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

privacyinternational.org

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

#41

Post by throwaway8443 »

chopin wrote: 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 actually e-mailed to the author a year ago to ask that very question.

Her answer was that she provided her cookie ID to Quantcast and then asked for any data associated with that ID. She also promised me to include that information in the article to prevent confusion, but she never did.

Ironically, Quantcast only knew her real identity after the request.

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

#42

Post by grawprog »

Whitespace wrote: post #36
retSava wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, an "accept" holds for seemingly till the end of time, while a "I don't accept" is valid not much more than the mouse button click echoes through my room before you stand before the dialog box yet again, contemplating why you don't do something more useful with your life.

Even worse, nowadays there's only "accept" and "maybe later"

Hell I seen one yesterday that was only 'accept' or 'subscribe to newsletter' with the 'not accept' being linked to the 'cancel' button of the subscribe to newsletter popup. Which you had to click into first.

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

#43

Post by wasmitnetzen »

chopin wrote: 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.

There is a form[1] linked in their privacy policy[2], which doesn't work and tells me I'm not inside the EU or California, which I am.

[1]: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/data-subject-rights/ [2]: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/

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

#44

Post by caymanjim »

heresie-dabord wrote: post #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.

People have busy lives and other things to worry about. Even if they knew this were happening, no one has the time or energy to do anything about it. What have you done, other than post the obvious?

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

#45

Post by obscurenow »

I wonder what a company like this would do with this data set: gender: male, female, trans, etc... location: various around the globe age: various ages orientation: hetero, homo

How would they pick the right age, gender and location for you? Do they just pick the latest they have?

Do they assume federal sources are accurate?

How do they deal with multiple values?

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

#46

Post by GordonS »

newswasboring wrote: post #12
teekert wrote: 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.

There are sites (like wwe.com) where after you have successfully located the preference to opt out from everything it shows a "processing" screen which is stuck at 98% for about a minute. But accept is "processed" in an instant. Another dark pattern is showing you have opted out but some sites cannot receive opt out requests through https which is written in small fonts. By doing this they have successfully targeted…

> There are sites (like wwe.com) where after you have successfully located the preference to opt out from everything it shows a "processing" screen which is stuck at 98% for about a minute. But accept is "processed" in an instant.

This one drives me nuts! It's just such a brazen and blatent piss-take - "you won't let us hoover up your data and sell it to everyone we can? Then we'll punish you".

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

#47

Post by x0x0 »

chopin wrote: 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.

The data quantcast collects and stores is associated with cookies in the browser. Generally, you would have to visit their site to allow their code to query the data associated with their domain from your browser.

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

#48

Post by renewiltord »

heresie-dabord wrote: post #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.

Because while you're worried that you'll get an ad for a clothes iron after searching for one, they're worried about how they're going to make rent this month.

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

#49

Post by Enginerrrd »

obscurenow wrote: post #45

I wonder what a company like this would do with this data set: gender: male, female, trans, etc... location: various around the globe age: various ages orientation: hetero, homo How would they pick the right age, gender and location for you? Do they just pick the latest they have? Do they assume federal sources are accurate? How do they deal with multiple values?

They're out to make money not be politically correct. So edge cases probably don't matter to them much, even if they occasionally manage to offend some people.

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

#50

Post by megous »

wasmitnetzen wrote: post #43
chopin wrote: 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.

There is a form[1] linked in their privacy policy[2], which doesn't work and tells me I'm not inside the EU or California, which I am. [1]: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/data-subject-rights/ [2]: https://www.quantcast.com/privacy/

The same for me. I'm in the middle of EU, lol. Tracking company can't (will not?) track locations to at least hit the continent correctly.
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