3 ms·

If you are giving data to someone, or having data produced about you, it is a good assumption at this point that someone is trading it, selling it or monetizing

by genmud 3y ago

If you are giving data to someone, or having data produced about you, it is a good assumption at this point that someone is trading it, selling it or monetizing it. With no effective data ownership or privacy legislation in the US, it will continue to be that way.

droopyEyelids 3y ago
Lexis nexis is way beyond what you’re describing. Its basically a company that forms dossiers on every person, even if they had no digital footprint. It combines every source of public data possible, and even includes court records that are sealed or expunged
- genmud 3y ago
  No, it's exactly what I'm describing... courts generate data about you, someone (LN as an example) slurps it up. Buy a house, deed gets recorded, data gets generated and someone slurps it up. Buy a product with a CC. All of the half dozen to dozen vendors involved in the transaction will generate data about you and sell/trade the data to other people. Sure, LN might have some really good profiles, but there are so, so many companies doing the similar things.
- NickC25 3y ago
  How does it have access to sealed court records? I thought the whole point of "sealed" meant that the contents of the case were off-limits to the public for any and all reasons
  - vorticalbox 3y ago
    In this case they are probably just keeping a record of the fact you have a sealed record.
  - droopyEyelids 3y ago
    They are off limit to the public, but if at one time they werent then lexis scooped them up.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    Little stays sealed for ever, and sealed documents are often mistakenly filed openly. IF you're in the data collection/scavenging business it's not that hard to get hold of stuff that wasn't meant to be circulated.
  - phil21 3y ago
    Most cases are not sealed from the outset - so anything already out there is indexed forever, regardless of current legal status. This was the case at least when I looked into in ~20 years ago. There simply was no point in following the expungement process since all the usefulness of it was already gone due to the records existing in private databases.
    - droopyEyelids 3y ago
      Expungement is still useful (though less useful) because the record can no longer be used as a part of the legal process.
  - nonameiguess 3y ago
    All they had to do was scrape public records before they were sealed or expunged. When a record is sealed or expunged, that only means the court stops publishing it or deletes their record. Anyone who retrieved it before that doesn't have to give it back and nobody's memory gets wiped.
    - jameshart 3y ago
      But the court also can’t confirm the veracity of the claimed record. Anyone can say ‘there was a record of nonameiguess being charged with this crime in this court on this date but it’s since been expunged’. Okay, but you’re not that court, and the official records don’t exist so… what good does it do?
      - pixl97 3y ago
        LN: "Sorry you don't get a house|job|whatever" You: "Um, why not?" LN: "That's our secret" Course you won't even know LN is even involved in the loop. You're being judged in a court of opinion with no recourse.
- waboremo 3y ago
  Yes, also people dramatically undervalue how substantial the absence of data is when it comes to profiling someone. Especially when you compare it to other data points, for example not having credit cards on record is enough information to start building a whole lot of other connections.
mynameisash 3y ago
I used to work for LN for years. At the time, basically all their data comprised public records than were purchased from government agencies such as DMV/DOL, courts, county assessors, etc. This isn't a problem of "if you aren't buying the product, you ARE the product." Not long before I left, they were integrating with insurance data, which expanded out of government records. No clue where they've gone since.

by genmud 3y ago

droopyEyelids 3y ago

Lexis nexis is way beyond what you’re describing. Its basically a company that forms dossiers on every person, even if they had no digital footprint. It combines every source of public data possible, and even includes court records that are sealed or expunged

genmud 3y ago
No, it's exactly what I'm describing... courts generate data about you, someone (LN as an example) slurps it up. Buy a house, deed gets recorded, data gets generated and someone slurps it up. Buy a product with a CC. All of the half dozen to dozen vendors involved in the transaction will generate data about you and sell/trade the data to other people. Sure, LN might have some really good profiles, but there are so, so many companies doing the similar things.
NickC25 3y ago
How does it have access to sealed court records? I thought the whole point of "sealed" meant that the contents of the case were off-limits to the public for any and all reasons
- vorticalbox 3y ago
  In this case they are probably just keeping a record of the fact you have a sealed record.
- droopyEyelids 3y ago
  They are off limit to the public, but if at one time they werent then lexis scooped them up.
- anigbrowl 3y ago
  Little stays sealed for ever, and sealed documents are often mistakenly filed openly. IF you're in the data collection/scavenging business it's not that hard to get hold of stuff that wasn't meant to be circulated.
- phil21 3y ago
  Most cases are not sealed from the outset - so anything already out there is indexed forever, regardless of current legal status. This was the case at least when I looked into in ~20 years ago. There simply was no point in following the expungement process since all the usefulness of it was already gone due to the records existing in private databases.
  - droopyEyelids 3y ago
    Expungement is still useful (though less useful) because the record can no longer be used as a part of the legal process.
- nonameiguess 3y ago
  All they had to do was scrape public records before they were sealed or expunged. When a record is sealed or expunged, that only means the court stops publishing it or deletes their record. Anyone who retrieved it before that doesn't have to give it back and nobody's memory gets wiped.
  - jameshart 3y ago
    But the court also can’t confirm the veracity of the claimed record. Anyone can say ‘there was a record of nonameiguess being charged with this crime in this court on this date but it’s since been expunged’. Okay, but you’re not that court, and the official records don’t exist so… what good does it do?
    - pixl97 3y ago
      LN: "Sorry you don't get a house|job|whatever" You: "Um, why not?" LN: "That's our secret" Course you won't even know LN is even involved in the loop. You're being judged in a court of opinion with no recourse.
waboremo 3y ago
Yes, also people dramatically undervalue how substantial the absence of data is when it comes to profiling someone. Especially when you compare it to other data points, for example not having credit cards on record is enough information to start building a whole lot of other connections.

mynameisash 3y ago

I used to work for LN for years. At the time, basically all their data comprised public records than were purchased from government agencies such as DMV/DOL, courts, county assessors, etc. This isn't a problem of "if you aren't buying the product, you ARE the product." Not long before I left, they were integrating with insurance data, which expanded out of government records. No clue where they've gone since.