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Opting Out of Big Data Snooping: Harder Than It Looks

Posted by timothy on from the perhaps-you're-just-into-bottles dept.

Lasrick (2629253) writes "Princeton sociologist Janet Vertesi writes about her attempt at hiding her pregnancy from 'the bots, trackers, cookies and other data sniffers online that feed the databases that companies use for targeted advertising.' Big data still found her, even though she steered clear of social media, avoided baby-related credit card purchases, and downloaded Tor to browse the Internet privately."

3 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Big data existed before the internet by wiredlogic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Acxiom has been doing this for decades before the web existed. If you spend money electronically they have a record of when, where, and what you purchased. With a sufficient enough sample of data they can determine interesting things about people like when they're likely to be pregnant or menstruating or any number of other characteristics marketers can use to improve their chances of a sale. For instance, if women are more likely to buy certain products at certain parts of their cycle then a marketer can synchronize their junk mailing to coincide with the the optimum time for them to be most receptive to spend their money on something. Yes, this really happens.

    You have to disconnect from the internet AND spend cash only AND never use loyalty cards AND hope no one you do business with still sells your information to a data broker to be able to hide from them. Tor alone won't cut it.

    --
    I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
  2. hard, but not impossible by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm puzzled. The summary says " Big data still found her...", but the actual article doesn't support that statement-- she just says how hard it is to keep a secret, and that multiple big transactions makes her look criminal.

    She does say that despite telling her friends not to, two people messaged her privately on Facebook... but doesn't say that the info got picked up.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  3. Re:One way by mysidia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    they don't want your purchase data to get mixed up

    How about we start a new fun website then.... Discount card exchange

    The idea is, you signup with the site, and every few weeks, you swap your discount cards with complete strangers.

    You get 50 people to stick their discount cards in a big lotto ball style shuffling contraption. And you each pull one out, so nobody is likely to wind up with the same card they put in.

    Then in fact... the stores are guaranteed to get the purchase histories mixed up.