all the various sources you will need to hand it all over to a data organization company to capsulize it so your Tiny Mind(tm) can make sense of your complex behavior. I suggest the Goo.

Hahahahaha...For anyone outside of the UK check out NHSIT...seriously, one of the biggest wastes of public money ever in the WORLD...estimated at $17 Billion in 2002 it went out of control...gawd knows what's happening to it now.

I like TBL, he just does not live in the REAL world at times, he really does not understand how politicians and people manage to screw-up everything they touch...especially the jobsworths...man, they get everywhere.

How can me being given access to the information a company has about me lead to abusive control of the population?

In order to make sense of all the data about you from all the various sources you will need to hand it all over to a data organization company to capsulize it so your Tiny Mind(tm) can make sense of your complex behavior. I suggest the Goo.

The information was already handed over. The proposal in this thread is for Google (for example) to let us know what they already know about us, right? Am I missing something?

The information was already handed over. The proposal in this thread is for Google (for example) to let us know what they already know about us, right? Am I missing something?

So if G, FB, Twitter, and every "App" that collects data from your cell phone is all grouped together, what are you going to do with it? Somebody has got to aggregate it, sort it our for you and provide you with some type of analysis or result--back into the cycle. Nope. You're not missing a thing.

The proposal in this thread is for Google (for example) to let us know what they already know about us, right? Am I missing something?

Yes maybe to have you confirm what they already know is accurate and currently valid. Plus they may give you a chance to make corrections.

@Tonearm

yes you are correct, it's just that some people don't actually read and comprehend, they just rant off at a tangent to the OP :)

something i'm doubtless guilty of too, at times!

Speaking of tangents... ;)

This thread reminds me of the EU cookie discussion. People get worked up about the issue of someone writing information to your own computer when what they ought to get worked up about is the fact that they have the information in the first place.

Don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US you are allowed to look at your own credit report periodically, so you'll know if there is an issue (read: error) you need to deal with.

#1 Collect information about something or someone.
#2 Store information.
#3 Use information internally.
#4 Disclose information to third party.
#5 Disclose information to the something or someone in #1.

Which point in the sequence is grounds for strong reaction?

Exactly. It ain't #5.

I don't think we will ever get to see our case files :)