What Marketers Think They Know About You and What They Really Do

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What Marketers Think They Know About You and What They Really Do

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 4, 2013 @07:01PM from the I-don't-even-know-you-anymore dept.

mattydread23 writes "Data broker Acxiom did something a little unusual this week. It launched a service that lets you see the data they've collected on you. CITEworld writer Ron Miller checked it out, and found it to be mostly laughably inaccurate. Among the things they got wrong included his religion, his interests, and the number of kids he has. But worst? It pegged him as a Windows user."

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Seriously? by spudnic · 2013-09-04 19:08 · Score: 5, Insightful

And in order to see the data they have about me, I have to give them my name, home address, last four digits of my SSN? Seriously? They're going to make a fortune off of this!

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load "linux",8,1
1. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-04 19:20 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yup, that surprised me as well. You serve ads to my browser, yet you can't identify me without me identifying myself? Fail.
2. Re:Seriously? by Somebody+Is+Using+My · 2013-09-05 02:08 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  While data-brokers have my name, address, etc., what they DO NOT have is a 1-to-1 correlation between that data and my PC.
  By using that tool, you are telling them that user Jon Doe can be definitively associated with IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, Network MAC: DE-AD-BE-EF, cookie RANDOM.TXT, email address:user@gullible.com and a specific browser footprint. Essentially, they can tie together all the data HUMANS use to identify one another with all the ways COMPUTERS on the internet identify each other. Without this, data-brokers can make some assumptions but providing the information on aboutthedata.com solidly confirms that connection
  Just because they have some of the pieces is no reason to give them the rest.
And this is why by phantomfive · 2013-09-04 19:28 · Score: 4, Insightful

This is why Google launched Google+, so they could get all the info about you that Facebook got from you freely. It's also why they didn't care that is was a ghost-town after a few weeks, they got all the info they needed.

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Easy by Alsee · 2013-09-04 19:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

What marketers know about me:
He's running AdBlock.
What marketers think they know:
Everyone wants to see relevant ads.
He's running AdBlock because he's annoyed that the ads he's been seeing aren't relevant enough.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
1. Re:Easy by ruir · 2013-09-04 19:44 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Think is the correct word. I don't see any adds at all. In sites like CNN I don't even think of opening video links. If I ever open a video link with ads, I close it. If I am *really* interested into seeing it, I take the time to search it into youtube or google instead of seeing it. If I don't find it, I suck it and don't see it.
2. Re:Easy by raburton · 2013-09-05 00:21 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  He's running AdBlock because he's annoyed that the ads he's been seeing aren't relevant enough.
  That seems to be the point they're missing (deliberately I'm sure). I don't want to see ads, but I especially don't want to see relevant ads. I remember during the various stages of banning advertising of smoking in the UK they used to talk about not promoting smoking just brand awareness to get existing smokers to switch to them. This was of course rubbish, and the same is true for most advertising. They aren't trying to get you to buy a product you are already planning to, just from them instead of someone else, they are trying to get you to buy something you don't want or didn't realise you wanted (but were perfectly happy without). If I actually wanted something I would search for it myself, I'm not going to wait till an ad on my favourite website suggests it. So more relevant ads means finding a weakness in you they can exploit to sell you some crap you don't really want.
Re:Pegged as a Windows user!? by rioki · 2013-09-04 20:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

What you say is funny.
At least for the programmer positions, if you have someone who uses Windows and Visual Studio you are all over the chart, but someone who uses GNU/Linux and vi or emacs you are without fail in the mid to high skill range. What it has to do with intelligence is beyond me. But you can infer interest in IT beyond the 9-5 assignments and few "dumb" people would do that...
Do you really want them to just ask for a name? by L.+J.+Beauregard · 2013-09-04 20:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

If they only asked for a name, anyone including your psycho ex-girlfriend could get this information.

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Ooh, moderator points! Five more idjits go to Minus One Hell!
Delendae sunt RIAA, MPAA et Windoze
Re:I'm not falling for that! by icebike · 2013-09-04 20:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

Exactly.
I looked at what they were asking for and realized I would be giving them things
they don't know already. Why would I do that.
ItsATrap.

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Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Re:I'm not falling for that! by StripedCow · 2013-09-04 21:49 · Score: 2, Insightful

It will only be a matter of time until they find clustering algorithms that can separate your "interests".
Basically it is like you have three clouds of points. One cloud is your interests. One cloud is for your wife, and one cloud is for your child. For a human, it is easy to tell these clouds apart. For a computer, it will soon be easy too.

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If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Re:I'm not falling for that! by Zontar+The+Mindless · 2013-09-04 23:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

I have a PO Box as my billing address and I don't provide any portion of my SSN to anyone. It would be impossible for them to have any information on me.
You just keep right on telling yourself that.

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Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Re:I'm not falling for that! by Oligonicella · 2013-09-05 00:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

If any site asks you things of that nature, *always* deny. Screw the veracity of their stored data.
Re:I'm not falling for that! by __aaltlg1547 · 2013-09-05 00:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

The Social Security Administration and the IRS and every employer you've ever had knows it, at the very least. But those are the only people who need to know it and there's no reason to give it to anyone else.
Re:I'm not falling for that! by ggraham412 · 2013-09-05 01:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

Thought I'd look at my own data, but when they started asking for the last 4 digits of my SSN I decided I didn't care so much about what they knew about me...
Phishing, anyone? I get the feeling that they don't actually have (or perhaps aren't sure of) my personal information like address, full name, DOB, or last 4 digits of SSN linked to my email address, and are using this as a gimmick to get goobers to add value to their proprietary data for free.
If they wanted to actually provide information to curious people securely, they could have provided a form that asked for a public email address only, and then emailed a report directly to that address. Surely they can look up your info based on an email address. Scumbags.
Re:Click here to see what they have on you by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-05 07:12 · Score: 2, Insightful

I once entered my YouTube username into one of those sites that track YouTube stats. Since it had no data, it stated it would start tracking from now on.
Oh, great.