this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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Why should I be wary of my browsing data being sent to China? (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 months ago by cybercitizen4@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Hi all,

I don’t really know how to ask this question. On one of my devices, I downloaded a web browser (Opera) and one of my friends made fun of me, saying that “you better like China knowing all the stuff you do online”.

I read the Opera website and it says it’s a Norwegian company, but on Wikipedia it does say it was bought by a Chinese company.

My question is: what does “China” do with my personal browsing data? Why is it useful for them? (and who are we referring to here, is that the Chinese government, a private company, who?)

I’m looking forward to learn more about digital privacy, but I don’t currently understand the “obviousness” of how it is wrong to use Opera.

I’m a tech enthusiast (hence why I’m here), but I’m cognizant that I have large knowledge gaps in some of these topics.

Thank you in advance.

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[–] radix@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The pessimistic view: basically everything you do online can be tracked, sold, and bought by anyone with a few bucks. Poor online security means you have no privacy regardless of browser, while good (or at least "better") online security is possible with almost any browser.

If your friend is advocating switching browsers, but with no other behavioral changes, that's just a false sense of security, which may be worse.

To more directly address the question, unless you are a Chinese dissident, "China" having your browsing data isn't any better or worse that Google or Microsoft or Meta having that same data. Spoiler: for the average user, they already do.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a Chinese dissident but it's not inconceivable that I might want to go to China one day for business or pleasure. That would be a bad idea considering how vocal I've been about hating the CCP. If they've correlated my statements to my identity, they could have me arrested on trumped up charges when my flight lands.

Google or Meta wouldn't do that. It's not even in the same ballpark as bad as a state level actor.