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

Posted by samzenpus on 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."

4 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Seriously? by spudnic · · 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 · · 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. Easy by Alsee · · 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.
  3. Re:I'm not falling for that! by icebike · · 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.