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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."

5 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Big data found her? by dougisfunny · · Score: 5, Informative

    It doesn't say big data still found her anywhere in the article. She made no mention of evidence that they had, despite the Uncle sending a congratulations message on Facebook.

    Was there more to story than just the article on Time where she said her measures weren't able to keep the information private?

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  2. yep by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've worked with this software in the past. You can't hide from it, period. I even saw one that considered TOR browser as a data point to help identify you. Even staying off the net wont help. They have deals with your grocery store, walmart, your car dealership, everything... They get all your data all the time. Our only saving grace right now is its so much detailed information they don't even know what to do with it all. They can send you adds that might better appeal to you, but other than that they're not really sure what else to do. I suspect that at some point, someone will figure out how to do horrible things with this kind of information, and then this will suck.

  3. EFF testing new Privacy Badger tool by Freshly+Exhumed · · Score: 5, Informative

    EFF is launching a new extension for Firefox and Chrome called Privacy Badger. Privacy Badger automatically detects and blocks spying ads around the Web, and the invisible trackers that feed information to them.

    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/...

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    I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
  4. 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.

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    I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
  5. 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.

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    http://www.geoffreylandis.com