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Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

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Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#111

Post by pandabear187 »

deegles wrote: post #8
pandabear187 wrote: post #3

I have insider knowledge as I used to work for one of these companies. Depending on the product you purchase the data comes from multiple sources. Also these companies have sophisticated machine learning capabilities to build a profile based on various attributes found in seemingly unrelated pieces of data. So the list consists of credit reporting agencies, public records, your online profiles with public access, cou…

As a person who used to be involved in that industry, do you try to protect your data more? Or is it just a losing battle?

Yes, I protect the shit out of my personal info. I have introduced a seeding mechanism to figure out who is sharing my data whenever I sign up for things. Public records are different and you have to create a Trust or a company to hide behind to not be personally listed.

I would suggest anyone wanting to not be exposed to never use your real name or address online if you're not confident they won't share it. Introducing typos or initials or use a nickname for online orders that allow to list billing address separate from shipping address. Billing data typically has a better chance of not being resold, but there are no guarantees, read their TOS if not sure.

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#112

Post by samstave »

pandabear187 wrote: post #104
mehrdadn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the reply. Can you actually give some kind of a list though? The entire problem here is everyone explains the how but no one is willing to explain the who . I certainly understand it's "multiple sources", I'm asking who are these sources I keep hearing about. There can't be nearly as many sources as there are sites who buy from them. If you'd like to not name the company you worked for yourself then cou…

I can provide all the sources used for the company I used to work for, however that's irrelevant if you as you said wanted to learn how to fish. Any and every company selling data and there are thousands is in fact a source you would need to deal with to be removed from the sites that sell it. If you think this answer isn't specific enough, you're not going to achieve anything by me spoonfeeding you info for one such…

>I can provide all the sources used for the company I used to work for, however that's irrelevant if you as you said wanted to learn how to fish.

Personally, I think this should be a requirement of the government: "HERE IS A LIST OF ALL PEOPLE THAT ARE COLECTING AND SELLING YOUR PERSONAL DATA, CLICK THIS BUTTON TO DELETE YOUR RECORDS" sort of thing... it should be a mandated public service of regulation.

Then, they have a list of all opt-outs from which companies you may have selected to opt-out from, and you can simply send them any further contact from the opted-out companies you may receive and the company gets a fine, you get a compensation fee...

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#113

Post by samstave »

pandabear187 wrote: post #111
deegles wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person who used to be involved in that industry, do you try to protect your data more? Or is it just a losing battle?

Yes, I protect the shit out of my personal info. I have introduced a seeding mechanism to figure out who is sharing my data whenever I sign up for things. Public records are different and you have to create a Trust or a company to hide behind to not be personally listed. I would suggest anyone wanting to not be exposed to never use your real name or address online if you're not confident they won't share it. Introduc…

I really think you should do a how-to / AMA

Financial ignorance is an exceedingly exploited issue in the US, and I do not think anyone is doing anything about this.

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#114

Post by notwhoyouthink »

compuguy wrote: post #95
JoshTriplett wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that the business could be so successful that everyone uses it, the services selling this information all run out of customers and go out of business, none of them come up with newer and more evil ways to do this, and you run out of potential customers. In which case: mission accomplished , retire on your giant pile of money and bask in the knowledge that you made a far better place. (Avoid scenarios in…

Dell is pretty bad. I get every month three (when one is more than enough) catalogs to my address, because of slight variances in my name, even though they are all the same person.

We get four catalogs a month to three different people, one of which gets two catalogs; one addressed to their role as Vice President, and one as Boardmember.

We don't even want _one_ of them. It's not like we're going to see a new printer in a catalog and say "hey, sounds like a great buy!"

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#115

Post by dsp1234 »

TrinaryWorksToo wrote: post #93
dsp1234 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a court needs to control someone's information surely they know who these people are and they can let them know? I think you have a misunderstanding of what a US court can do. A court can only tell a specific party to take some action, and generally only if that party is somehow related to the legal action (such as being a defendant). Generally, there is no judgement that a court can make that can effect unnamed part…

What about class action? Could you make a class action against those who have sold your information?

A class action is an action where there are a large, possibly unknown, number of plaintiffs suing a single group of named defendants. With the thought process being that if a single case against a named defendant is won, then that same outcome would happen for every other plaintiff, and thus doing it once saves the court time.

What you're suggesting is more like a John Doe case where you sue a number of unknown entities, and that can be won, but at some point, the plaintiff has to name the John Does, so that they can defend themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#116

Post by gvb »

NickBusey wrote: post #38

Small tip: At the grocery store or anywhere else with a rewards account linked to a phone number, rather than signing up for one just use (Your Local Area Code)-867-5309 The number almost always exists and is a valid account. Get the discount, don't get tracked. Thanks, Tommy Tutone.

I've given (area code) 555-1212 and don't recall it ever being questioned. Technically I've given them my phone number, but with one indirection. ;-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_assistance

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#117

Post by edwhitesell »

TrinaryWorksToo wrote: post #81
JoshTriplett wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that the business could be so successful that everyone uses it, the services selling this information all run out of customers and go out of business, none of them come up with newer and more evil ways to do this, and you run out of potential customers. In which case: mission accomplished , retire on your giant pile of money and bask in the knowledge that you made a far better place. (Avoid scenarios in…

>the USPS has a detailed process for formally putting a company on notice for mailing someone who has specifically unsubscribed, and that process ends in massive fines for continued mailing to that person. I read a report of someone doing that to stop receiving persistent Dell catalogs.) I would love to learn this process! I've repeatedly asked for a certain mailing to stop and it hasn't ceased.

I'd rather see much larger bulk rates via the USPS for something like "environmental impact".

For example, I'm currently getting no less than 3 letters per week from Spectrum (formerly TWC) promoting their new triple-play plans. I drop all of them in the recycling bin.

I couldn't care less about their bottom line, but I do care about the environmental impact.

At 3x per week, it probably costs them around USD$0.80/week (postage, paper, printing, etc.) to send those 3 letters. Call it USD$1 to make the math easier. I currently pay about $9.03/week. If I upgraded, it would be at least 3x that amount.

I'm not sure how to calculate the profit they would gain after an upgrade, but I can't imagine it would take more than 2-3 months for the new rates to more than cover the mailing fees for an entire year of their letters.

And yet, I'll never upgrade and I hate the waste caused by their practices.

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#118

Post by compuguy »

NickBusey wrote: post #38

Small tip: At the grocery store or anywhere else with a rewards account linked to a phone number, rather than signing up for one just use (Your Local Area Code)-867-5309 The number almost always exists and is a valid account. Get the discount, don't get tracked. Thanks, Tommy Tutone.

The last time I tried that, it didn't work (or there wasn't an account associated with it).

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#119

Post by mehrdadn »

cosmie wrote: post #110
mehrdadn wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 thanks for the explanation! And regarding this: > Edited to add: You're also asking a lot of people in here to name specific companies even if they can't give you huge lists. This space is super heavy on NDAs (and trigger happy on enforcing them). If you've actually worked in it, there's simply no way you're able to name drop legally. I understand that an NDA would prevent you from naming your own company or your…

Every company I know in the space is a company that we've had at least preliminary conversations with (seeing if there's any potential relationship to either purchase from or sell to that company). Just having that conversation required getting a mutual NDA in place, since the conversation involves revealing your capabilities (even if not your sources). And that's assuming you're even aware of all the NDAs your compa…

Okay, I see. But somehow someone in your company found out about them before they could sign mutual NDAs, right? How does that happen? Do you just need a higher-up who's friends with the right people?

Re: Ask HN: Who really gives your personal info to Intelius, Instant Checkmate, etc?

#120

Post by vonklaus »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #14

If anyone reading this thread is interested: I would pay non-trivial amounts of money on a regular basis for a service that systematically worked to eliminate records like these (and the sources they draw from), as well as chasing down sources of junk mail and the lists they ultimately draw from. The value would depend on effectiveness, and on the degree to which the service clearly reported exactly what they did. Ca…

i think the best way to handle this is exactly the opposite. go on mechanical turk, and pay $500 to have them fill out every single free offer, product trial, social media account, ect with slightly similar but incorrect information. Give each turk 10 different pictures that look very similar to you, or are you in bad lighting, and pay them to upload them to G+, FB, ect.

It is much easier to make your correct info difficult to ascertain, than it is to remove it all.

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