Tell HN: Salary data is for sale • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#121

Post by what_ever » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:13 AM UTC

mgraczyk wrote: post #54

Very interesting, I didn't expect the accuracy and detail in this data. All of my pay from Intel, Google, Facebook is in here. Qualcomm apparently did not report. Also, Google (my latest employer) pulled the data just before I started working, after giving me an offer. My credit card company pulls the data every month, sometimes 2-3 times per month. Several mortgage originators have also pulled the data even though I…

Does the system not ask for SSN to pull this data? If yes, how did Google get your SSN?

Disc: Googler.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#122

Post by heavyset_go » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:14 AM UTC

bdowling wrote: post #85

Can a prospective employee use this data to gain an advantage in salary negotiations? If not, then this doesn’t seem fair at all.

No, Equifax does not share companies' payroll data with job applicants or employees. Only companies have access to salary and employment data.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#123

Post by reitzensteinm » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:15 AM UTC

jiveturkey wrote: post #99

jf wrote: post #30

Learning that this website exists, and then finding detailed and accurate information in my record is what convinced me to start sharing my salary data with my peers. As I see it, this database is a breach of an implicit social contract between me and the companies that I work for. Since my employers apparently have no issues sharing my salary with their peers, I see no reason not to do the same with my peers.

I'm not sure how these go together. No problem sharing to your peers regardless of what your employer shares.

It's implication logic.

Employer sharing your data means you shouldn't think twice about doing the same.

Employer not sharing your data does not necessarily imply you can't.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#124

Post by starwind » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:15 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #103

starwind wrote: post #94

If you have privacy concerns, you can put fraud alerts and put a free credit freeze your credit reports Equifax: https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/cred... Experian: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html TransUnion: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze And also freeze a few other reports NCTUE (utilities and telecom): https://www.nctue.com/consumers ChexSystems (banking): https://www.ch…

I assume this would only work if you want to never get a loan or say a new credit card - or anything of the sort that relies on that history. Heck - maybe wouldn't even work for renting?

Unfreezing is a relatively easy process. They'll send you a pin where you can do it online, or you can send them a letter. It'll take them about 7 to 10 days to unfreeze things

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#125

Post by cmeacham98 » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:15 AM UTC

BeefySwain wrote: post #91

BeefySwain wrote: post #21

NOTE: It is possible to freeze access to your employment data here: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze That being said, it doesn't stop employers from continuing to hand Equifax your data on a gold platter, and therefore does nothing to protect you from the inevitable data breach that will result in Equifax being required to give everyone affected $0.36 or one year of free credit monitoring.

Hijacking here to say, literally all you need to get access to someones employment + salary history is their SSN and birthdate. edit: and a past employer that used this system Birthdays are extremely easy to get (public record), and I seem to recall a specific large organization leaking a bunch of SSN's not too long ago.......

Unless you are very young (read: born after 2011) your SSN can be trivially brute forced if an attacker knows where and when you were born, because those details were (before 2011) mapped onto 5 of the 9 digits in an SSN.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#126

Post by Buttons840 » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:15 AM UTC

mobiledev2014 wrote: post #111

Having hopped jobs every 1-2 years for the last decade, I don't think I've ever been honest when asked my current salary. Never bit me. It would be quite shocking (would it be legal?) if an offer was rescinded based on this data.

There's always answers like "I think $X would be fair, it's a little more than I'm making now", or "it's close to what I was making before", etc.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#127

Post by snambi » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

jf wrote: post #30

Learning that this website exists, and then finding detailed and accurate information in my record is what convinced me to start sharing my salary data with my peers. As I see it, this database is a breach of an implicit social contract between me and the companies that I work for. Since my employers apparently have no issues sharing my salary with their peers, I see no reason not to do the same with my peers.

If all employees share their salary information with each other, it becomes a headache for the employer. Each employee may quote the other person's salary demanding a raise.

This is the reason behind the "keep your data confidential" idea.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#128

Post by dodobirdlord » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

detaro wrote: post #93

ratsmack wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing, but they did: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-ceo-hired-a-music-...

That alone really doesn't mean much. Security has even more than other areas of IT many people with "odd" backgrounds.

Yea, but it's Equifax, so they don't get the benefit of the doubt.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#129

Post by throwawaygh » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:17 AM UTC

detaro wrote: post #110

throwawaygh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Equifax's ciso was clearly super competent.

I in no way suggested that, please don't pretend I did. We have plenty reason to assume she wasn't.

Then I'm not sure what the point of your post was.

Software security is a mess in large part because of the phenomenon you describe.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#130

Post by psyc » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:17 AM UTC

Victerius wrote: post #4

If this is correct, then it would be risky for someone to lie to a new employer about their former salary in order to receive an offer for a higher pay, because the new employer could use this service to cross check the employee's claims.

I'm finding out just in the past two years that the days when you could count on Corp. Entity A in Tallahassee not knowing about a prior transaction with Corp. Entity B in Portland, are pretty much over. Everybody knows everything. Even knowing this, seeing the amount of per-pay-period to-the-penny detail, going back to 1998, that's in this Equifax report, was a little surreal.