c/ethical-tech-dilemmas

Remember when you could just buy a phone and own it?

I paid about $400 for a new smartphone two years ago. It worked fine, but the company pushed an update that made the battery drain super fast. They basically forced me to think about getting a new one. It feels wrong that a company can change something you paid for like that. What do you do when a company uses software to make your stuff worse?

Just saw a report that 65% of people feel they can't control their data online

It was in a Pew Research study I clicked on yesterday. Does anyone actually feel like they have a handle on where their info goes anymore?

Can we talk about how a job site camera system flagged my own crew as trespassers?

My company installed a new AI security camera at a Seattle build site last month, and it kept sending alerts about 'unauthorized entry' during our normal work hours. The system had learned from old data that only certain vehicles were allowed, so when our new truck arrived, it flagged the whole crew. Has anyone else run into AI safety tools causing more problems than they solve?

A facial recognition system at my apartment building in Denver just flagged me as a visitor

Honestly, it happened last Tuesday when I was coming home from my route. The new system the landlord installed last month scanned my face and the screen said 'Visitor - Access Denied'. I had to stand there in the rain for ten minutes while the property manager reset it. Tbh, it made me think, what if it keeps messing up for other residents? Has anyone else had their own tech fail to recognize them like that?

My neighbor insisted I tape over my smart speaker's camera 'for privacy' and I thought he was nuts until my friend's kid accidentally video-called me from theirs.

Now I'm wondering if we're all just inviting tiny, unsecured cameras into our homes without a second thought.

Had to pick between a free AI art tool and paying an artist for my small business logo

My online shop needed a logo and I had a $200 budget. The choice was a free AI generator that could make something in minutes or hiring a local artist on a freelance site for the full amount. I went with the artist, a person in Austin named Sam. It took two weeks and a few back-and-forth emails, but the final design felt unique and had a real story behind it. Using the AI felt like taking a shortcut that could hurt actual creative jobs, even if it saved me cash and time. Now I have a logo I'm proud of and I supported someone's craft directly. Has anyone else faced a similar tech vs. human labor choice for their projects?

My smart fridge tried to order 12 gallons of milk because it thought I was depressed

So this new fridge has a 'wellness sensor' that tracks food removal patterns. After I had a quiet weekend and didn't open the veggie drawer much, it sent a notification to my phone suggesting I might be 'nutritionally deficient' and offered to auto-order a 'comfort bundle' from its partner store. The choice was letting it make this weird assumption or turning off the health tracking completely, which also disables the expiry alerts I actually need. I turned it off, but now I have to manually check dates on everything. Has anyone found a good middle ground with these overly helpful home gadgets?

My sister, a teacher, said her school's new 'engagement tracking' software flags kids who look away from their screens.

Just spent 4 hours trying to get a 'fair' AI image generator to stop making every CEO look like a middle-aged white guy.

I was making a presentation for work and wanted some generic 'leadership' images. Every prompt, even super neutral ones like 'person in a suit at a desk', gave me the same result. I tried adding specific details about ethnicity, gender, age... it either ignored them or made the images look weird and forced. My colleague said, 'The data's poisoned, it's just reflecting what it was fed.' It really makes you think about who builds these tools and what gets left out.

Hot take: I just found out my city's 'predictive policing' software flagged a park as high-risk because of a data glitch from 2018.

Read the audit report online, and it turns out a single bad data entry skewed patrols for six blocks for over a year. Has your area had any issues with these algorithms?

My neighbor's smart lock let a delivery guy in while they were on vacation

I was dropping off a package in Portland last week and saw a delivery person from another company walk right up to a door, tap their phone, and go inside. The homeowners were away for two weeks. It turned out their smart lock had a glitch that shared a one time code with the wrong delivery service. I called them to check, and they had no idea. How do we stop these systems from giving out access without the owner knowing?

Appreciation post: My old boss warned me about facial recognition in our apartment building

About two years ago, our building management in Chicago proposed installing a facial recognition system for entry. My former boss, who worked in data privacy, told me flat out, 'Do not vote for that. It's a biometric data collection scheme disguised as convenience.' I thought he was being overly cautious, but I listened. The system was installed anyway, and last month, a local news report found the building's security vendor had been selling anonymized entry pattern data to a marketing firm. The data wasn't 'anonymous' at all; they could track when specific residents came and went. His warning was spot on. It made me realize how easily we trade privacy for a minor perk. Has anyone else had their building push for this kind of tech, and how did you push back?

Our team tested two bias check tools on our hiring algorithm.

We ran 10,000 fake resumes through it last month. The open-source tool flagged 40% more gender bias patterns than the paid one. Has anyone else found free tools work better for this?

I paid $80 for a 'privacy audit' app that just sold my data

It scanned my phone and said it would show me who was tracking me. Turns out the company behind it was sharing my contact list and location history with data brokers. Has anyone found a legit tool for this that isn't a scam?

Question about a 'right to be forgotten' request that took months

I asked a data broker to delete my info back in March. They said it would be done in 30 days. It's July now, and I'm still getting mail from companies that bought my old data. I had to file a complaint with my state's attorney general to get any real movement. Has anyone else had to fight this hard just to be removed from a list?

Rant: Saw a 'smart' park bench in Chicago tracking people's weight

Honestly, it was at Millennium Park and it had a tiny screen showing a number when you sat down. How is that data being used and who even asked for this?

Spent $40 on a 'privacy focused' VPN that ended up being a total scam.

Saw an ad for this service called 'SecureTunnel' that promised no logs and military grade encryption. The website looked legit, had all the right buzzwords. Bought a year subscription on a whim. First red flag was the download link just gave me a weird .exe file. Installed it, and my browser started getting slammed with pop-up ads for other junk. Did some digging, and the company is registered to a PO box in a country with basically no data laws. So much for privacy. I'm out forty bucks and learned a hard lesson about trusting slick marketing. Has anyone actually found a VPN they trust that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

I paid $40 for a data removal service that didn't really do anything

Saw an ad for a company that promised to delete my info from data broker sites. Filled out their form, paid the fee, got a confirmation email saying it was done. Checked a few weeks later on a couple of those people search sites... my name and old address were still right there. Feels like I just paid for a false sense of security. Has anyone found a method that actually works, or is this whole industry kind of a scam?

I finally saw how a facial recognition system got it wrong at a concert in Austin

They were scanning the crowd for a person of interest, and it flagged my friend, who looks nothing like the guy. A security guard pulled him aside for ten minutes before they realized the error. It made me question how often this happens with people who don't have the chance to argue. Has anyone else seen a clear case of mistaken identity from this tech?

My smart speaker started playing ads after I asked about the weather

I was getting ready this morning and asked my Echo Dot for the forecast, and it gave me a 30-second ad for a local car dealership before the actual info. I checked the settings and found a new 'feature' buried in the app that lets companies pay for 'contextual responses'. Has anyone found a way to actually turn this off, or is this just the new normal?

Just realized my old neighborhood crime app was feeding biased data to the police

For years in Oakland, I used Citizen to get alerts, but I read a report last month about how its user base and reporting skews heavily towards wealthier areas. That means police resources get directed based on who uses the app, not actual crime rates. I deleted it and now I just check the city's official data portal, even though it's slower. Has anyone else found a better way to get local safety info without feeding biased systems?

The day I saw my own face on a stranger's targeted ad feed

I was showing a client their ad dashboard and a video for a political group I'd only talked about in a private chat popped up... on their screen. My phone's mic must have been listening, and it linked my voice to their profile. Felt like a huge breach, but I was the one who okayed all those app permissions. Has anyone else had a moment where their own data habits came back to haunt someone else?

Why does nobody talk about how much water those big AI data centers use?

I saw a report from a research group in Arizona that said a single training run for a big language model can use over 300,000 liters of water just for cooling. Everyone focuses on the energy, but the water cost is huge and feels like a hidden environmental tax. Has anyone found good info on which companies are actually trying to fix this?

Just realized my smart home was quietly profiling my roommate

I was setting up a new routine in the app last week and saw a list of 'household patterns' with labels like 'Guest 1: frequent late-night kitchen visits, prefers 68 degrees.' That guest is my roommate Sam. I'd been collecting this data for months without telling him, thinking it was just for efficiency. On one hand, it makes the heat and lights work better. On the other, it feels like a creepy invasion of his privacy without consent. Where's the line between a helpful home and a surveillance system?

Rant: My smart speaker recorded a 3 minute conversation about my kid's birthday party

I was checking my privacy dashboard on the device's app last night and found a random audio log from Tuesday afternoon that wasn't triggered by a wake word. The transcript was just me and my sister planning the cake. Has anyone else had their assistant save a full conversation it definitely wasn't asked to record?