> a Grindr spokesperson said ... “We are infuriated by the actions of these anti-LGBTQ vigilantes”<p>Infuriated by these anti-LGBTQ vigilantes! How dare they use the data we sold them which included their locations and device ID and app usage!<p>What a joke...
And this is why privacy matters, even if you think you have nothing to hide. There's no telling what someone else is going to have a problem with, no way to know if the data being sold about you is accurate or how it will be used against you, and no way to remove whatever data is out there or keep others from weaponizing it.<p>They went after sexual orientation this time, but the next time some group makes headlines because they decide to take advantage of the pervasive surveillance we all live under, it could just as easily be targeting our political views, our religion, our hobbies, our ancestry, our medial conditions, etc. More and more often people are going to buy up, collect, or steal data on whoever they don't like so they can subject them to harassment/abuse/violence/discrimination.<p>There's a multi-billion dollar a year industry around the buying and selling of even the most mundane aspects of our lives and it's sure not just for "ads".
><i>Between 2017 and early 2020, Grindr was selling precise location data to ad brokers.</i><p>Well, that's quite scummy. Tends to enable bad actors in the first place.<p><i>In January 2016, Grindr announced that it had sold a 60% stake in the company for $93 million to a Chinese video game development firm, Kunlun Tech Co Ltd (formerly Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd). In January 2018, Kunlun purchased the remainder of the company for $152 million.</i> [0]<p>Wasn't exactly the best steward for such a platform. [1][3[4]<p>But hey, at least the founder feels bad about it. [2]<p>I was about to suggest that something which amounts to a giant blackmail database is surely a significant national security risk, and further research indicates that it actually changed hands again for that reason. [3][4]<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindr" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindr</a><p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_China" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_China</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.queerty.com/grindr-founder-joel-simkhai-believes-created-monster-now-wants-slay-dragon-20221103" rel="nofollow">https://www.queerty.com/grindr-founder-joel-simkhai-believes...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/grindr-sold-china-national-security/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/grindr-sold-china-national...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/3/28/18285274/grindr-national-security-cfius-china-kunlun-military" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/3/28/18285274/grindr...</a>
But... but... they're catholic priests, they not only have a vote of celibacy but they also consider it a sin to have sex outside marriage! Why would a catholic priest use a Dating App?<p>Religion is a joke...<p>As an atheist I think anyone, including catholic priests, straight, gay or otherwise, can love or have sex or whatever they want to do with whoever they want to (as long as it's a consenting adult of course), but I'd say for them it's a bit of a cognitive dissonance, as it's supposed to go against their core beliefs, they're not just catholic, they became priests...<p>I find the whole thing extremely hypocritical though, trying to uncover gay priests on the one hand, which is wrong because they have a right to privacy, and then the Catholic Church protected and just moved somewhere else to pedophile priests who abused children instead of bringing them to justice.
I don't understand..<p>If a religion condemns homosexuality.. And you are homosexual.. Why would you want to subscribe to that religion ?<p>Even more baffling to me, why would you want to be a preacher of that set of ideas ?<p>I'm not religious.. I prefer the religious institutions be allowed to be as bigoted as is their nature, they must be allowed to show their true colors, so that people can see them for what they are and avoid them more readily.
Already discussed:<p>Catholic group spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35081899" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35081899</a><p>Catholic priest quits after “anonymized” data revealed alleged use of Grindr
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27908921" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27908921</a><p>Catholic Church official resigns after cell data tracked him to Grindr, gay bars
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27902214" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27902214</a>
Just the bay area had more than 700 lawsuits for child abuse filled against Catholic church employees in the last 3 years, so this catholic group and similar ones maybe should redirect their efforts into outing child molesters first.<p><a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/lawsuits-name-hundreds-of-newly-accused-catholic-clergy-and-lay-employees-across-northern-ca/3163119/%3famp=1" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcbayarea.com/investigatio...</a>
Funny enough a vpn would have hid the service provider, but would have not solved this issue — as some influencers are advertising. It’s the gps data that makes these apps useful (find someone near) that was uses apparently to identify users.<p>Additionally, with device ID you could probably get other datasets that contain email name etc. That seems like a better route to go than the GPS tracks. But, maybe just having the app wasn’t invasive enough.
Surely this data would have been sold with some terms of use that might allow remedy through civil action even if the data could 'technically' be used in this manner. That being said it's a clear demonstration of why privacy matters and this is only mid-tier in the list of people you wouldn't want to get this data.
Goto love contract cults. Woman searches for men with reliable anti-gay emotional reaction. Then transfers social power to a contract-cult they bully gay men into, to uphold the one contract they actually care about: marriage | social support aka as a civilizational framework.<p>Almost 2000 years of stagnation and missery ensue.<p>Now a new contract cult is in town. Its actually more liberal and less stuck up. It has all the same features of the old, including parades and dogmatic screeching, but a little less violence & enforcing gender norms. All hell breaks loose.<p>Admitted this contract cult instance has men holding the bag a bit, but still to have the old contract cults go into this "Inquisition" for potential runaway servants is ridiculous.<p>Also noticeable, this only applies to "bad" times. As long , as there is a surplus for everyone, nobody gives a ** about "morals". Justice is only needed when push comes to shove.<p>edit: Downvote all you want, the reality of us as a retarded species does not go anywhere fast..
Doesn't that behaviour make this specific "Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal" group a "hate group"?<p>So it should be possible to outlaw them, throw their members in jail, and so on?
I would be completely unsurprised if there were more than a few chaste clerics on these dating apps, and they were fully (secretly) authorized to use the clandestine social networks to provide compassionate ministry to LGBTQ and HIV-positive individuals, and "outing" them completely destroys their ability to serve where they are most needed.