Ah Temu, I was sure you were talking about them even before you wrote the name. I sometimes have a sixth sense and I failed to trust them, despite the wonderful and cheap things that keep popping up under my nose on FB. Wasn't the owner the richest man in China?
In fact, nothing Chinese can be trusted. I say this from my own unfortunate experience with a Huawei cell phone that hijacked my apps so I had no control over them, couldn't back up, nothing, to sign up to their cloud and back up there - such extortion for misappropriation of personal data it was. Unfortunately, such things do not work for me, and I read and dig a lot on the Internet until I find a solution to such problems. I also recently needed a video editing program and came across CapCut. It's all great until you see what people say about it about the brutal theft of personal data, files and all.
The things you write about your mother are funny on the one hand. Here, your mother has found a way to tame the naughty machine, this mischievous one who enjoys games like hide and seek, it is probably still very young and playing, it is having fun. I don't know how else to put it. The good thing is that the older generation doesn't take things as tragically as we do, who still have some idea of what's going on.
But many years ago I even read about a case of a woman walking into an empty room where there was only one smart TV, but it was turned off. She puts on perfume and goes out. And then she gets ads for that same perfume. Even then, I knew things were getting out of control. Or the cases where I've just thought of something and it appears as an ad on FB. Other people have told similar incidents too, even mentioned it on TV.
And to finally stop writing, 😅 I will only say that here I see a terrible paradox, which has been clearly visible in recent years. Human life is not important, it can easily be thrown to the winds, be it due to wars, diseases, deliberate poisoning, harmful foods, harmful medicines, etc. But on the other hand, it is actually very important, all this personal data is infinitely important, companies and governments are fighting to appropriate it. Why is that? 🤔
So, only I didn't know about this marketplace and yes its owner Colin Huang is the richest man in China. Here in Pakistan, Chinese goods are famous for their cheap quality but people still buy those for their uniqueness and the variety they offer in low rates. Poor economic conditions don't leave an option to go for quality but affordability.
So unfair and strange at the same time. I had been a Huawei user in the past, thankfully it didn't happen to me and after reading your experience, I wouldn't dare getting anything smart from that company.
Not Capcut please... I haven't researched anything about this app but I love using it whenever I need to edit videos. Infact, I only like this video editing app, until now probably.
Is anything trustworthy?
And you are right, older generation doesn't take these things seriously. They have lived their lives, most of it without technology and the rest enjoying it. They don't understand it like we do and are in bliss because of ignorance.
Creepy x100
Data is everything nowadays. It helps companies and governments to make big influential decisions. You have correctly identified a paradox - humans destroying humans to influence other humans?
What's my or your worth to these companies? A data profile?
0.00 SBD,
0.19 STEEM,
0.19 SP
Since I became aware of the paradox of YouTube for example, I am no longer sure that the data is collected simply to form a profile to receive ads. So, there companies pay to run ads and the user can pay not to see them. So, are ads important? I don't think so. The money for sure. Or FB with their intrusive ads and sponsored posts that almost never match my interests and what I'm looking for. I still haven't figured out why this is actually done. In countries like China, it's clear why - there every person is tracked and controlled at every turn, so Chinese "things" are presumptively designed to track I guess, even when destined for overseas.
By the way, I had a period when I often ordered things from AliExpress, but not technology, just practical little things that I could not find in Bulgaria. And at the moment I'm quite happy in some ways with the Chinese store in the next town where I buy clothes, underwear and socks from time to time. Some turn out to be quality, some not. But I can't complain as I am not in a position to buy expensive and quality things right now.
I forgot to ask you what your mother's new phone is. I think this is very important information nowadays - which brand how behaves and what stupid things it does.
Yesterday I accidentally opened the box of a Nokia G50 that I bought 2 years ago and it turned out to be defective in many ways. My partner said yesterday that it was the most wrong money I have ever given, but then again I wanted to escape the Chinese brand Huawei and bought a Nokia (made in China).😅
However, I haven't been able to use it for a long time, for many reasons, and yesterday I found it in its box in a very peculiar state, which I personally cannot explain, it was missing the software somehow. But whatever. I gave up on that brand too. For the moment, only Samsung holds the front, at least in terms of device quality and support.