In reply to yarbles:
> (In reply to yorkshireman) It's about trust. I find the whole thing creepy
Hmm, well its a tricky one. There's already a lot of information gleaned from you without your explicit permission every day.
- APNR cameras picking up spots you're driving
- Logs of which towers your mobile phone registers wiht certain cell towers.
- Credit card payments in store, cash machine withdrawals
- Tesco clubcard?
- Login in to UKC forums
- CCTV
> and would rather have control over what data I send third parties. I certainly object to my PC sending stuff out without my knowledge / permission.
Well you do - I work for one of the biggest brands on the planet and reputation is everything so we play by the rules - and handling personally identifiable information is strictly enforced. Anything that can individually identify you is controlled by you, can be deleted at your request and is only collected if we explicitly ask for it.
The bottom line is that on the whole we're not bothered about YOUR personal data. YOU, are not very important. However analysing you and people like you en-masse is useful to spot trends and tailor content. When we do use your personal data mapped to your profile history it is generally there to make your life better (personalising an experience) and this will only increase as people are happy to trade a bit of perceived privacy for a more convenient lifestyle.
Look at 'Google Now'. That is creepy but it is genuinely useful although you have to give up some personal data and let it intrude in your life a bit. However I'm happy to let it see my calendar or know where I live if it is going to tell me that a flight is delayed or there are traffic jams without me needing to look.
Anyway, it keeps me in a job