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I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

privacyinternational.org

21–30 of 187 posts

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#21
post #3

This latest trend is so annoying: there is either "Accept" or: "See purpose". And the "Don't accept" stuff is hidden under "See purpose". Infuriating.

also absolutely meaningless. it's essentially then going that when fines get handed out, they just get a warning because they tried.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#22
post #11
post #9

It'd be useful if the author revealed how she managed to obtain her data. I am pretty sure that a request with just your real name wouldn't reveal much. I assume that most data is collected under some identifier which isn't matched to your real name in order to thwart this kind of request.

I'd also like to know this. It seems like asking this organisation to delete my data would be largely beneficial, but what data do I need to provide for them to do it?

According to GDPR, the contact info for sending an access or deletion request must be provided in the Privacy Policy.

Under GDPR (Europe), if you send a request, the company must honor it unless they have reason to doubt your identity, in which case they must ask for follow-up. Under CCPA (California), they are only obligated to honor "verified" requests. There's a range of what counts as verifying, from just being able to log in to your account on the low end, up to providing 3 pieces of matching data on the high end.

The company is obligated to tell you what data they have. They are not obligated to go out of their way to make connections, though, so you're better served by providing as many identifiers as possible (like account numbers).

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#23
post #16
post #13

Besides uBlock Origin, you can use DNS hosts file blocking. This has the extra benefit of making sites fast and reducing your data transfers. Corporation block lists (e.g. Facebook, Google) https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/tree/master/corporatio... "Someone Who Cares" list http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ Ultimate Hosts Blacklist: 1 million blocked domains (once in a while you might need to unblock something) a…

Adblock Fast has received 2 reviews in 4 years, and was last updated 3 years ago. Did you mean to recommend?

Search for Better blocker app on iOS. I think it is _better_ than nothing :-)

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#24
The personal data industry is truly disgusting but the really funny thing is that most of the data is actually worthless. Its collected only because it can be. Not because its valuable or worthwhile. These companies are basically hoarders. Hoarders that rummage through your trash and spy on you from afar. They are awful, the business is awful and is a viable case of "just because you can, should you?"

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#25
Nice! I did the same recently, where I requested my data from 14 different location data companies. [0] One company returned my data. Part of the difficulty was making the CCPA requests since I live in Texas, but the majority of responses were along the lines of having no way to identify the person behind the device identifier.

https://duo.com/labs/research/data-companies-are-watching-me

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#26
I do not understand the complacency of people. Maybe they think that their freedom is unassailable?

The commercial surveillance industry is a real threat. It exploits citizens' data and in doing so serves the dictatorial interests of government and the amoral activities of capitalism. The surveillance industry is also inept, and cybercriminals and state actors will get the data eventually.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#27
For those looking for how to request your information:

This is what I've found so far on the privacy policy page.

It sounds like it may be available only for california residents.

> In addition to the information, controls and rights detailed in this privacy policy, California law provides for specific rights for California residents. California residents may request access to Personal Information, request a copy of their Personal Information, or request that their Personal Information be deleted. You may submit a verifiable request through Quantcast’s Data Subject Rights page, which can be found here. California residents may also submit verifiable requests by contacting Quantcast via email

https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#28
post #13

Besides uBlock Origin, you can use DNS hosts file blocking. This has the extra benefit of making sites fast and reducing your data transfers. Corporation block lists (e.g. Facebook, Google) https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/tree/master/corporatio... "Someone Who Cares" list http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ Ultimate Hosts Blacklist: 1 million blocked domains (once in a while you might need to unblock something) a…

I recommend everyone to check NextDNS. I'ts basically a Pi-hole in the cloud: https://nextdns.io/

I use it in combination with uBlock Origin: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#29
post #9

It'd be useful if the author revealed how she managed to obtain her data. I am pretty sure that a request with just your real name wouldn't reveal much. I assume that most data is collected under some identifier which isn't matched to your real name in order to thwart this kind of request.

If they got data from MasterCard and Experian, they must know the her real name.

Re: I asked an online tracking company for all of my data (2018)

#30
These kinds of articles always make me think about how big a privacy risk the laws that make these possible are. We're worried about user privacy, so we mandate that companies build a way to connect PII to otherwise-pseudonymous browsing data in case the user asks for it. What if someone else asks for it? Huge security risk.

That's not to say these laws are bad, just that the giant additional privacy risk they pose is kind of funny to think about.

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