4 ms·

For once I want to read an article from someone who's a true insider in the alleged "market" selling and re-selling user data. (Edit: I'm not suggesting such a

by namuol 12y ago

For once I want to read an article from someone who's a true insider in the alleged "market" selling and re-selling user data. (Edit: I'm not suggesting such a market doesn't exist -- I'd just like to know what's actually going on. I'd like to know what's "de facto" practice in the industry.)

sixQuarks 12y ago
articles like this and the news in general try to make it seem like there are boogeymen that have access to when we shit and piss, and can target advertisements accordingly. The truth is, we are far away from this reality. Most advertisers suck at targeting, plus they're lazy. It takes a lot of work to target effectively, and just because you have a lot of info on someone doesn't mean you know their intentions. It's not until we welcome advertising (because it's so aligned with our interests, and it alerts us to things we actually want to buy and do), will we get to the point of the fearmongers. Do I think this article has a valid point? Of course. Do I think marketers have this wizard of Oz-like power to target us using data? Not yet, but they will in the next 15 years.
- falcolas 12y ago
  > Not yet, but they will in the next 15 years. It's worth remembering that they will have access to your current data in 15 years; being proactive in the protection of your data now will pay off when marketers catch up with the state of the art. Also, remember that marketers are not the only consumers of this information. Aside from the government, our "anonymous" profiles are being passed to academic institutions as well, and the results of Facebook's experiments on us are being posted in academic journals. Additionally, there are the insurance agencies as mentioned in the article - you can bet that they're a lot less than 15 years from using this data against you.
  - yuhong 12y ago
    I wonder if they are really going to use 15 years old data though. But I agree that insurance covering doctor visits is probably more of a problem.
Sven7 12y ago
You mean the Snowden of Facebook? Unlikely to happen. They pay their minions well.
- itistoday2 12y ago
  Uh, that applied to Snowden as well.
acjohnson55 12y ago
I found this article. Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking about: http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-w...
testguy34 12y ago
Facebook doesn't sell data, it sells targeted ads.
- SaintSal 12y ago
  Good point, thanks. I should be clearer - Facebook sells ads but reveals data to third parties, who sell data.
SaintSal 12y ago
Thanks for raising that. I've clarified in the post: There are marketplaces to buy and sell consumer data orginally started around credit agencies and direct mail companies, then growing with the browser toolbar industry when Internet Explorer was big - now they're filled with more information than ever before. http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-w... When I worked for a direct marketing arm of the agenccy JWT, we had a bunch of "list augementation" services for our clients' customer lists. Back then, they were used to derive and clean contact information, and glean insights into people's psychology via course methods like correlations to their postal code. (This was surprisingly accurate in Canada, but didn't work as well with US ZIP codes.) That said, I'd love to hear from a modern insider too. I've just extrapolated.

by namuol 12y ago

sixQuarks 12y ago

articles like this and the news in general try to make it seem like there are boogeymen that have access to when we shit and piss, and can target advertisements accordingly. The truth is, we are far away from this reality. Most advertisers suck at targeting, plus they're lazy. It takes a lot of work to target effectively, and just because you have a lot of info on someone doesn't mean you know their intentions. It's not until we welcome advertising (because it's so aligned with our interests, and it alerts us to things we actually want to buy and do), will we get to the point of the fearmongers. Do I think this article has a valid point? Of course. Do I think marketers have this wizard of Oz-like power to target us using data? Not yet, but they will in the next 15 years.

falcolas 12y ago
> Not yet, but they will in the next 15 years. It's worth remembering that they will have access to your current data in 15 years; being proactive in the protection of your data now will pay off when marketers catch up with the state of the art. Also, remember that marketers are not the only consumers of this information. Aside from the government, our "anonymous" profiles are being passed to academic institutions as well, and the results of Facebook's experiments on us are being posted in academic journals. Additionally, there are the insurance agencies as mentioned in the article - you can bet that they're a lot less than 15 years from using this data against you.
- yuhong 12y ago
  I wonder if they are really going to use 15 years old data though. But I agree that insurance covering doctor visits is probably more of a problem.

Sven7 12y ago

You mean the Snowden of Facebook? Unlikely to happen. They pay their minions well.

itistoday2 12y ago
Uh, that applied to Snowden as well.

acjohnson55 12y ago

I found this article. Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking about: http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-w...

testguy34 12y ago

Facebook doesn't sell data, it sells targeted ads.

SaintSal 12y ago
Good point, thanks. I should be clearer - Facebook sells ads but reveals data to third parties, who sell data.

SaintSal 12y ago

Thanks for raising that. I've clarified in the post: There are marketplaces to buy and sell consumer data orginally started around credit agencies and direct mail companies, then growing with the browser toolbar industry when Internet Explorer was big - now they're filled with more information than ever before. http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-w... When I worked for a direct marketing arm of the agenccy JWT, we had a bunch of "list augementation" services for our clients' customer lists. Back then, they were used to derive and clean contact information, and glean insights into people's psychology via course methods like correlations to their postal code. (This was surprisingly accurate in Canada, but didn't work as well with US ZIP codes.) That said, I'd love to hear from a modern insider too. I've just extrapolated.