4 ms·

I wonder what if people start to send 10x garbage data.

autoexec 3y ago
Surveillance capitalism doesn't care at all about the accuracy of the data that they have. There is literally no such thing as "garbage data" to data brokers. It's all just data, and all of it is valuable. That's why projects that claim to "pollute" your browsing history like RuinMyHistory, noiszy, adnauseam, and TrackMeNot are not only pointless but also dangerous. The data being collected about you will always be used against you, no matter if it is accurate or not. If your browser randomly browses to webpages that gets "this person is a muslim" or "this person is gay" added to your dossier it doesn't matter if it's true or not, when your next would-be employer or would-be landlord who hates muslims or gay people uses a data broker for "background checking" and sees that, you're not getting the job/apartment. They won't tell you why, you'll just be rejected/ghosted. If you're a 40 year old man, but your browser add-on convinces a data broker that you're a 34 year old woman seeking an abortion, that data can still cause you end up the target of a lawsuit in Texas and it will take a non-zero amount of time and money to clear that up. If someone in your zip code kills someone using a certain type of plant, or household cleaner/chemical, or medication and your add-on has been browsing sites about that thing, you can end up on the police's suspect list. If you only make $30,000 a year but your add-on searches for yachts and expensive jewelry often enough to convince a data broker that you've got tons of money then it doesn't matter that the data is wrong, the next time you try to book a hotel or order something online you can still be charged a lot more than you would have been charged otherwise. Handing extra fake data to people whose only goal is to use data against you is just handing them more ammunition. It doesn't matter if it's "garbage" to you, it's still something they can and will eventually use against you. You cannot know what will prejudice someone against you. The more data is in your dossier, the more opportunity there is that you'll meet the right (or wrong) criteria. No data broker is going to look over your dossier and see that there's inconsistencies and go "Damn it! This genius has ruined my data! Now I have to throw all this data away as it is now worthless!" They aren't even going to look over your dossier. They're going to get paid to hand over a list of people flagged as being 'X' and your name/address/identity will show up along with everyone else flagged as being 'X' even if your name gets pulled up again when someone else pays that same data broker for 'Y' which is the opposite of 'X'. The data broker gets paid either way.
- l33t7332273 3y ago
  > Surveillance capitalism doesn't care at all about the accuracy of the data that they have It’s clear and obvious that they do. If the data was made up, they wouldn’t be able to serve effective ads. > If you're a 40 year old man, but your browser add-on convinces a data broker that you're a 34 year old woman seeking an abortion, that data can still cause you end up the target of a lawsuit in Texas and it will take a non-zero amount of time and money to clear that up This situation would absolutely never happen, and I think it’s blatant fear mongering.
  - margalabargala 3y ago
    > This situation would absolutely never happen, and I think it’s blatant fear mongering. On the contrary, Texas in particular has gone out if its way to incentivize its citizens reporting other citizens for getting abortions. The law in that state creates an incentive for someone with the ability to do this, to do so. What's special about the situation in Texas right now where humans at large will not follow the incentives placed in front of them for the first time in human history?
    - l33t7332273 3y ago
      > Texas in particular has gone out if its way to incentivize its citizens reporting other citizens for getting abortions That’s true, but if you, a biological man, were sued for having an abortion, this would be immediately thrown out. Indeed, even civil suits with their lower standard of evidence require more than a simple search history from data brokers.
      - margalabargala 3y ago
        Of course the case would be thrown out. But would it be thrown out without me having to do anything, or would it cause me to spend time and possibly money dealing with it? Especially if I had an androgynous name, there's a very real chance that I would have to physically show up in a courtroom somewhere to point out that I do not have a uterus.

Surveillance capitalism doesn't care at all about the accuracy of the data that they have. There is literally no such thing as "garbage data" to data brokers. It's all just data, and all of it is valuable. That's why projects that claim to "pollute" your browsing history like RuinMyHistory, noiszy, adnauseam, and TrackMeNot are not only pointless but also dangerous. The data being collected about you will always be used against you, no matter if it is accurate or not. If your browser randomly browses to webpages that gets "this person is a muslim" or "this person is gay" added to your dossier it doesn't matter if it's true or not, when your next would-be employer or would-be landlord who hates muslims or gay people uses a data broker for "background checking" and sees that, you're not getting the job/apartment. They won't tell you why, you'll just be rejected/ghosted. If you're a 40 year old man, but your browser add-on convinces a data broker that you're a 34 year old woman seeking an abortion, that data can still cause you end up the target of a lawsuit in Texas and it will take a non-zero amount of time and money to clear that up. If someone in your zip code kills someone using a certain type of plant, or household cleaner/chemical, or medication and your add-on has been browsing sites about that thing, you can end up on the police's suspect list. If you only make $30,000 a year but your add-on searches for yachts and expensive jewelry often enough to convince a data broker that you've got tons of money then it doesn't matter that the data is wrong, the next time you try to book a hotel or order something online you can still be charged a lot more than you would have been charged otherwise. Handing extra fake data to people whose only goal is to use data against you is just handing them more ammunition. It doesn't matter if it's "garbage" to you, it's still something they can and will eventually use against you. You cannot know what will prejudice someone against you. The more data is in your dossier, the more opportunity there is that you'll meet the right (or wrong) criteria. No data broker is going to look over your dossier and see that there's inconsistencies and go "Damn it! This genius has ruined my data! Now I have to throw all this data away as it is now worthless!" They aren't even going to look over your dossier. They're going to get paid to hand over a list of people flagged as being 'X' and your name/address/identity will show up along with everyone else flagged as being 'X' even if your name gets pulled up again when someone else pays that same data broker for 'Y' which is the opposite of 'X'. The data broker gets paid either way.

l33t7332273 3y ago
> Surveillance capitalism doesn't care at all about the accuracy of the data that they have It’s clear and obvious that they do. If the data was made up, they wouldn’t be able to serve effective ads. > If you're a 40 year old man, but your browser add-on convinces a data broker that you're a 34 year old woman seeking an abortion, that data can still cause you end up the target of a lawsuit in Texas and it will take a non-zero amount of time and money to clear that up This situation would absolutely never happen, and I think it’s blatant fear mongering.
- margalabargala 3y ago
  > This situation would absolutely never happen, and I think it’s blatant fear mongering. On the contrary, Texas in particular has gone out if its way to incentivize its citizens reporting other citizens for getting abortions. The law in that state creates an incentive for someone with the ability to do this, to do so. What's special about the situation in Texas right now where humans at large will not follow the incentives placed in front of them for the first time in human history?
  - l33t7332273 3y ago
    > Texas in particular has gone out if its way to incentivize its citizens reporting other citizens for getting abortions That’s true, but if you, a biological man, were sued for having an abortion, this would be immediately thrown out. Indeed, even civil suits with their lower standard of evidence require more than a simple search history from data brokers.
    - margalabargala 3y ago
      Of course the case would be thrown out. But would it be thrown out without me having to do anything, or would it cause me to spend time and possibly money dealing with it? Especially if I had an androgynous name, there's a very real chance that I would have to physically show up in a courtroom somewhere to point out that I do not have a uterus.