Comment on Just.....why?

• starkzarn@infosec.pub ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  You joke, but I guarantee there’s a market. Consider health insurance companies that see an opportunity to charge everyone more unless they can prove their good brushing habits via app data.

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  • Tja@programming.dev ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I think it’s a conspiracy theory. The vast majority of people use manual brushes. Of those who use electric ones, a majority use dumb ones. Of those who use smart ones, some people don’t use the app. Or don’t bother opening the app every time they brush. Those who register probably don’t provide insurance info. The data they collect is basically useless for individual cases, and definitely useless on a bigger scale.

    My take is that it’s a gimmick to help sell you more expensive brushes when you are browsing and comparing them.

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    • starkzarn@infosec.pub ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It’s not about user-led synergy. The personal data market is slurped up by those that already have and are building correlations. Just because a user didn’t report anything to their insurer doesn’t mean an insurer sure as shit isn’t going to want the data if they can link it to the user whatsoever, so long as it will make them more money.

      This is hypothetical, of course, but it’s the way the market of data brokers works.

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      • NotSteve_@piefed.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Yeah, my understanding is that companies generate this data and just sell it unprocessed to data harvesting companies who link it with other data they’ve been sold. Companies seeking targeted info can then request data with varying levels of depth.

        Like a company may request a list of emails of users who are very good (or bad) about brushing their teeth everyday to target ads at

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• prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Yeah, it’s not like there’s money in dental products… Oh wait.

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  • Tja@programming.dev ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Tooth brushes are under one euro. Tooth paste is around one euro. Both last like a a couple of months. Floss and inter-dental brushes are a couple of euros.

    Not everything is implants and high tech drills, the consumer products to take care of your teeth are cheap as fuck. Unless you volunteer to buy the toothbrush with leds, Bluetooth and timer, but that’s a tech toy, not a dental product.

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    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Have you ever seen how expensive braces are?

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      • Tja@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        That’s not the product that’s expensive, it’s the dentist salary you’re paying (and I don’t thing you are going to buy braces online).

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    • freebee@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      An over engineered toothbrush is a dental product just as much as a very cheap one and there are for sure greedy people interested in trying to get people to log their brushing data on a corporate cloud and later link together their insurance and their dental habits at some point and there are for sure people willing to pay for detailed brushing data. It’s just the very beginning of it all still. Give it 20 years, your insurance company or dentist will ask you how come you’re not logging your brushing.

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      • Tja@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I disagree, I’ve heard the same thing about many other things and haven’t seen any of those happen. I guess we’ll see in years?

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