I got bored when I was in early college. I already held leftest views and didn’t love a lot of what Google and other big tech platforms where doing. I started with Proton but honestly mainly due to there lack of even decent Linux support changed over to Tuta. I feel lucky that I did all of this about a year and a half ago so just before they shoved AI in everything.
By working as a data engineer in ad-tech companies and seeing how big is actually an amount of information collected about you.
Oh, I never seen anyone say they worked as a data manager. Never even heard about this job.
How’s it? What do you do?
There are petabytes of collected data (even in a relatively small ad-tech companies I had a chance to work on; on a facebook/google scale it is much more). Someone should write all the cleaning, processing, de-duplication and matching (aka fingerprinting) steps as well as make this data usable by AI / Machine Learning guys, who will make models that predicts what ad to show to each user based on the available data. I’m working on processing, cleaning, matching and preparing of these data.
oooh
I know that I’m working on a “dark side”… But ad-tech are offering really interesting tasks about building very complex infrastructure besides they are paying well.
Another sem 👽
*data engineer
I’m also one but I don’t work for advertising. Most data engineers work for consulting companies that work for banks. We program automatic data processing pipelines. For example, bank transactions are stored somewhere, all the historic data, that needs processing to then be graphed out for exec number 3, or for whatever.
Other companies might send you files that need to be automatically processed, cleaned, and put correctly where then other tools can pull that data correctly.
We basically do all the background work concerning data manipulation. File processing, databases… all that stuff. And by databases it can be normal ones like posture to distributed ones like hdfs/hive/athena/whatever.
Ad world is basically the same but with tracking info instead of transactions.
If you are interested in day to day work, it’s a mix of coding SQL processes, then porting them to spark/pyspark for distributed massive processing. There are new shiny tools for those that don’t know much of the technical side to manage, sorta.
started debloating my windows install and installing custom roms since i had a shit pc and phone, then got to know linux and naturally got privacy conscious
I was always raised not to share personal information with complete strangers on the web. I overlooked that rule for a time, but between that and the revelations by Snowden and then Cambridge Analytica I’ve gradually taken increasing steps towards a more privacy-oriented internet experience. I do take some pride in my tech knowledge but when I have to resolve an issue with a family members’ device I have to mentally switch gears because they are set up for a completely different kind of experience.
The revelations that came out from the Edward Snowden ordeal.
Sold on the importance of data privacy from content creators (I think it started with Techlore on YouTube). Once you’re convinced on the ideology, then finding the tools and means is just the grunt work from there on out.
I moved to Mailbox.org, slowly started degoogling, stopped using Amazon, left Reddit after the API changes, switched to Linux after Steam Deck desktop mode gave me confidence, got a Synology NAS, realised docker was a thing on Synology, outgrew the NAS and got a mini PC server…the journey continues. Now I need to set up home assistant, Synapse Matrix server and see about changing to Graphene OS when I next change my phone.
By installing linux, and then rabbit hole came by itself
This is the only way, the hard way ,have fun Everbody
Data stealing? I thought people are just giving it away.
Although I remember when the fb app was discovered to be spying on other stuff outside of usage within the app, whenever that was.
There’s a mom joke here somewhere, which of us is brave enough to retort as such to the OP?
People can’t be blame for not paying attention to that. All are not really techie, just following current trend, and for sure big tech doesn’t make the task easier.
They are to blame later when risks are explained and people from their surroundings are willing to give help.
A long time ago. I’d guess it was around the time Facebook became popular, because it was inconceivable to me that people were just sharing their private info online, and treating people who didn’t as the odd ones. Later on my I was vindicated, but I’ve been wary of Google and Microsoft’s data hoarding from the beginning I think. It has been frustrating to see tech go this way, and people just accepting it, gleefully.
The library giving uo on asking for my email because it didn’t have my full name on it::
2011, contracting for a web marketing agency I came across a tool they used that aggregated data from Market, Salesforce and data brokers.
You could put someone’s email in, and it would tell you every bit of info they ever filled out on a form for a sale or a freebie.
Name and address were often there, sometimes DoB, sometimes other PID, then there was shopping habits and history etc.
It was creepy as fuck. I dropped Facebook and twitter at the time. And I never filled a form or answered any questions at a till again. Then I started blocking trackers.
I think it was ~2008 I was shopping for something online. Then for the next several days, every website I went to would feed me ads for that website I was shopping on. I didn’t understand why it was happening and it was deeply concerning. Oh, to be ignorant again…
Back in the covid lock downs, I went down a rabbit hole with alternative operating systems. I found TheHatedOnes video on GrapheneOS, got the cheapest pixel from a pawn shop, and started experimenting on the mobile side of things
As for my PC, I’m not sure if this video exists, or it did and its gone, or I was just dreaming, but I’m sure there was a SomeOrdinary Gamer video about how windows 10 wanted a 1080p webcam.
That was the final straw for me, and I started duel booting to get used to Linux. I knew back then I would never go to windows 11, so I knew the sooner I start switching, the more comfortable I would be when windows 10 reaches EOL.
goat youtuber
because of this sexy boi
Who’s that?
Edward Snowden
Nice. Thanks.
Probably around the time when the internet became a thing. I’ve always lived a rather private life. Not a lot of fanfare, I just need the basics. Then I started a fully licensed internet radio station, promoting indie music. At the time I probably had 4k - 5k listeners a day. This was back in the pre-Napster era and Napster was just starting to get popular. So, I self hosted and automated the entire set up. When I was at work, everything operated like a terra-radio station would, with announcer drop ins, promo drop ins, multiple playlists that would randomly select maybe 5 songs from the top 50 list, 5 or 6 songs from the ‘b’ side and deep cuts, etc. I honestly had a blast and I was doing it all out of my own pocket. I personally feel enriched by the experience. I got to work with a lot of companies like the now defunct MP3.com, and others.
Then the RIAA got involved and deemed internet radio the same as illegal downloads off of Napster, even tho we paid ASCAP, BMI, SESAC et al, licenses. and fees A bunch of us went to Washington to plead our case for internet radio in front of a special panel, but in the end, the RIAA made it so difficult, with fees that didn’t even apply to terra-radio. A big swath of us just went dark. We just couldn’t cough up the additional required fees and such. That was by design tho from the RIAA itself. I will say tho, that if Shawn Fanning had not have scripted Napster, I think the music industry on the internet would look quite different than it does today. He pushed the envelope.
Dating back to the first Android phone, the G1. I was installing custom ROMs on that first, and then when I eventually got a Nexus 5, I started to de-Google.
I’m on an iPhone now because I had a string of bad luck with how shit most Android phones are, but I’m still privacy and security-minded:
- I have no social media accounts - no one can actually find me except through my personal website or LinkedIn (but they obviously have to know my name first for either). If/when people complain about it, I shrug at them. I’m not signing up for TikTok so you can send me some vapid video
- I use a VPN 24/7
- Proton as my mail provider
- My wife and I don’t use any streaming services - Stremio for everything (through Real Debrid so no torrents can be tracked)
- I use a virtual card service so that absolutely nothing has our actual credit and debit card numbers (some with limits set so a service can’t arbitrarily raise rates on us, or go rogue and accidentally charge too much)
- Windows is not allowed to touch a single computer I own. It’s either macOS for work stuff, or Linux for everything else
