Boycott Spotify

[64Guitars]

Just read this on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34016658

Spotify has changed its Terms and Conditions. To quote the article: "The streaming platform now wants access to pictures, contact phone numbers and sensor data stored on the user's smartphone as well as permission to view social media activity."

This kind of stuff really worries me. Businesses are collecting more and more personal data about us all the time. This is only the tip of the iceberg. We're quickly heading toward a society where every business in the world will have access to a huge amount of personal information about every internet user on the planet. To me, this is far worse than the "Big Brother" that George Orwell envisioned in his novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". In that novel, citizens were under constant surveillance by the government. While that's a scary thought, I think I can rationalize it to some extent because the government is conducting that surveillance for purposes of law enforcement and national security. So, as long as I'm a good, law-abiding citizen, I shouldn't have anything to worry about (in theory). And the government has an obligation to protect the information they collect. We already trust them with a great deal of personal information which we provide to them in our tax returns, census forms, etc. We have a right to expect that that information won't be disclosed to businesses or other citizens.

But giving our personal information to businesses like Spotify is quite a different matter. Businesses are driven only by greed. They want to use our personal information to make money. They do this by selling it to advertisers who will hound us night and day with in-your-face advertising and personal soliciting (telephone and door-to-door). And, although they try to assure us that our information is safe in their databases, we all know that's a crock of shit. We're always hearing in the news about major corporations who've had their computer systems hacked and vast amounts of customer data stolen. So once a company like Spotify gets your personal information, it's only a matter of time before that information is in the hands of all the internet criminals of the world. They'll have your credit card numbers, they'll know where you live. And by monitoring your emails and social media activity, they can discover when you're away on holidays, leaving your home unoccupied and unprotected. They'll also be able to monitor GPS data from your smartphone to determine where you are.

We need to boycott companies like Spotify that collect our personal data to let them know that we won't tolerate their invasion of our privacy. If you are a member of Spotify, please consider cancelling your account. Even if you're not concerned about your own privacy, consider your family and friends who are in your contact lists. It isn't fair to them that you should give their phone numbers and other information to Spotify. Their information is not yours to give away.

[64Guitars]

The BBC has changed the title of that article and some of its content since I first read it. It was originally titled "Spotify's new privacy policy angers users". It's now titled "Spotify says sorry after privacy policy anger" and is more about the company's back-paddling and confuscating of their intentions.

Here's the original article:

BBC - Spotify's new privacy policy angers users - 2015-08-21.pdf

[Mike_S]

Scary stuff.

[Mike_S]

I always fear the worst regarding all this computery, sharing your whole life with everyone and anyone existence. It'll all end up in a bit of a kerfuffle i feel. And lets face it humans never fail to dissapoint when left with the choice of good and bad, especially if it means they can gain something. Look at that whole dating agency thingy... whats it called, Madison something or other - yes a distasteful website - but a good example of if your data can be taken then you can be sure some day it will. It'll only end up in tears!

[Groundy]

Cheers 64.....

[Johnny Robbo]

I couldn't have put it better myself. I used to be on Facebook & Twitter as well as using Spotify. Now I no longer use any of these & have deleted my accounts - whether that ACTUALLY deletes the info those companies have on me is another matter of course. Your point about the nightmare vision of the future that Orwell predicted is one I've made many times. A government can be voted out of office if enough people decide they don't like what they're doing - including what they're doing with our personal info - but none of us have a vote when it comes to the CEO (and why is always "CEO" these days? When did companies stop having "Managing Directors" & why?) of a global, faceless IT behemoth. As soon as you tick that box saying you agree to the terms & conditions, you've effectively signed a legally binding contract, and who among us ever bothers to read the pages & pages of legalese we're actually agreeing to? One of my favourite comedians, Michael McIntyre put it perfectly when he said "I wonder if someone from Itunes is going to turn up at my front door in 5 years time & say 'OK, time to move out, we own this house now - check the Ts&C's you agreed to by ticking the box on our site.'"