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Apparently keeping a fake postal address and using a VPN is easier than simply not voluntarily giving out information.

oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
I guess it could help answer the "should I give this website any information?" question, unless you're advocating never giving any information to any website.
lucb1e 9y ago
It's not always so voluntary, unfortunately.
- ddtaylor 9y ago
  It can be prevented though, since the "victim" is the one enabling the crime. It's kind of like a "predatory lender"
jdietrich 9y ago
You are not the only source of information about you. Information that you have wittingly or unwittingly given out is freely bought and sold. Your friends and family are constantly feeding information about you to Facebook. Your colleagues are feeding information about you to LinkedIn. Outside of the EU, there's nothing you can do about this stealthy collection and aggregation of personal information. There's a ratcheting loss of privacy, because once your information has been given away, it can't be taken back. Under the GDPR, a business needs my explicit consent to share my data with third parties. They can't bury it in the T&Cs or refuse to do business with me if I decline to tick the "do what you want with my data" box. That consent is granular and revocable. I can ask any business to delete every piece of information they hold about me, a broad category of data or a specific piece of information. Unless they're obliged by some other legislation to keep that data, then they're obliged to delete it. The GDPR isn't about protecting individuals from their own stupid choices, it's about protecting them from predatory business practices. We've become resigned to the fact that many businesses operate like a surveillance state, but that doesn't make it right or proper. We shouldn't have to live like the Amish just to keep control of our personal information.
- ddtaylor 9y ago
  Most data is collected by either: a.) Voluntarily giving information in exchange for a discount (Rewards cards, sales, kickbacks, etc.) b.) Voluntarily using a service that is known to collect data about you (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, your ISPs DNS, etc.) c.) Voluntarily sending some kind of descriptor that says "track me with this number" (advertising) I'm not disputing that there is some data collected about people that they never consented to, but the bulk of the problem is data that is taken voluntarily because people are apathetic.
  - gerdesj 9y ago
    I'm not disputing that there is some data collected about people that they never consented to <Random app> requires access to Contacts ... Meh <press OK> ... Now your entire phone/email book is out there. Your Mum and Dad's phone number is in the hands of several shysters along with all the other stuff you store in your Contacts. I wonder how many bank PINs encoded as part of fake phone numbers are out there along with other extra data? Its no accident that most Contact lists actively encourage gathering more data eg birthdays and much, much more. That's just your bloody phone book. >30 years ago I had a little black address book stuffed with lots of people's address and phone numbers (and a lot of happy memories). OK it also had my bank PIN but that was carefully disguised in a way more complicated to reconstruct than needed to memorise the actual digits. You would need to put me in dire danger to obtain that data - I still have the little book and Google does not (fuck 'em). Nowadays you only have to claim that your mapping app can't work without it.
    - willstrafach 9y ago
      Your contacts example is great. I recall a company who initially offered a contact list backup app, and now they pivoted to phone number search / caller ID app.
  - oldcynic 9y ago
    FB and LinkedIn ask for contacts (or at least used to). That's dozens of people's data, with at least one unique identifier for each, who did not provide informed consent in any way. So you are as safe as the most apathetic or technically ignorant of your acquaintances, and FB's shadow profile grows again.

I guess it could help answer the "should I give this website any information?" question, unless you're advocating never giving any information to any website.

lucb1e 9y ago

It's not always so voluntary, unfortunately.

ddtaylor 9y ago
It can be prevented though, since the "victim" is the one enabling the crime. It's kind of like a "predatory lender"

jdietrich 9y ago

You are not the only source of information about you. Information that you have wittingly or unwittingly given out is freely bought and sold. Your friends and family are constantly feeding information about you to Facebook. Your colleagues are feeding information about you to LinkedIn. Outside of the EU, there's nothing you can do about this stealthy collection and aggregation of personal information. There's a ratcheting loss of privacy, because once your information has been given away, it can't be taken back. Under the GDPR, a business needs my explicit consent to share my data with third parties. They can't bury it in the T&Cs or refuse to do business with me if I decline to tick the "do what you want with my data" box. That consent is granular and revocable. I can ask any business to delete every piece of information they hold about me, a broad category of data or a specific piece of information. Unless they're obliged by some other legislation to keep that data, then they're obliged to delete it. The GDPR isn't about protecting individuals from their own stupid choices, it's about protecting them from predatory business practices. We've become resigned to the fact that many businesses operate like a surveillance state, but that doesn't make it right or proper. We shouldn't have to live like the Amish just to keep control of our personal information.

ddtaylor 9y ago
Most data is collected by either: a.) Voluntarily giving information in exchange for a discount (Rewards cards, sales, kickbacks, etc.) b.) Voluntarily using a service that is known to collect data about you (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, your ISPs DNS, etc.) c.) Voluntarily sending some kind of descriptor that says "track me with this number" (advertising) I'm not disputing that there is some data collected about people that they never consented to, but the bulk of the problem is data that is taken voluntarily because people are apathetic.
- gerdesj 9y ago
  I'm not disputing that there is some data collected about people that they never consented to <Random app> requires access to Contacts ... Meh <press OK> ... Now your entire phone/email book is out there. Your Mum and Dad's phone number is in the hands of several shysters along with all the other stuff you store in your Contacts. I wonder how many bank PINs encoded as part of fake phone numbers are out there along with other extra data? Its no accident that most Contact lists actively encourage gathering more data eg birthdays and much, much more. That's just your bloody phone book. >30 years ago I had a little black address book stuffed with lots of people's address and phone numbers (and a lot of happy memories). OK it also had my bank PIN but that was carefully disguised in a way more complicated to reconstruct than needed to memorise the actual digits. You would need to put me in dire danger to obtain that data - I still have the little book and Google does not (fuck 'em). Nowadays you only have to claim that your mapping app can't work without it.
  - willstrafach 9y ago
    Your contacts example is great. I recall a company who initially offered a contact list backup app, and now they pivoted to phone number search / caller ID app.
- oldcynic 9y ago
  FB and LinkedIn ask for contacts (or at least used to). That's dozens of people's data, with at least one unique identifier for each, who did not provide informed consent in any way. So you are as safe as the most apathetic or technically ignorant of your acquaintances, and FB's shadow profile grows again.