3 ms·

Fortunately, about a year ago, I swapped all my profile info with random info a photos of some various randos who share my name. This company started doing jer

Fortunately, about a year ago, I swapped all my profile info with random info a photos of some various randos who share my name. This company started doing jerk things from the start. They wouldn’t let me delete my profile, but fortunately let me change all my details.

tessierashpool 5y ago
I just followed your example. Even changed my email. Won't be able to log in again, but I can live with that loss.
- prepend 5y ago
  Same here. Can’t log in any more. I suppose it’s only a matter of time though until companies wise up and go through historical info and not just present values. I’m assuming they still save previous values. But just hoping it’s not frequent enough for companies to bother. In my case, I just didn’t want business associates browsing the info.
neilv 5y ago
Using photos of someone who shares one's name seems like it could turn out bad for that person. In some contexts of how info&photos are used, seems like it could constitute impersonating that person, and knowingly fabricating/asserting false information about them.
- inetsee 5y ago
  You could just grab an image from https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
  - prepend 5y ago
    It’s funny, I’ve thought about it since then, but didn’t know about it at the time. I changed the email address to something random and can no longer to adjust. If I was trying to reset a profile in the future, I’d use this site.
- prepend 5y ago
  Good point. I have a very common name and used multiple photos from different people, all with the same name. And the details on the account do not match the photos. Perhaps it could be fabricating false info about them, but I’m not aware of that being a crime or even being prosecuted. And I’m not sure a reasonable person would link it to a particular individual.
  - neilv 5y ago
    You're thinking about effects in scenarios that are targeted, and human-in-the-loop? There are also scenarios of automated, mass use of data from surveillance capitalism, where effectively adding incorrect information to these other people's various fusion profiles might affect them adversely. Pre-Web, one of the concerns about databases of people was that individuals could harmed by incorrect information in databases. That was even before we knew that the computer industry would switch to widely doing things that we used to think were unethical. (Regarding legality, I don't know whether the legal system has caught up with intentionally linking other people's identities to incorrect information, but I've heard there are concepts like "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation". But I think we're all concerned here with doing what's right.) I appreciate the fighting back against a company abusing privacy, but our own industry situation is such a mess around this right now, that we have to be careful to avoid non-obvious collateral damage when we fight back. (I'm just mentioning this for the benefit of HN discussion; I'm not criticizing an individual. These are tricky times, and we can figure this out together.)
mosselman 5y ago
I have used this strategy with websites that don't have a delete as well. Works great as far as I can tell.
- morfei 5y ago
  Triplebyte has delete profile button, so easier to just do that. That email looks like old stale mail, because when I logged in it is very easy to change my profile’s visibility or delete it.
  - prepend 5y ago
    When I scrambled my info, the delete profile button took me to a page that said it would take 30 days to remove. And this was when triplebyte first planned to make public in just a few days. The whole point is that I don’t trust triplebyte to respect my visibility choices.

tessierashpool 5y ago

I just followed your example. Even changed my email. Won't be able to log in again, but I can live with that loss.

prepend 5y ago
Same here. Can’t log in any more. I suppose it’s only a matter of time though until companies wise up and go through historical info and not just present values. I’m assuming they still save previous values. But just hoping it’s not frequent enough for companies to bother. In my case, I just didn’t want business associates browsing the info.

neilv 5y ago

Using photos of someone who shares one's name seems like it could turn out bad for that person. In some contexts of how info&photos are used, seems like it could constitute impersonating that person, and knowingly fabricating/asserting false information about them.

inetsee 5y ago
You could just grab an image from https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
- prepend 5y ago
  It’s funny, I’ve thought about it since then, but didn’t know about it at the time. I changed the email address to something random and can no longer to adjust. If I was trying to reset a profile in the future, I’d use this site.
prepend 5y ago
Good point. I have a very common name and used multiple photos from different people, all with the same name. And the details on the account do not match the photos. Perhaps it could be fabricating false info about them, but I’m not aware of that being a crime or even being prosecuted. And I’m not sure a reasonable person would link it to a particular individual.
- neilv 5y ago
  You're thinking about effects in scenarios that are targeted, and human-in-the-loop? There are also scenarios of automated, mass use of data from surveillance capitalism, where effectively adding incorrect information to these other people's various fusion profiles might affect them adversely. Pre-Web, one of the concerns about databases of people was that individuals could harmed by incorrect information in databases. That was even before we knew that the computer industry would switch to widely doing things that we used to think were unethical. (Regarding legality, I don't know whether the legal system has caught up with intentionally linking other people's identities to incorrect information, but I've heard there are concepts like "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation". But I think we're all concerned here with doing what's right.) I appreciate the fighting back against a company abusing privacy, but our own industry situation is such a mess around this right now, that we have to be careful to avoid non-obvious collateral damage when we fight back. (I'm just mentioning this for the benefit of HN discussion; I'm not criticizing an individual. These are tricky times, and we can figure this out together.)

mosselman 5y ago

I have used this strategy with websites that don't have a delete as well. Works great as far as I can tell.

morfei 5y ago
Triplebyte has delete profile button, so easier to just do that. That email looks like old stale mail, because when I logged in it is very easy to change my profile’s visibility or delete it.
- prepend 5y ago
  When I scrambled my info, the delete profile button took me to a page that said it would take 30 days to remove. And this was when triplebyte first planned to make public in just a few days. The whole point is that I don’t trust triplebyte to respect my visibility choices.