What Exactly Are Americans Concerned About When It Comes to Data Security?

Thank you all for your responses. The American media seems to have created a frightening atmosphere about data leaks and misuse, but it appears that no one has actually experienced concrete personal impacts from data breaches. Let me share a perspective from China.

In China, privacy security is equally a major concern, but unlike in the United States, Chinese people are less worried about government or big companies exploiting their data. Instead, they're more concerned about potential misuse by malicious individuals online.

Currently, 90% of criminal cases in China are telecommunication fraud cases. These cases share a common characteristic: scammers impersonate someone by collecting extensive personal details, especially photos. Additionally, there's a phenomenon in Chinese cyberspace called "human flesh search," where skilled individuals can uncover a person's real-world information through search engine techniques. Sometimes, they can find extensive personal information from just an email clue, often using publicly available sources like school website achievement records or past forum posts. When someone becomes widely disliked for a social issue, people might use these methods for revenge. Over the past decade, we've witnessed numerous painful examples, even inventing the term "social death" to describe completely destroying an ordinary person's reputation.

This is why you'll notice Chinese users on platforms like Rednote rarely use personal photos as avatars, with many choosing the default "momo" name to hide their identity and make their expressions safer. Ironically, this anonymity also emboldens people to post more aggressive comments on controversial topics without facing corresponding social pressure.

Essentially, Chinese people's privacy concerns stem more from potential misuse by ill-intentioned individuals rather than government or big companies. In fact, we believe government and corporate entities have no motivation to harm us using our data, as we are their purpose, not merely a means to an end.

Regarding corporate data collection and usage, I believe we should reach a consensus: every major global company will thoroughly utilize available user data to achieve their business objectives. This is a universal practice, and all discussions should be based on this premise.

It's about the algorithm and how TikTok can use their 'heating' mechanism to push certain topics, creating division and nudging collective sentiment. Meanwhile they are associated with a geopolitical adversary. 

https://youtu.be/RMJz3nVE-78

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/01/20/tiktoks-secret-heating-button-can-make-anyone-go-viral/

The Americans themselves aren't concerned about data security otherwise they wouldn't use meta products. What happened is the government has duped them into believing Chinese apps collecting thier data is dangerous but USA companies collecting it isn't dangerous. Basically the USA wants all user data collected by us companies so they can see it

Americans 公知, HR1157 Americans and Falun Gongs are very concern sending data to China. They are the loudest minorities keep posting related post in FB, Youtube, Twitter.......etc. Now flocking to REDnote to upkeep their ideology.

We're worried that someone will do to us what we do to them. It's projection. Always projection.

Americans covet their data because it makes them feel special.

We have been told since birth that China is evil and wants to overtake us as a superpower through spying on us and stealing our data. Some of our politicians (Dems and republicans alike) accuse China of being behind our protest movements and so on. It is a combination of xenophobia, racism, and a decades old effort to paint communism and socialism as the world’s greatest evils. I think what is blowing the minds now of the TikTok ban advocates is that people are saying they are more afraid of what our own govt does with our data than what China could or would do and we can just give it to China directly of the us is going to start banning apps and info for fake reasons.

You should view other Chinese subs in Reddit.

Our data is our lives. It’s everything about us.

Companies tracking our data know more than we want them to know. We deserve SOME small amount of privacy in our lives.

If we speak about a product in our home, even just an offhand comment to our spouse, we get inundated with ads for that product for the next month. Walmart told a young girl’s parents that she was pregnant before she even knew she was pregnant. They track us that closely.

Data collectors know what we talk about at home. They know where we drive. Where we walk. They know what we buy. They know what we shop for. They know what stores we enter, what aisles of the store we walk down, and what products we linger at and consider before walking past them. They know what shows and movies we like to watch. They know what kind of sheets we prefer on our beds. They know our hobbies and our interests. They know what pornography we prefer. We have no secrets from our corporate overlords.

Companies can direct their advertisements to only show up for people who like the Red Sox baseball team, but who also drive a Honda car, and who also have at least 2 cats, and who often wear hoodies, and who also have spent at least $200 on fast food in the last 3 months, and who have gotten a haircut in the last 2 weeks. Even if it’s only 4 possible customers total that end up seeing the ad, think how much they know about us to personalize everything THAT MUCH. That is INSANE.

They don’t want us to get petrol for our car, to buy groceries, to get fast food, or to browse a website without us giving them our personal information so they can sell it.

I do not know how little privacy Chinese people have in China. But here in the US we no longer have any. Not just the government, but every company who wants to knows everything about us. We are not allowed to have secrets. It’s invasive.

I don’t know how common identify theft is in China, but in the US we’ve had a lot of big corporate data breaches that have made us very paranoid about it.